Mastering the Art of Wifi Design: Strategies for Seamless Network Integration (Part 2)

The foundation for understanding

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your wifi connection is slower than usual? This could be because of something called attenuation, which means that the signal strength decreases as it travels through things like walls and floors.

To make sure your wifi is as fast and reliable as possible, engineers need to think about where to put access points.

In this article, we'll talk about a couple of important concepts that can help improve your wifi performance: non-overlapping channels and strategic network design. Don't worry if these terms sound complicated - I'll explain everything in simple language!

Wireless networking, or WiFi, is a technology that allows devices to communicate with each other over a wireless network using radio waves. WiFi has become an essential part of our daily lives, enabling us to access the internet, connect with friends and colleagues, and share information without the need for physical cables.

To understand how WiFi works, it is essential to know about the three basic components of a wireless network: the access point, the client device, and the wireless signal.

Access Point (AP)

The access point is a wireless device that connects to a wired network and transmits and receives data over the airwaves. An access point can either be a standalone device or integrated into a router. It acts as a central hub for all wireless communication within the network.

Client Device

A client device is any device that connects to the wireless network, such as a smartphone, laptop, or tablet. Client devices use the access point to communicate with other devices on the network or access the internet.

Wireless Signal

The wireless signal is the medium through which data is transmitted and received over the airwaves. The signal is transmitted by the access point and received by the client device. The strength of the signal determines the quality and speed of the wireless connection.

Turn Taking?

To establish a wireless connection, the client device sends a signal to the access point, requesting to connect to the network. The access point then sends a signal back to the client device, providing the network's name and security information. Once the client device receives this information, it can connect to the network and start communicating with other devices on the network.

Frequencies Matter

The wireless signal operates on different radio frequencies, which are divided into channels. In the US, the most common frequency band for WiFi is 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The 2.4 GHz band has 11 channels, and the 5 GHz band has up to 24 channels. The channel selection depends on the network configuration and the interference levels in the area.

WiFi works by transmitting and receiving data over the airwaves using radio waves. The access point acts as a central hub for all wireless communication, and client devices connect to the network to access the internet or communicate with other devices. The strength of the wireless signal determines the quality and speed of the wireless connection.

While both frequency bands are used for wireless communication, there are significant differences between the two in terms of available channels, coverage, and capacity.

Available Channels

The 2.4 GHz band has 11 available channels in the United States, with a frequency range of 2.412 GHz to 2.472 GHz. However, these channels can be overcrowded because many other wireless devices, such as microwaves, cordless phones, and Bluetooth devices, also operate in this frequency band. This can cause interference and slow down the network's performance.

The 5 GHz band, on the other hand, has up to 24 available channels in the United States, with a frequency range of 5.150 GHz to 5.850 GHz. Since there are more available channels, the 5 GHz band is less crowded than the 2.4 GHz band, leading to less interference and faster network speeds.

Coverage

The 2.4 GHz band has a longer range than the 5 GHz band. This is because the lower frequency waves used in the 2.4 GHz band can penetrate obstacles such as walls and floors more easily than the higher frequency waves used in the 5 GHz band. As a result, the 2.4 GHz band is better suited for larger areas with more obstructions.

In contrast, the 5 GHz band has a shorter range but can transmit more data per second. This makes it ideal for small spaces or areas with high network traffic.

Capacity

The 2.4 GHz band has a lower data transfer rate than the 5 GHz band. This is because the 2.4 GHz band is more susceptible to interference from other wireless devices and has a limited number of available channels. As a result, the network's capacity is lower, and the network can become congested quickly.

The 5 GHz band has a higher data transfer rate than the 2.4 GHz band, making it better suited for high-bandwidth applications such as video streaming, online gaming, and video conferencing. However, the higher frequency waves used in the 5 GHz band can be absorbed by walls, ceilings, and other obstacles, reducing the network's coverage area.

The New 6 GHz Frequency

The newly added?6 GHz frequency?band will offer significant improvements to WiFi networks in terms of capacity and performance. The 6 GHz frequency band, also known as WiFi 6E, has been recently approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for unlicensed use in the United States.

One of the main advantages of the 6 GHz frequency band is that it provides more available channels for WiFi networks to operate on. This means that the network can support more devices without becoming congested, resulting in faster network speeds and less interference. The 6 GHz band has up to 1,200 MHz of available spectrum, which is more than double the amount of spectrum available in the 5 GHz band.

The 6 GHz band also offers higher data transfer rates than the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. WiFi 6E devices can support data transfer rates of up to 9.6 Gbps, which is almost three times faster than the maximum data transfer rate of WiFi 5 (802.11ac) devices.

