802.11b coverage in industrial plants

Common in large plants, like GM. FULL security provisions needed.

Spehro Pefhany wrote:

You need to define what you doing first.  The structure will have a lot to
do with the placement of the nodes.

Security is a big deal with these. Define your security, with the IT, before
you jump into this.  I personally would not be looking at B more like G.

I went to a free class by Fluke on their new network sniffer. Instead of 30
in the class there were only 10 of us. We got the instructor to connect the
sniffer up to his WiFi and we found 4 wireless networks from inside the
conference room. 2 were completely open.  After a few minutes of poking
about we discovered one of the open networks was the billing and reservation
system.  We showed that to the manager on duty. He freaked!!!
One of the networks was a complete mystery. Never did figure out what or who
it was for.

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 11:41:45 -0700, the renowned "SQLit"


Ideally, something like a laptop or Wifi PDA would be able to maintain
contact throughout the entire plant. It's not as time critical as,
say, VOIP, if the data link drops out for a few seconds and comes
back, I think it will be okay.


There doesn't seem to be much downside to g. I do have a world-class
security expert at hand, however it isn't a big deal for my part of
this system. It's just monitoring, not controlling, and the
consequences of a clever foe spoofing the data would not be very
serious. OTOH, if the company has other ideas of what to do with their
network, I may be forced to comply with their security measures,
meaning SSL or something like that.


Yes, I just was poking around with my wi-fi PDA at a coffee shop and
found two deliberate paid access points and several others. At least
one (at a nearby business) was completely open. I don't imagine
there's much downside from their pov-- so I borrow a bit of bandwidth,
big deal.


--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

I used to work for Eaton, they were converting all of the US offices to
wireless. Our office just did not have the band width that it should. I was
close to the router so I ran an cable to my desk.
The guru came out and was making improvements when he walked out side for a
smoke. I went out to ask him a question.  His lap top's sniffer program
showed 80% signal strength on the propertly line. I asked him if that was a
good idea.    A month later all offices were ordered back to wire.

In this day and age if someone "borrowed" some band width from me, I would
be getting visits from GWB's boys in black.

A closed no internet access system for monitoring might be the way to go.

I know they are out to get me...

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 16:20:00 -0700, the renowned "SQLit"



I hope that hair salon doesn't sic the Feds (or the Mafia) on me. ;-)


Wired is out of the question for physical reasons.  


Doesn't mean that you're not paranoid.
  

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat says...

I've been working with system that has higher gain antenna that seems to
work well inside a large plant. You can set up many wireless routers all
connecting to the network. It's also easy to put heavy encryption on the
system. Lots of small and large businesses leave their wireless systems
open so that people can connect to the net or borrow as was said. It's
not hard to put limits on the router to limit access to the LAN. I
really don't see what the big problem about security is.

I have a iPAQ PDA and a sniffer program on it. Even in the small town I
live in you can find many open access points and someone borrowing the
connect to the net seldom would put a dent in the owners overall
performance.

I think there is still a lack of informed technicians out there setting
up WiFi systems.
--
Paul Montgomery
Progressive Gauging Inc.