Fortress Technologies BreadCrumb Wireless Network User Manual

BreadCrumb® Wireless Network User

Guide

For the BreadCrumb® Wireless Network Release 8.4

Rajant Corporation

BreadCrumb® Wireless Network User Guide: For the BreadCrumb® Wireless Network Release 8.4

Revision History Revision 1.1 February 20, 2006

Revision 1.0 October 6, 2005

Preface .........................................................................................................................................................i

Purpose and Scope ..............................................................................................................................i

User Information.................................................................................................................................i

1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................1

What is a BreadCrumb? .....................................................................................................................1

Mobility through Meshing .................................................................................................................1

Mesh - A Deﬁnition..................................................................................................................2

BreadCrumb Devices Mesh by Channel and ESSID................................................................2

Example 1 .......................................................................................................................2

Example 2 .......................................................................................................................3

2. Upgrading to Version 8.4.......................................................................................................................4

New Features......................................................................................................................................4

Performance / Process Improvements................................................................................................4

Issues Resolved..................................................................................................................................4

Known Issues.....................................................................................................................................4

Installing / Upgrading BCAdmin.......................................................................................................5

Upgrading BreadCrumb Firmware ....................................................................................................5

Flash Update Procedure for Version 2 and Version 3 Systems ................................................6

3. Models.....................................................................................................................................................8

BreadCrumb ME................................................................................................................................9

External Connectors ...............................................................................................................10

BreadCrumb WE..............................................................................................................................10

External Connectors ...............................................................................................................10

BreadCrumb SE ...............................................................................................................................11

External Connectors ...............................................................................................................11

BreadCrumb XL...............................................................................................................................12

External Connectors ...............................................................................................................12

BreadCrumb XLV ............................................................................................................................13

External Connectors ...............................................................................................................13

BreadCrumb XLE ............................................................................................................................14

External Connectors ...............................................................................................................14

4. Deployment Considerations................................................................................................................16

Addressing .......................................................................................................................................16

BreadCrumb Device Addresses..............................................................................................16

DHCP .....................................................................................................................................16

Channel Assignments.......................................................................................................................16

Channel Assignment for Single-Radio BreadCrumb Devices (ME and WE)........................17

Channel Assignment for Long-Range BreadCrumb Devices (XL, XLV, XLE) ....................17

Physical Placement and Other Considerations.................................................................................17

Line Of Sight ..........................................................................................................................17

Distance..................................................................................................................................18

Weather...................................................................................................................................19

Interference.............................................................................................................................19

Altitude...................................................................................................................................19

iii

5. Using BCAdmin™ ...............................................................................................................................20

Screen Layout ..................................................................................................................................20

Topology Area........................................................................................................................21

Anatomy of the BreadCrumb Box................................................................................22

Anatomy of the Client Box...........................................................................................23

Anatomy of a Connection Line.....................................................................................24

Asymmetric Connections....................................................................................25

Redundant Connections.......................................................................................25

Info Area.................................................................................................................................26

Conﬁguring Individual BreadCrumbs..............................................................................................27

General Settings......................................................................................................................28

Radio Settings.........................................................................................................................29

Reachback Settings.................................................................................................................31

Forwarding Settings................................................................................................................34

Example: Port Forwarding Conﬁguration for a Web Server.........................................35

Security ............................................................................................................................................35

WEP........................................................................................................................................35

Access Control Lists (ACLs)..................................................................................................36

AES-256 Encryption with AirFortress ...................................................................................38

Registering AirFortress.................................................................................................38

Setting the Access ID....................................................................................................38

Enabling/Disabling AirFortress Encryption .................................................................39

Encrypting Wired Trafﬁc..............................................................................................40

Zeroizing the Access ID................................................................................................40

Harris SecNET11....................................................................................................................40

SecNet11 Key Filling....................................................................................................41

BCAdmin Preferences......................................................................................................................41

Mapping with Fugawi Tracker ...............................................................................................42

6. Conﬁguration Examples......................................................................................................................43