Furthermore, the 6 GHz frequency band allows for wider channel bandwidths than the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. This means that more data can be transmitted simultaneously, resulting in faster network speeds and less congestion.

The 6 GHz band provides the largest amount of available spectrum, the highest number of?non-overlapping channels, and the widest channel width, which can support higher data transfer rates. The 5 GHz band provides a moderate amount of available spectrum and non-overlapping channels, with varying channel widths depending on the standard being used. The 2.4 GHz band provides the least amount of available spectrum, the fewest non-overlapping channels, and the narrowest channel width, which can result in more interference and slower network speeds.

The New .. NEW

At this time, the?Wi-Fi 7 standard?has not yet been finalized or ratified by the IEEE, so it is difficult to say exactly how it will use the available channels.

However, one of the key goals of Wi-Fi 7 is to improve spectral efficiency, which means using the available spectrum more efficiently to transmit data. One way this could be achieved is by using techniques such as carrier aggregation and spatial reuse to increase the amount of data that can be transmitted over a given set of channels.

Carrier aggregation involves combining multiple channels into a single wider channel, which allows for higher data rates. Spatial reuse, on the other hand, allows multiple access points to use the same set of channels simultaneously by coordinating their transmissions to avoid interference.

In addition to these techniques, Wi-Fi 7 is also expected to support higher frequencies and wider channel bandwidths than previous Wi-Fi standards, which should further increase data rates and spectral efficiency.

Overall, the goal of Wi-Fi 7 is to provide faster and more efficient wireless connectivity, while also improving the user experience by reducing latency and increasing reliability.

Signal Loss

Attenuation?is the loss of signal strength as the signal travels through a medium, such as air or walls. The higher the frequency of the signal, the more it will attenuate as it travels through a medium.

In general, higher frequency signals attenuate faster than lower frequency signals. This is because higher frequency signals have shorter wavelengths, which means that they interact more with the medium as they travel through it. As a result, signals at higher frequencies, such as 6 GHz, will attenuate faster than signals at lower frequencies, such as 5 GHz.

However, the higher frequencies also have more bandwidth available, which can provide higher data rates and better performance for WiFi networks. The trade-off is that higher frequency signals may have more difficulty penetrating obstacles, such as walls and other solid objects.

Overall, while WiFi on 6 GHz may attenuate faster than WiFi on 5 GHz, the higher frequency can still provide benefits in terms of higher data rates and better performance in certain environments.

It is recommended to re-evaluate your network design when implementing the new 6 GHz frequency on your existing WiFi network for several reasons:

• The 6 GHz frequency has different propagation characteristics than the existing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies. Specifically, signals at 6 GHz are more susceptible to attenuation and interference from obstacles such as walls and other structures. By re-evaluating your network design, you can ensure that your access points are optimally placed to provide the necessary coverage for your network.
• Capacity: The 6 GHz frequency offers more available spectrum than the existing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies. This means that there is more bandwidth available for your network, which can increase network capacity and improve performance. By re-evaluating your network design, you can ensure that your access points and other network components are optimized to take advantage of this additional capacity.

New Access Point need faster ethernet ports and more power.

When planning for future upgrades to Wi-Fi access points that can exceed 1 gig on a LAN port of a switch, network engineers should consider several factors to ensure that the network can support the increased bandwidth:

• Switch capacity: Network engineers should ensure that their switches have enough capacity to support the increased bandwidth of the new access points. They may need to upgrade to switches with higher throughput and faster uplink ports to support the increased data rates od 2.5 gig and 5 gig ports for access points.
• Uplink bandwidth: Network engineers should also consider the uplink bandwidth between switches and other network devices, such as routers or firewalls. Upgrading to faster uplinks can help avoid bottlenecks in the network and ensure that the increased bandwidth of the new access points can be fully utilized. Common to see 10 gig to has high as 100 gig on up links.
• Power over Ethernet (PoE): Many Wi-Fi access points require PoE to power the device, and the newer access points may require higher levels of PoE. Network engineers should ensure that their switches can provide sufficient power to the access points, or plan to upgrade their PoE switches accordingly.

In this article we discussed the basics of wireless networking and how it works, including the three components of a wireless network (access point, client device, and wireless signal), and how devices connect to the network. The article then explained the differences between the two most common frequency bands used for WiFi, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and how they affect network performance in terms of available channels, coverage, and capacity. The article also introduces the newly approved 6 GHz frequency band and its potential benefits for WiFi networks.

In the next article: "Maximizing Wifi Performance: Non-Overlapping Channels and Strategic Network Design" we will start to explore how to design a high performance enterprise grade network.

We will start with the critical concept of Non-overlapping channels.?Channels that do not overlap in frequency, meaning they can be used simultaneously without causing interference.