Is it currently practical or even common to have complete 802.11b coverage within a fairly large plant (say 20-30 acres)? Would that typically allow operation of a handheld device such as a Wifi capable PC everywhere throughout the plant?
Any pointers, data points, etc. would be helpful.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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.
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.
Ha.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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...
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
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.
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