WI-FI COVERAGE IN CAMPUS 2
Running head: WI-FI COVERAGE IN CAMPUS 1
Wi-Fi Coverage in Campus
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Introduction
There are increased advances in technology in contemporary society. New devices are being manufactured to enhance communication and educational researches. The learning institutions are overcrowded with students tasty of knowledge. Research materials are not enough in the libraries and if they are the library cannot accommodate all the learners at the same time. This issue calls for alternative methods of obtaining research materials. Teaching and learning materials are currently availed in other forms apart from hard copies, books. The learning materials are in the way of soft copies like portable document format (PDF) and e-books which are easily accessible from the online libraries by use of desktops, phones, and laptops. To facilitate this, the universities have put in place internet services, Wireless local-area networks (WLANs).
The WLANs are increasingly becoming universal in all learning institutions. The Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is accessible within a given range of coverage that is when the students are within the campus. The Internet is accessed by other learners off-campus on their phones and laptops using the Modems and private hotspots. Apart from the internet use for research via e-learning platforms, and other classes online, most students enhance their social life through social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
Henrik Sjodin was the first personality to propose the usage of the WLANs at the NetWorld+Interop conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco in 1993. At this time he used the term hotspot to refer to the wireless network, LANs. In 1994 he founded PLANCOM companies for the LANs which later became the MobileStar and then the Hotspot of the T-Mobile in the United States of America in 1996. The Nokia company in 2001 advanced the term Hotspot after the proposal of Sjodin.
Deployment of wireless networks is becoming high, and the campuses need to put efforts to foster the initiative. Such initiatives include placing and considering ICT as being an essential part in learning institutions to necessitate budget allocation; Google has started an initiative of supporting wireless infrastructures in the universities.
The study has indicated increased use of wireless networks in the USA based universities. Kobby et al. (2005) researched the wireless network usage on the campus. They tried to understand the patterns of usage of the WLANs for the ones who invent, deploy and carry out its management. They found that there is a full usage of Wi-Fi across the campuses. A broader population relies on the Wi-Fi to carry out their studies. Newly admitted students in the universities use the WLANs more as compared to other students; learners also prefer to own wireless laptops as their primary gadgets of study (Tang and Baker, 2004).
Kotz and Essien (2005) state that the networks are at times unreliable due to the breakdowns of the IP address connections. During the use of wireless networks, the learners experience insignificant roaming. At times the cards often roam that the students cannot do their research efficiently. This issue needs to be addressed by the relevant authorities to promote smooth learning for the students.
The Information Networking Technology Institute of the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), gave a proposal to the National Science Foundation requesting them to develop and increase the internet sped by creating High-Speed Wireless Infrastructure. This proposal was intended to offer support for wireless related researches and to build an expanded campus user community. The CMU has a high number of users of the Wi-Fi in both the technical and non-technical departments. For instance, the wired network of CMU has three components, the high-speed campus network, the network clients and the network service. Such components enable the learners to access the electronic mails, the computing center, library information, and faster and reliable internet.
There has been the continuous deployment of technology, for instance, the IEEE 802.11b/g/n. Most institutions lack adequate knowledge about the usage of such networks; they have little knowledge concerning the relationship between the levels of security which are configured in the WLANs of the university and to the increment in the network usage.
Deployment and Operation of Campus Wireless Networks
There is the establishment of Wi-Fi hotspots in recent years in campuses for the wires access of internet. During the installation of the wireless networks the authority must consider some variables which are interoperability; capability to support the open protocol like the 802.11 b/g/n, the range of transmission, radiosensitivity which entails the quality of the hardware and the link budget, the throughput which is the highest bit rate and the accessories like electricity and the availability of the spare parts.
In the campus the WLANs deployed work through; use of an open public network to create a free hotspot this only requires the university to acquire a router. Also, the campus can choose to use closed public networks by using the Hotspot Management System to control the hotspot. The software runs the router automatically. The administrator can restrict access by a user in a specific bandwidth; therefore every user is limited to a given speed ensuring that every student accesses quality browsing speeds.
Improving Wi-Fi connection in campus
The Wi-Fi vendors are upgrading their systems and WLAN products; the university needs to be updated such that the learners get reliable and efficient internet connections; therefore the campus needs to:
Update and buy wireless designs that can accommodate the latest devices and the increased number of users. The previous plans focused on only one aspect which is coverage. With the introduction of the new technology, there are faster devices; therefore the old WLANs cannot effectively manage the capacity required by the new tools. The campus then needs to look for the latest Wi-Fi designs that can meet the capacity requirements. Coverage is a primary requirement; the university must also consider the application requirements of the devices used by the students. It is essential to carry out the determination of application throughput as it is crucial in identifying the number of access points required. If the campus considers this during the installation process, then the learners will get fast and reliable Wi-Fi.
The campus has to take the initiative in collaboration with the Department of IT to enlighten the learners on what kind of devices are best for use with the Wi-Fi. This issue is essential given that the wireless networks are meant to meet the requirements of the wireless devices, for instance, the tablets, laptops and mobile devices. The students should be encouraged to buy machines with the 2.4GHz band which has poor connectivity capacity. They should instead buy devices with 5GHz bands, dual-band devices. They are updating the wireless devices after installation is also necessary as it keeps the Wi-Fi drivers updated. Updated drivers fix bugs that slow down the Wi-Fi connectivity. Through this, the students acquire to the best internet via the wireless connection.
The campus should also introduce the automated system of managing the devices. This incident is as a result of the deployment of many tools. Automation will help the university to identify the number of devices that require the access of Wi-Fi hence help them to know the capacity and planning.
The university should also consider Bring Your Device (BYOD). Meeting the capacity requirements of the devices by the institutions is also essential as other methods might not be able to connect to the installed Wi-Fi. High capacity is recommendable — use of an automated onboard system to control guest devices.
I am Making the Wi-Fi connection better in the university needs that during the installation omnidirectional antennas must be used. These antennas are capable of propagating the Wi-Fi in 360 degrees. Application of directional antennas as they are capable of reducing the interference between other access points given that they cover a particular area.
The campus must select the best Wi-Fi infrastructure. They are powering the access points through the Ethernet cabling, the 802.3af protocol which uses 15W of power to run. The latest access points need 30W of power for them to run; therefore the Power over Ethernet must be considered when designing the Wi-Fi network. The best should be chosen to avoid breakdown of the internet connections.
Distributing the hotspot points within the campus is another way of making the Wi-Fi experience better for the students. The coverage should not only be in the library and the classrooms. It should be extended to the hostels to make sure that the students access internet services from where they can.
Setting up back up plans in case there is a breakdown of electricity by use of automatic generators is mandatory. During the electricity breakdown, the wifi hotspots go off implying disrupting the learning efficiency of the learners. Automatic generators must be installed to prevent such kind of disturbance. The Wi-Fi should always be on for convenient access during the time of need.
Challenges facing Wi-Fi connection in campus
The wireless networks may fail to provide the best service as expected. At times the students and the stuff suffer roams while browsing, slow connections and even no connectivity at moments dues to:
The campus can be using an outdated design. The university takes much time before updating their WLAN; t some new devices cannot be hosted by the WLAN because they are advanced and need the latest WLAN designs for them to connect.
Outdated infrastructure is also a challenge when using wireless networks. There is a change in the wave technology, but the campus might fail to change the old support to the new ones, thereby making it difficult for the learners to connect their devices effectively.
There is an increased number of BYOD and IoT. The students are many on the campus that they exceed the approximated capacity of the hotspot. Therefore all the students cannot access the internet at the same time, or if they do, then the speed slows down making it ineffective and unreliable.
References
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