Clear To Send: Wireless Network Engineering

https://youtu.be/Z-3FKFGBX-A Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE) is a way to secure open Wi-Fi networks. Encryption keys are created between a device and an access point (AP). In Wi-Fi 6E, you can no longer create open Wi-Fi networks. OWE is a requirement when creating an open Wi-Fi network in 6 GHz. In this episode, we dive into how OWE works and look at example frame exchanges to get a better idea so you know what to expect in future Wi-Fi networks. We’ve also included some pcap files for you to take a look at. Resources * Opportunistic Wireless Encryption RFC 8110 * Wi-Fi 6E OWE Frame Exchange * OWE Infographic * Apple support * Intel support * Mist documentation * OWE PCAP files

If you want to become a better Wi-Fi engineer, then look no further to these 5 Wi-Fi books. We recommend having these books on your shelf and using them as reference. All of these books include a plethora of knowledge and have helped us in many situations where we need to refresh or learn a new topic. The 5 Wi-Fi books are (affiliate links are used below): CWNA Study Guide by David Coleman and David Westcott CWDP Certified Wireless Design Professional Official Study Guide (PW0-250 version) Wireless Security Architecture: Designing and Maintaining Secure Wireless for Enterprise by JJ Minella 802.11 Wireless Networks by Matthew S. Gast 802.11ac: A Survival Guide by Matthew S. Gast

Is ChatGPT useful to a Wi-Fi Engineer AI is really starting to make its mark on the world. ChatGPT has already provided us a many ways to improve efficiency in how we do research and solve problems. François has been using ChatGPT for many use cases and we dive into whether it can be used by Wi-Fi engineers. From the customer facing to the technical side of things, we’re starting to see AI make an entrance. Many of been testing ChatGPTs capability in the Wi-Fi space. Can it get most of technical details correct? We believe so. We go into some examples in this episode. We’ve also listed some examples below. Examples

https://youtu.be/cSta3ST5OFM Informing others on WLPC WLPC is the Wi-Fi conference to attend. Clear To Send attended the conference in Phoenix in February 2023. It happened to be right before the SuperBowl. This episode is sponsored by Optifi It’s a great feeling to attend WLPC and catch up with all our peers and friends. We feel energized during and after the event. Our favorite part of WLPC is to speak with a lot of different people because the discussions are where you learn the most. There are people from partners, vendors, trainers, etc. A wide range of people with various experiences and skillsets. A tip for first-time attendees is to bring a suitcase with extra room. You’ll always leave the conference with some goodies, especially if you’re doing a deep dive. Some of our favorite sessions: * Secure Wi-Fi Migrations: A WPA3 How-To * Wi-Fi 6E, Year Two * Analysis of the Future * Wi-Fi 7 Heaven or Wi-Fi 7 Deadly Sins Resources * WLPC 2023 Phoenix Videos

Finding the right resource for survey work can be challenging due to the amount of Wi-Fi experts available. In this episode, we talk about why you would want to outsource the work and who you should outsource to. We have a discussion into what has worked after outsourcing a few projects and what hasn’t worked for us. If you’re running your own IT consulting business or need to find someone to do survey work then this episode is for you.

The CWNA is our most recommended certification and first path to becoming a Wi-Fi specialist or expert. You’ll gain an immense amount of Wi-Fi fundamentals that will lead you to become the go-to Wi-Fi person in your organization. These are our 5 reasons why you should get your CWNA. Get Wi-Fi Fundamentals The CWNA provides you so much Wi-Fi fundamentals that you’ll be able to get started with any Wi-Fi project. You’ll probably look back at previous Wi-Fi installations and identify any incorrect implementation. Many network engineers lack fundamental Wi-Fi knowledge to properly configure and deploy access points. Stand out as a network engineer We’ve come across many network engineers who do not have enough Wi-Fi knowledge to make the correct configurations, select the right antennas, or design properly for a high performing and well optimized Wi-Fi network. And since Wi-Fi is the most used method to access the network, a network engineer must know how Wi-Fi works! Become specialized The CWNA is one path to become a specialized network engineer focusing on Wi-Fi. In addition to standing out as a network engineer, people will look to your expertise for future Wi-Fi projects and troubleshooting. It can open up a lot of doors and further your career. Improve troubleshooting A skill most often lacking is troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. Many network engineers blindly tune Wi-Fi networks and make it worse. It’s important to understand what vendor knobs do and what kind of impact it will create on a Wi-Fi network. Having the fundamentals will lead to better troubleshooting Wi-Fi skills. Vendor-neutral education The CWNA certification comes from CWNP and it is a vendor-neutral certification. We often recommended getting this Wi-Fi certification first before jumping into a vendor-specific certification. It will give you a leg up making it a little more easier to work on vendor hardware. Resources * CWNA Certification * CWNA Study Guide * Official CWNA Study Guide

