CCNA Wireless Official Exam Certification Guide part 9 is a best of breed Cisco® exam study guide that focuses specifically on the objectives for the CCNA® Wireless IUWNE exam. Senior instructor Brandon Carroll shares preparation hints and test-taking tips, helping you identify areas of weakness and improve both your conceptual knowledge and hands-on skills. Material is presented in a concise manner, focusing on increasing your understanding and retention of exam topics. | 52 CCNA Wireless Official Exam Certification Guide Foundation Topics General Wireless Topologies When you re talking about wireless topologies there are a number of ways it could go. If you are talking about how your wireless network looks next to your wired network you are most likely talking about a wireless local-area network WLAN . The goal of a WLAN versus a wireless personal-area network WPAN is quite different. The following sections discuss the purpose of each network type what they try to accomplish and what types of wireless technologies you might encounter there. Figure 4-1 shows the various wireless topologies. Key Topic WPAN If you were to consider all the options a WPAN would be the solution to choose if you wanted to wirelessly connect to something that is very close to you. It seems funny to put it that way because if something close to you needs to be networked you might as well just walk over and grab it right Wrong. Even though this is called a network its form can mislead you into thinking that it s not a networking technology. What forms are we talking about Headsets headphones even a mouse. A WPAN has the following characteristics The range is short about 20 feet. Chapter 4 WLAN Technologies and Topologies 53 Eight active devices Unlicensed spectrum Called a piconet A WPAN is a network that is designed to operate within a 20-foot range. The most common WPAN is Bluetooth. In a Bluetooth network you communicate on the spectrum. Thinking about how many people have Bluetooth headsets and mice and such you would expect a lot of interference but that s not the case. Bluetooth uses Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum FHSS . Although this book doesn t discuss FHSS it s good to understand that even though Bluetooth operates on the same frequency as and they don t interfere as much as another AP in the same frequency spectrum would but they do interfere. The fact that Bluetooth communicates with a shared hopping sequence in