Connecting Remote Wired LANs ....................................................................................................43

Unencrypted Point-to-Multipoint...........................................................................................43

Encrypted Point-to-Point........................................................................................................43

Convoy with UAV-Based Camera for Forward Observation............................................................44

Encrypting a Video Feed..................................................................................................................45

7. Troubleshooting ...................................................................................................................................47

Individual BreadCrumbs..................................................................................................................47

The BreadCrumb Wireless Network................................................................................................47

Sporadic Network Connectivity .............................................................................................47

BreadCrumb Device Cannot Connect to BCWN ...................................................................48

BCAdmin .........................................................................................................................................49

Restoring Default Settings (Factory Reset)......................................................................................49

8. Case Study: Military Exercise in Thailand .......................................................................................51

Glossary....................................................................................................................................................54

A. Status Indicator LED..........................................................................................................................57

B. Radio Frequencies...............................................................................................................................58

C. Customer Service................................................................................................................................59

List of Tables

3-1. Available BreadCrumb Models ............................................................................................................8

4-1. Best-Case Distances by Radio Power.................................................................................................18

5-1. BCAdmin Line Colors Legend...........................................................................................................24

5-2. BCAdmin Line Styles Legend ...........................................................................................................25

7-1. Individual BreadCrumb Issues ...........................................................................................................47

7-2. Sporadic Network Connectivity Issues ..............................................................................................47

7-3. BreadCrumb-BCWN Connectivity Issues..........................................................................................48

7-4. BCAdmin Issues.................................................................................................................................49

A-1. LED Status Indications......................................................................................................................57

B-1. 802.11b Channel Frequency Table ....................................................................................................58

List of Figures

1-1. Meshing Example 1 - Full Connectivity ..............................................................................................2

1-2. Meshing Example 2 - Different ESSIDs Prevent Meshing..................................................................3

2-1. Version 2 Power Input ..........................................................................................................................5

2-2. Version 3 Power Input ..........................................................................................................................5

3-1. BreadCrumb ME - External Connectors ............................................................................................10

3-2. BreadCrumb WE - External Connectors............................................................................................11

3-3. BreadCrumb SE - External Connectors..............................................................................................12

3-4. BreadCrumb XL - External Connector ..............................................................................................13

3-5. BreadCrumb XLV - External Connectors ..........................................................................................14

3-6. BreadCrumb XLE - External Connectors (front)...............................................................................15

3-7. BreadCrumb XLE - External Connectors (back) ...............................................................................15

5-1. BCAdmin Screen at Startup (No Network)........................................................................................20

5-2. The BreadCrumb Box ........................................................................................................................22

5-3. The Client Box ...................................................................................................................................23

5-4. Asymmetric Connection Example......................................................................................................25

5-5. Redundant Connection Example........................................................................................................25

5-6. BreadCrumb Summary Panel.............................................................................................................26

5-7. Link Detail Tabs.................................................................................................................................27

5-8. BreadCrumb Properties - General Tab ...............................................................................................28

5-9. BreadCrumb Properties - Radios Tab.................................................................................................30

5-10. BreadCrumb Properties - Reachback Tab ........................................................................................31

5-11. BreadCrumb Properties - Forwarding Tab.......................................................................................34

5-12. WEP Conﬁguration Window............................................................................................................36

5-13. Access Control List Window............................................................................................................37

5-14. Set Access ID Window.....................................................................................................................39

5-15. BCAdmin Preferences Window .......................................................................................................41

7-1. Factory Reset Button..........................................................................................................................50

8-1. Joint Exercise Network.......................................................................................................................51

8-2. BCAdmin screen during exercise showing BreadCrumb network.....................................................51

8-3. View of beach from command center.................................................................................................52

8-4. Balloon with Camera and BreadCrumb .............................................................................................??

8-5. Soldier communicating over BCWN using Microsoft NetMeeting...................................................53

Preface

Purpose and Scope

This manual provides information and guidance to all personnel who are involved with and use Rajant Corporation’s BreadCrumb® Wireless Network devices ("BreadCrumb® devices") in tactical situations.