channel plans for UWB channels Resources Ivo Štastný LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivostastny/ https://www.sewio.net/

Ekahau AI Pro brings many features and benefits for any Wi-Fi engineer. That’s why we’re being joined by Matt Sterling and Mac Deryng of Ekahau to educate us on what these features are. First off, Sidekick 2 is updated to support 6 GHz with packet captures and be fully useable with Ekahau Analyzer. Then there are the features within AI Pro. Our favorite new feature include any drawing of walls and also wall calibration. The wall calibration tool helps us increase the accuracy of our designs. Auto planner is improved if you like to have access points placed on the floor plan for you or to have channels selected for you. Network simulator helps with situations where you might need to do a rip and replace of access points but want to verify in a design that your current access point locations will be sufficient. Network Simulator will give you a score that is sure to help you with your decisions. New to Ekahau is a Private 5G planner! Another skill and technology in our toolbelt. You cannot leave Private 5G behind. If you have an active Ekahau Connect license you should have access to Private 5G planner for one year. Lastly, ECSE is getting an update as well! With all these new bells and whistles it is important to know how to use these resources properly. Which is why we always suggest taking your ECSE. Resources ekahau.com

Jiri Brejcha joins us on this episode to discuss his testing of 6 GHz capable clients (iPad and Google Pixel) and how they discovery 6 GHz Wi-Fi networks. Jiri demonstrates how important the Reduced Neighbor Report plays an important role in 6 GHz AP discovery. Jiri is an enterprise architect at Cisco UK and part of the Cisco Live team. He’s also a core member of the WLAN Pi team. In his lab, he has a Cisco 6 GHz access point broadcasting a few SSIDs on different bands. He wondered how an iPad and Pixel will detect a 6 GHz-only SSID. Do you need to have APs operate on PSC only? Inside of a beacon frame, you’ll find a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) Information Element. The RNR contains important details such as the channel used by neighboring access points. This can be one access point or a group of access points. You’ll find this information in the Neighbor AP Information Fields Target Beacon Transmission Time (TBTT) https://twitter.com/jiribrejcha/status/1591188679086571520?s=20&t=ZNWHL-brEYi2fWnDc3Wtxg Resources * Section 9.4.2.170 of the 802.11-2020 standards * https://www.jiribrejcha.net/2022/11/google-pixel-6-wi-fi-6e-scanning-and-6-ghz-ssid-discovery/ * https://www.jiribrejcha.net/2022/11/ipad-pro-wi-fi-6e-scanning-and-6-ghz-ssid-discovery/ * Apple specifications: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202068

