BroMax Communications WM302 PCMCIA Radio Card User Manual WLAN Module Manual

BroMax Communications Inc PCMCIA Radio Card WLAN Module Manual

Contents

Users Manual Revised 061802

11Mbps Wireless LAN ModuleUser ManualRev 0.9
Regulatory ComplianceFCC Interference StatementThis equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a resi-dential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed andused in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, thereis no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful in-terference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user isencouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:y Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.y Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.y Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.y Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.You are cautioned that changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compli-ance could void your authority to operate the equipment.IMPORTANT NOTE:This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment. In order toavoid the possibility of exceeding the FCC radio frequency exposure limits, human proximity to the antenna shall notbe less than 20cm (8 inches) during normal operation.This transmitter must not be co-located or operation in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitterThis device is intended only for OEM integrators under the following conditions:1) The antenna must be installed such that 20 cm is maintained between the antenna and users, and 2) The transmitter module may not be co-located with any other transmitter or antenna.As long as 2 conditions above are met, further transmitter test will not be required. However, the OEM integrator is still responsible for testing their end-product for any additional compliance requirements required with this module installed (for example, digital device emissions, PC peripheral requirements, etc.).IMPORTANT NOTE: In the event that these conditions can not be met (for example certain laptop configurations or co-location with another transmitter), then the FCC authorization is no longer considered valid and the FCC ID can not be used on the final product. In these circumstances, the OEM integrator will be responsible for re-evaluating the end product (including the transmitter) and obtaining a separate FCC authorization.End Product LabelingThis transmitter module is authorized only for use in device where the antenna may be installed such that 20 cm may be maintained between the antenna and users (for example access points, routers, wireless ADSL modems, and similar equipment). The final end product must be labeled in a visible area with the following: “Contains TX FCC ID: O6M-WM302”.Manual Information That Must be IncludedThe users manual for end users must include the following information in a prominent location “ IMPORTANT NOTE: To comply with FCC RF exposure compliance requirements, the antenna used for this transmitter must be installed to provide a separation distance of at least 20 cm from all persons and must not be co-located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter.
Wireless LAN card user manualiiTable of contentsCHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................... 1Introduction 1Features ............................................................................................... 1What is Wireless LAN? ........................................................................ 1LAN Modes .......................................................................................... 2Notes on wireless LAN configuration .................................................. 2CHAPTER 2 .................................................................................................... 3Hardware installation 3Hardware description .......................................................................... 3Status LEDs.......................................................................................... 3CHAPTER 3 .................................................................................................... 3Installation for Embedded Linux System 3Iinstallation for Linux .......................................................................... 3CHAPTER 4 .................................................................................................... 6Using the Wireless Utility 6Configuration Utility............................................................................ 6APPENDIX A .................................................................................................. 8Troubleshooting 8Q&A .................................................................................................... 8APPENDIX B .................................................................................................. 9Specifications ....................................................................................... 9
