Performance analysis of IEEE 802.11A signals under different operational environments

Abstract

With the rapid employment of wireless networks commercially, the military is seeking viable solutions for providing high-speed wireless network throughout the battle space. The IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN presents an attractive solution pro-viding up to 54 Mbps data-link bandwidth. Moreover, it operates in the less congested 5-GHz U-NII band and possesses more operating channels. This research implemented two prototype systems using low-cost commercially available hardware. The Cisco Ai-ronet 1400 wireless bridge and the Proxim Tsunami MP. 11a wireless system were chosen for their superior specifications and for their reputation of being market leaders in IEEE 802.11 wireless products. The performances of the prototype systems were evaluated in three operational environments (land, water and vegetation). The data collected were then compared to the theo-retical performance.