Our special guests are Jussi Kiviniemi and Joel Crane of Hamina. I’m a previous episode, cleartosend.net/286, Jussi gave us a rundown of Hamina before it was a beta product. In this episode, Hamina is a full product now, available for everyone to use and we decided to learn how Wi-Fi tools are built. Jussi and Joel provide insight into feature selection and development as well as how they collect feedback to improve Hamina. We even get to see new features of Hamina. We’re giving away two free licenses of Hamina. One is provided by Clear To Send and Jussi decided to match that offer! Fill out the contact form below if you’d like to win! We will announce the winner during a Q&A livestream with Hamina. var gform;gform||(document.addEventListener("gform_main_scripts_loaded",function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,initializeOnLoaded:function(o){gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?o():!gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",o):document.addEventListener("gform_main_scripts_loaded",o)},hooks:{action:{},filter:{}},addAction:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook("action",o,n,r,t)},addFilter:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook("filter",o,n,r,t)},doAction:function(o){gform.doHook("action",o,arguments)},applyFilters:function(o){return gform.doHook("filter",o,arguments)},removeAction:function(o,n){gform.removeHook("action",o,n)},removeFilter:function(o,n,r){gform.removeHook("filter",o,n,r)},addHook:function(o,n,r,t,i){null==gform.hooks[o][n]&&(gform.hooks[o][n]=[]);var e=gform.hooks[o][n];null==i&&(i=n+"_"+e.length),gform.hooks[o][n].push({tag:i,callable:r,priority:t=null==t?10:t})},doHook:function(n,o,r){var t;if(r=Array.prototype.slice.call(r,1),null!=gform.hooks[n][o]&&((o=gform.hooks[n][o]).sort(function(o,n){return o.priority-n.priority}),o.forEach(function(o){"function"!=typeof(t=o.callable)&&(t=window[t]),"action"==n?t.apply(null,r):r[0]=t.apply(null,r)})),"filter"==n)return r[0]},removeHook:function(o,n,t,i){var r;null!=gform.hooks[o][n]&&(r=(r=gform.hooks[o][n]).filter(function(o,n,r){return!!(null!=i&&i!=o.tag||null!=t&&t!=o.priority)}),gform.hooks[o][n]=r)}}); #gform_wrapper_20[data-form-index="0"].gform-theme,[data-parent-form="20_0"]{--gform-theme-color-primary: #204ce5;--gform-theme-color-primary-rgb: 32, 76, 229;--gform-theme-color-primary-contrast: #fff;--gform-theme-color-primary-contrast-rgb: 255, 255, 255;--gform-theme-color-primary-darker: #001AB3;--gform-theme-color-primary-lighter: #527EFF;--gform-theme-color-secondary: #fff;--gform-theme-color-secondary-rgb: 255, 255, 255;--gform-theme-color-secondary-contrast: #112337;--gform-theme-color-secondary-contrast-rgb: 17, 35, 55;--gform-theme-color-secondary-darker: #F5F5F5;--gform-theme-color-secondary-lighter: #FFFFFF;--gform-theme-color-outside-control-light: rgba(17, 35, 55, 0.1);--gform-theme-color-outside-control-light-rgb: 17, 35, 55;--gform-theme-color-outside-control-light-darker: rgba(104, 110, 119, 0.35);--gform-theme-color-outside-control-light-lighter: #F5F5F5;--gform-theme-color-outside-control-dark: #585e6a;--gform-theme-color-outside-control-dark-rgb: 88, 94, 106;--gform-theme-color-outside-control-dark-darker: #112337;--gform-theme-color-outside-control-dark-lighter: rgba(17, 35, 55, 0.65);--gform-theme-color-inside-control: #fff;--gform-theme-color-inside-control-rgb: 255, 255, 255;--gform-theme-color-inside-control-contrast: #112337;--gform-theme-color-inside-control-contrast-rgb: 17, 35, 55;--gform-theme-color-inside-control-darker: #F5F5F5;--gform-theme-color-inside-control-lighter: #FFFFFF;--gform-theme-color-inside-co...

Multiple BSSID sets out to aggregate individual beacon frames from an access point to a single beacon frame. It helps solve the issue of beacon overhead. As it is today, each SSID broadcasts a beacon. The more SSIDs you’re broadcasting, the more the beacons eat up airtime. Airtime is a precious resource for Wi-Fi devices. Sometimes beacon overhead can take up a large amount of airtime. Multiple BSSID aims to reduce the airtime by broadcasting less beacon frames for better efficiency and less wasted airtime capacity. While Multiple BSSID can be found in 802.11-2020, it was first introduced in 802.11v-2011. In the episode, Rowell mentions that it is mandatory in Wi-Fi 6. But we have not seen documented to be mandatory, or maybe we just missed it. Within Multiple BSSID, you will find a new information element that contains all the active BSSIDs within the Multiple BSSID set. There will be one transmitted BSSID and the others SSIDs will be listed with non-transmitted BSSID profiles. Be sure to check out the video and the pcap file! Sections in the 802.11-2020 standards talking about Multiple-BSSID: * 4.3.19.12 Multiple BSSID capability * 9.4.2.45 Multiple BSSID element * 9.4.2.73 Multiple BSSID-Index element * 10.6.9 Multiple BSSID Rate Selection * 11.1.3.8 Multiple BSSID procedure Resources Frame capture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17G2yB2rTXKiAiJxTXXG2QgkpeyW-ZLSi/view