1Chapter 1IntroductionThank you for using the Wireless LAN module. This high-speed Wireless LAN module provides you with an inno-vative wireless networking solution for your embedded system. The module is easy to set up and use. With thisinnovative wireless technology, you can share files and printers on the network—without inconvenient wires! Nowyou can carry the LAN in your pocket!This module is designed for1. Wireless LAN Printer Server2. Wireless LAN Ethernet Adapter3. Wireless LAN Access Point / Gateway4. Wireless LAN Router5. Wireless LAN Broadband Router6. Wireless LAN Presentation GatewayFeatures• Wire-free access to networked resources from anywhere beyond the desktop• Low interference & high susceptibility guarantee reliable performance• Delivers data rate up to 11 Mbps• Dynamically shifts between 11, 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps network speed, based on signal strength, for maximum avail-ability and reliability of connection• Uses 2.4GHz frequency band, which complies with worldwide requirement• Used on embedded operating systems• Ensures great security by providing the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) defined in the IEEE 802.11 standardWhat is Wireless LAN?Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) systems offer a great number of advantages over traditional wired sys-tems. WLANs are flexible and easy to setup and manage. They are also more economical than wired LANsystems.Using radio frequency (RF) technology, WLANs transmit and receive data through the air. WLANs combinedata connectivity with user mobility. For example, users can roam from a conference room to their officewithout being disconnected from the LAN.Using WLANs, users can conveniently access shared information, and network administrators can configureand augment networks without installing or moving network cables.WLAN technology provides users with many convenient and cost saving features:• Mobility: WLANs provide LAN users with access to real-time information anywhere in their organiza-tion, providing service opportunities that are impossible with wired networks.• Ease of Installation: Installing is easy for novice and expert users alike, eliminating the need to installnetwork cables in walls and ceilings.• Scalability: WLANs can be configured in a variety of topologies to adapt to specific applications andinstallations. Configurations are easily changed and range from peer-to-peer networks suitable for asmall number of users to full infrastructure networks of thousands of users roaming over a broad area.
Wireless LAN card user manual2LAN ModesWireless LANs can be configured in one of two ways:Ad-hocNetworkingAlso known as a peer-to-peer network, an ad-hoc net-work is one that allows all workstations and computersin the network to act as servers to all other users on thenetwork. Users on the network can share files, print toa shared printer, and access the Internet with a sharedmodem. However, with ad-hoc networking, users canonly communicate with other wireless LAN computersthat are in the wireless LAN workgroup, and are withinrange.InfrastructureNetworkingInfrastructure networking differs from ad-hoc network-ing in that it includes an access point. Unlike the ad-hoc structure where users on the LAN contend theshared bandwidth, on an infrastructure network theaccess point can manage the bandwidth to maximizebandwidth utilization.Additionally, the access point enables users on a wire-less LAN to access an existing wired network, allowingwireless users to take advantage of the wired networksresources, such as Internet, email, file transfer, andprinter sharing.Infrastructure networking has the following advantagesover ad-hoc networking:• Extended range: each wireless LAN computerwithin the range of the access point can commu-nicate with other wireless LAN computers withinrange of the access point.• Roaming: the access point enables a wirelessLAN computer to move through a building and stillbe connected to the LAN.• Wired to wireless LAN connectivity: the accesspoint bridges the gap between wireless LANs andtheir wired counterparts.Notes on wireless LAN configurationWhen configuring a wireless LAN (WLAN), be sure to note the following points:• Optimize the performance of the WLAN by ensuring that the distance between access points is not toofar. In most buildings, WLAN cards operate within a range of 100 ~ 300 feet, depending on the thick-ness and structure of the walls.• Radio waves can pass through walls and glass but not metal. If there is interference in transmittingthrough a wall, it may be that the wall has reinforcing metal in its structure. Install another access pointto circumvent this problem.• Floors usually have metal girders and metal reinforcing struts that interfere with WLAN transmission.
