Fiber U Free Self Study Programs

Fiber Optics For Wireless Networks

Lesson Plan 5: WiFi
Level: Intermediate


WiFi

Objectives: From this self-study program you should learn:

  • What is WiFi and what standards are available
  • How WiFi provides connectivity indoors and outdoors
  • What is involved in designing WiFI networks


Introduction
No network can probably be built without wireless today.  People want to be mobile. Practically everybody uses a laptop as their primary computer, excepting engineers or graphic designers at workstations, and most of them will also have a laptop as a second computer to carry, along with everybody else, on trips and to meetings where everybody brings their laptops and connects on WiFi.

WiFi

Besides laptops on WiFi, people use tablets and  smartphones for wireless communications. Smartphones allow web browsing with connection over either the cellular network or a WiFi network. Some mobile phones are portable VoIP devices connecting over WiFi to make phone calls. While WiFi has had some growing pains and continual upgrades, the IEEE 802.11 standard it has become more reliable and offers what seems to be adequate bandwidth for most users.

Outside the office, or home for that matter, WiFi connections are expected in many public spaces - coffee shops of course, but also restaurants, hotels, convention centers, and simply on the street. Inside the city, WiFi can used for line-of-sight communications where fiber is too hard to install or expensive. In rural areas where any means of communications is expensive,  line-of-sight WiFi is often the least expensive alternative.

In this lesson we'll look at the technology and applications of WiFi.



Assignments
You will be instructed to read the references or watch videos and take the quiz (Test Your Knowledge) to complete the "classroom" part of the course.


Get Started

Watch The Video
FOA YouTube Video Premises Cabling Lecture 10, Wireless.      


Read The Online FOA References
FOA Reference Guide, WiFi 
FOA Reference Guide, WiFi  - Wireless In Premises Cabling.   

 

 
Test Your Knowledge
- WiFi Cabling - Quiz     


Lesson Plans
Read the materials or watch the videos linked on each lesson plan and take the quiz.

Lesson 1: Overview - How Wireless Networks Use Fiber Optics
Lesson 2: Fiber To The Cell Site And
Fiber To The Antenna
Lesson 3: Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS)
Lesson 4: Small Cells
Lesson 5: WiFi - Enterprise, Urban and Rural



Fiber U Certificate of  Completion
If you have finished all the assignments and case study, you can take an online exam on this course to qualify for a "Fiber U Certificate of Completion." The exam cost is $20US.

Go here to take the Fiber U "Fiber For Wireless" Certificate of Completion exam. Here are detail directions if this is your first time taking a
Fiber U Certificate of Completion exam.
 



 

(C)2018, The Fiber Optic Association, Inc.

FOA Home Page