We had the pleasure of attending WLPC in Prague for 2022. It was the first time joining a larger conference since the pandemic started. It was great to be around our peers having insightful discussions and catching up. In this episode, we’re providing our thoughts about WLPC EU and which presentations were our favorites. In addition to the sessions we both attended Jim Palmer’s Antenna 101 Deep Dive and we speak to it in this episode. The videos of all WLPC presentations are now live on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJsNZqZEF9YIWzIACR9aO_mJXcfg444u Here is François presentation on Wi-Fi DevOps Here is Rowell’s presentation on Wi-Fi Trends Here is Rowell’s presentation on Building a Profitable Consulting Business Here are our favorite presentations: * WPA3-SAE and ECC (For the Rest of Us) by Kartsen Iwen → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckle0Qj6xa8&list=PLXJsNZqZEF9YIWzIACR9aO_mJXcfg444u&index=10* Spatial Reuse in Wi-Fi 6 by Nadeem Akhtar → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z14xA1_d0W4&list=PLXJsNZqZEF9YIWzIACR9aO_mJXcfg444u&index=36* Some of the other automation presentations:* The Big Scary World of Network Integration and Automation by Peter Mackenzie → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG74IZSor_s&list=PLXJsNZqZEF9YIWzIACR9aO_mJXcfg444u&index=37* Getting started with WLAN Automation by Jean Macq → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSBK3jP2ccI&list=PLXJsNZqZEF9YIWzIACR9aO_mJXcfg444u&index=28 The survey is open for the next WLPC that will take place in Pheonix in February → http://surveymonkey.com/r/WLPC2023 It will take place from Feb 7th to 9th. Resources * All videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXJsNZqZEF9YIWzIACR9aO_mJXcfg444u

Wi-Fi gets all the blame for any type of network or device issue. Lean teams struggle to streamline their IT operations and lack the actionable insights needed to make smart decisions. In this episode, we’re talking to Wyebot and how they are able to help many organizations troubleshoot Wi-Fi efficiently with the use of network sensors. Wyebot’s sensors empowers IT organizations to find the root cause of Wi-Fi issues quickly and even remotely. This cuts down costs on sending engineers onsite to gather data. The sensor can do that for you. Through numerous network tests, IT can be proactive in solving Wi-Fi problems. Check out this episode as we dive in deeper to Wyebots platform. Resources www.wyebot.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/wyebot-inc https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXYkqwkJpUyUxMdzBqSasNA/videos Free Trial: https://wyebot.com/experience-wip/

Selecting the right antenna for a warehouse can be challenging. There are many factors to take into consideration and different mounting options available. You can mount antennas from top down or at the end of an aisle. When selecting the antenna of choice, keep the device capability in mind. There are various antennas available that work best at different heights. We highly recommend testing the antenna beam width and receive signal for the best antenna deployment to meet requirements. Resources https://www.acceltex.com/shop/2-4-5-ghz-13-dbi-4-element-indoor-outdoor-patch-antenna-with-rpsma/

NetAlly has had a history of announcing new products at Mobility Field Day. At MFD7 they continued that tradition with the announcement of the AirCheck G3. James Kahkoska gave us a historical rundown of NetAlly innovations prior to the announcement. With Wi-Fi 6E upon us, the AirCheck G3 will have 6 GHz capability. It has the Wi-Fi subset of features from the EtherScope nXG. From being able to perform network discoveries to capture 6 GHz frames. This is a fully capable handheld device that will make a wonderful addition to an engineer’s toolkit. Resources NetAlly videos from MFD7