This manual begins with an introduction to the BreadCrumb Wireless Network and a brief overview of the various BreadCrumb device models available. This is followed by a guide to BCAdmin™, the management application used to conﬁgure BreadCrumb devices before or during a deployment. Finally, common deployment scenarios are described and concise step-by-step instructions for each scenario are provided.

User Information

The user of this manual is encouraged to submit comments and recommended changes to improve this manual. Please send any comments or changes to <support@rajant.com>. Be sure to include the version number of the manual you are using and please provide the page numbers related to your comments wherever possible.

Chapter 1. Introduction

Rajant Corporation’s (http://www.rajant.com) BreadCrumb Wireless Networks are portable, mobile, battery-powered, automatically-meshing, self-healing, full-duplex, secure, 802.11b access points. Their focus is on ﬂexibility, adaptability, and simplicity.

The BCWN (BreadCrumb Wireless Network) is intended for rapid deployment of a broadband wireless network into a situation or "hot zone."

The BreadCrumb Wireless Network components utilize the 802.11b wireless networking standard to form a wireless mesh network. The network can be deployed as a standalone wireless network or may be connected to other networks (such as the Internet or a LAN in a Tactical Operations Center) utilizing available reachback communication links (satellite modem, DSL, cable modem, etc.).

BreadCrumb devices are available with different conﬁgurations designed for speciﬁc tasks, described in the next section.

What is a BreadCrumb?

A BreadCrumb device is an 802.11b (Wi-Fi) Access Point speciﬁcally designed for the following scenarios:

Temporary Wireless Networks

Networks that must be established quickly and with minimal effort for short-term use. (e.g., a network established to provide First Responder support at the site of a disaster)

Mobile Wireless Networks

Networks in which the network infrastructure itself is mobile, in addition to client devices. (e.g., a convoy viewing a video stream from a UAV)

Wireless Network Extension

Networks in which a wireless network must be quickly extended around or through obstacles that block wireless communications (e.g., urban canyon networks, tunnels/caves, etc.)

Wired Network Extension

Networks in which two or more wired LANs at different locations must be connected wirelessly (e.g., to securely connect combat service support computers with logistics bases)

Any Combination of the Above

Most BreadCrumb deployments include elements from more than one of the above scenarios.

In many cases, BreadCrumb devices will perform all of the above tasks as shipped with no conﬁguration necessary at all, providing an instant TAN - a Tactical Area Network. Moreover, because BreadCrumb devices use industry-standard 802.11b communications, client devices such as laptops or handheld computers require no special hardware, software, or conﬁguration to access a BreadCrumb Wireless Network.

Mobility through Meshing

The key component to a BreadCrumb Wireless Network is a technique known as Meshing. While this is generally handled automatically by BreadCrumb devices, complex deployment scenarios require a basic understanding of how BreadCrumb devices establish and maintain a mesh.

Mesh - A Deﬁnition

A mesh is a collection of network devices (in our case, BreadCrumb devices), each of which is connected to one or more other BreadCrumb devices. Data can move between BreadCrumb devices via these links, possibly passing through several intermediate BreadCrumb devices before arriving at its ﬁnal destination.

The intelligence of a BreadCrumb Wireless Network is in how it adapts rapidly to the creation or destruction of the links in the mesh as devices are moved, switched OFF or ON, blocked by obstructions, interfered with by other devices, or otherwise affected. This adaptation takes place automatically and immediately as needed.

Note: Although all BreadCrumb devices can be Access Points, most Access Points do not provide any meshing capabilities. Traditional Access Points simply allow wireless devices within range to connect to a wired network; they do not extend range through other Access Points.

Chapter 1. Introduction

BreadCrumb Devices Mesh by Channel and ESSID

Two BreadCrumb devices establish a mesh link to one another when they share both a radio channel and an ESSID. The 802.11b radios used by BreadCrumb devices support 11 different channels for communication, numbered 1-11. By default, each BreadCrumb device radio is on channel 1, 8, or 11. Most BreadCrumb devices have two radios, using two of those channels.

