Wireless LAN

Overview

Nowadays, people around the world travel with wifi enabled phones, laptops and other devices. Airports have become public hotspots and provide seamless, fast and reliable internet connectivity solution. Various categories of travelers have their own connectivity requirements in terms of reliability, security, bandwidth utilization and quality of service.

Using WLAN technology, any airport can offer a rich set of services that greatly improves the travel experience and makes the airport a better place to do business. WLAN can be considered as an extension to the Local Area Network, designed to provide wireless access to resources and services attached to the network. For airports, WLAN provides coverage inside the Passenger Terminal Building and Pier Areas, giving enough throughputs and coverage density.

Our Expertise

Acrux Technologies has necessary technical skills to provide full spectrum of WLAN related services, including:

  • Planning and Design
  • Planning on Ekahau Site Survey software
  • Installation of AP’s and Core equipment
  • Testing and Commissioning of System
  • Operation and Management

Major Components of WLAN

WLAN Planning and Design

Ekahau Site Survey is the complete toolkit for designing, analyzing, optimizing and troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. Ekahau Site Survey provides a ground-level view of WLAN coverage and performance based on the data collected during passive and active surveys. It is also capable of performing predictive surveys that facilitate WLAN planning at pre-deployment stage. Additionally, the application is capable of performing spectrum analysis, which requires a USB-based spectrum analyzer. Ekahau Site Survey is optimized for centrally managed 802.11n Wi-Fi networks. Heat waves maps are extensively used by our teams while analyzing WLAN requirements.

Access Points

Access Points with antennas create and emit the WiFi radio signals. The Access Points are connected to the Edge Switches dedicated to WLAN through 10/100/1000 BaseT connections. They are fed by the Edge Switches through Power Over Ethernet (PoE), so they don’t need a local power supply.

Wireless Controllers

Wireless Controllers performed by a dedicated board (WiSM2) are installed inside each WLAN Core Switch. The Wireless LAN controller provides real-time communication Between Access Points and other wireless components to deliver centralized security policies, wireless intrusion prevention system capabilities, radio frequency management, Quality of Service (QoS) and mobility.

Mobility Search Engine

Mobility Service Engine is an appliance which delivers WiFi based mobility services. The services provided with the basic license of the MSE are:

  • Track and locate WiFi devices, among which the interferers, the rogue access points and the RFID tags
  • Detect presence and receive geo-fenced or zone-based alerts
  • Show system wide interferer details and correlation
  • Visualize interferer zone of impact
  • Develop custom applications to engage users with open location API
  • Integrate indoor navigation experiences into loyalty apps
  • Increase app usage by automatically connecting to the WiFi network and launching
  • loyalty apps upon arrival
  • Discover and stop security penetration and DoS attacks

WLAN Edge Switches

WLAN Edge Switches (layer-2 devices) guarantee Ethernet connection and Power to Access Points. Each Edge Switch is connected to the WLAN Core layer through two (2) Gigabit Ethernet fiber optic links: one toward the first WLAN Core Switch and the other toward the second WLAN Core Switch.

ASA Service Modules

ASA Service Modules include firewall boards which are integrated in each core switch. They guarantee protection to the WLAN data network.

Authentication Server

Authentication Server supports RADIUS and TACACS+

The Cisco Secure Network Server (SNS-3515) is a scalable solution that helps network administrators meet complex network access control demands by managing the many different operations that can place heavy loads on applications and servers, including:

  • Authorization and authentication requests
  • Queries to identity stores such as Active Directory and LDAP databases
  • Device profiling and posture checking
  • Enforcement actions to remove devices from the network
  • Reporting

Network Management System

Network Management System uses the Cisco Prime Infrastructure software installed on a dedicated hardware appliance.

Core Switch

Core Switch belongs to the Cisco Catalyst 6500-E family with chassis designed for the installation in 19” racks. The Catalyst 6500 Series delivers secure, converged, end-to-end services, from the wiring closet to the core network, the data center, and the WAN edge. The 6500-E series switches offer enhancements to scale beyond the 4000W power supply. Available in 3-, 6-, 9-, and 13-slot chassis, Catalyst 6500 Series switches feature an unparalleled range of integrated services modules, including multi-gigabit network security, content switching, telephony, and network analysis modules. Through a forward-thinking architecture that uses a common set of modules and OS software across all Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series chassis, the Catalyst 6500 Series delivers a high level of operational consistency that optimizes IT infrastructure.