3Chapter 2Hardware installationThis chapter covers how to installing the wireless LAN module in your embedded system.Hardware descriptionThe Wireless LAN Module has a standard PCMCIA 68-pin connector for attaching to the PCMCIA port of em-bedded system.And this module has MMCX connector to connect to external antenna.Status LEDsThe following table describes the meaning of the LEDs:LED MEANINGPWR Indicates that the Card is powered on.LINK Indicates link status. It is normally blinking. When blink-ing, indicates that the card is scanning the channels, andthe link is not active. When lit, indicates that the card islocked to a channel, and the link is active.Chapter 3Installation for Embedded Linux SystemFollowing is a example to install the module to a embedded Linux system.installation for LinuxFollow the steps below to install the Wireless LAN card drivers (wlan-ng v0.1.6) for Linux.Before Installing the Linux DriversBefore you install the Linux wlan-ng v0.1.6 drivers, you need the PCMCIA module source code. If you do nothave the source code, you can get it from the following URL:ftp://hyper.stanford.edu/pub/pcmciaAfter you have rebuilt and installed the PCMCIA module, edit /etc/pcmcia/network.opts to enable DHCP. In theDHCP setup, you can leave the fields empty. If there is no DHCP server on your network, you might have todisable DHCP to use a static IP and then fill the fields in /etc/pcmcia/network.opts.In Linux there is an 802.11b Access Point with which the station can be associated.
Wireless LAN card user manual4Installation Procedure1. Unpack the tgz file by typing the following line at the shell prompt, (assuming the shell prompt is >).>gzip -cd wlan-ng-0.1.6.tgz | tar xvf -2. Configure and install wlan v0.1.6. Be sure to configure the build as Station (STA)—do not choose Ac-cess Point (AP) because there is no firmware available that supports the AP function.>cd wlan-ng-0.1.6>make config>make all>make install3. Edit /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.conf by adding the following lines to the bottom of the file.card "PCMCIA 11M WLAN"manfid 0x0274, 0x1601bind "prism2_cs"4. Edit /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.opts. The fields to edit are listed below:dot11DesireSSIDAPSSIDAPCHANNEL5. Restart your computer.>shutdown -r now
—Installation for Embedded Linux System5When Linux is booting up, you will hear two high pitch beeps. This means that the driver has been loaded suc-cessfully. If you want to know if the card has connected to an access point, see if the red ACT LED on the cardis illuminated. When the ACT LED stops blinking, it means the card/station has been connected to an accesspoint.
6Chapter 4Using the Wireless UtilityThis module also come with a wireless utility, following describe how to use the utility.Configuration UtilityThe following table describes the configuration utility:State: displays the connection status.Current Channel: displays the chan-nel.Current Tx Rate: displays the wire-less bandwidth in megabits persecond.Throughput: displays the transferand receive rates in bytes per second.Link Quality: when connected to thewired LAN, displays the connectionintegrity.Signal Strength: when connected tothe wired LAN, displays the signalstrength.Note: Link quality and signal strengthare not available when using a peer-to-peer connection.Mode: displays the current LANmode, either AdHoc or Infrastructure.SSID: displays a list of Service SetIdentifications.Ethernet Conversion: displays a listof Ethernet conversion protocols.Tx Rate: displays a list of transferrates.WEP: allows you to enable or disableWired Equivalency Privacy (WEP) forencryption, with either 64- or 128-bitencryption.PS Mode: allows you to enable ordisable power saving mode.Channel: enables you to select atransmission channel.
—Using the Wireless Utility7The Encryption window enables you tocreate an encryption scheme forWireless LAN transmissions. Enter apassphrase and press Generate toautomatically generate a 64- or 128-bit key (selected from the WEP drop-down menu in the Configurationscreen).You can also manually enter a set ofvalues for each key.Note: 128-bit encryption requires mo-re system resources than 64-bitencryption. Use 64-bit encryption forbetter performance.This screen displays the version num-ber of the Wireless LAN card and theConfiguration Utility.
8Appendix ATroubleshootingQ&AThese guidelines give you tips to deal with some problems you may encounter while using the Wireless LANmodule.Question: Can not connect to one of the clients in the network.Answer: First of all, make sure that all clients are up and running with a green Wireless Utility icon.And please check your TCP/IP setup is correct for your network.
9Appendix BSpecificationsStandards Compliance: IEEE802.11b WLAN Standard,PCMCIA 2.1 and JEIDA 4.2 StandardSocket Interface: 68-pin 16-bit PCMCIA socket connectorCard Size: PCMCIA extended Type IIFrequency: 2.412 to 2.462GHz ( Industrial Scientific MedicalBand )Antenna: Dipole AntennaRoaming: 802.11 compliantData Rate: 11Mbps / 5.5Mbps / 2Mbps / 1MbpsModulation Technique: Direct Sequence Spread SpectrumBPSK / QPSK / CCKCoverage Area: Close Space : 45m @ 11Mbps,150m @ 5.5Mbps or lowerPower: DC +3.3V /+5V, 220mA (3.3V)Output Power: 18.5dBm (typical)Receiver Sensitivity: -82dBm Min.Operating Environment: Temperature: 0o to 55oCHumidity: 10% to 90%

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