An ESSID is essentially a name for a wireless network. By default, BreadCrumb devices use the ESSID "breadcrumb".

Example 1

Suppose you have three BreadCrumb devices, called A, B, and C. Each has two radios. BreadCrumb device A’s radios are on channels 1 and 8, B’s are on 8 and 11, and C’s are on 1 and 11. All three BreadCrumb devices are using the default ESSID of "breadcrumb". Assuming that all three BreadCrumb devices are within radio range of one another, the network will be connected like this:

Chapter 1. Introduction

Figure 1-1. Meshing Example 1 - Full Connectivity

Example 2

Now suppose that you change the ESSID of BreadCrumb device C to "lonely". The network will adjust to this change, resulting in the following conﬁguration:

Note that BreadCrumb device C can no longer communicate with A or B, and vice versa.

Figure 1-2. Meshing Example 2 - Different ESSIDs Prevent Meshing

Chapter 2. Upgrading to Version 8.4

This section is only necessary for BreadCrumb device/BCAdmin users of versions earlier than 8.4. If your entire BCWN is operating at version 8.4 or higher, you may safely skip this chapter.

New Features

• Fortress Technologies’ AES-256 encryption is enabled, allowing Fortress encryption to be used on

existing BreadCrumb devices under Rajant’s new licensing terms with Fortress Technologies (http://www.fortresstech.com).

Performance / Process Improvements

• Management frames are now capable of using 11Mbps data rates, increasing overall channel

bandwidth.

• Enhanced radio frame fragmentation process.

Issues Resolved

• A compatibility issue with the latest version of Java® has been resolved. (The problem manifested as

the inability to open a BreadCrumb Properties window).

• Fixed Fortress-Only Mode to work correctly over meshed connections.

• Mesh-transmit timeout condition resets the radio cards, enhancing mesh healing capabilities.

• Radio cards default to "primary antenna only."

• Several minor bugs corrected in the radio driver.

Known Issues

• Signal strength number in BCAdmin is not translated into dBm.

• It is recommended that the mesh feature NOT be disabled. A radio interface with mesh disabled

incorrectly displays a connection in BCAdmin even though no link exists.

• Selection of a unique ESSID (network name) for the BreadCrumb network is recommended. A

BreadCrumb device equipped with tri-color LED incorrectly indicates a meshed connection (GREEN) when in the presence of an 802.11b access point with the same ESSID.

Installing / Upgrading BCAdmin

1. Install the latest JRE from http://www.java.com

2. Download version 8.4 of BCAdmin for Windows or Linux using the link provided by your Rajant Account Manager.

3. Run the installer (for Windows) or install the rpm (for Linux) and follow any instructions provided on your screen.

Chapter 2. Upgrading to Version 8.4

Upgrading BreadCrumb Firmware

Follow the following procedure for each BreadCrumb device in your network. Be sure to determine each BreadCrumb board version (step 1) individually.

1. Determine the BreadCrumb board version (version 2 or version 3) as follows:

• In version 2 units, the power input (where the power wires plug in) are in a straight line, as below:

Figure 2-1. Version 2 Power Input

• Version 3 units have the power conﬁguration as below:

Chapter 2. Upgrading to Version 8.4

Figure 2-2. Version 3 Power Input

2. Download the correct ﬁrmware zip archive for the board determined in the previous step, using the link provided by your Rajant Account Manager.

3. Create a new, empty folder and unzip the archive into it.

4. Copy the unzipped ﬁles (and only those ﬁles) onto an empty (no pre-existing ﬁles) ATA Flash Memory Card (of at least 16MB). The ﬂash card may be directly purchased from http://www.magicram.com/ﬂshcrd.htm

5. Proceed with the ﬂash instructions below.

Flash Update Procedure for Version 2 and Version 3 Systems

Note: BreadCrumb Wireless Network-speciﬁc parameters, like name and location, are reset to their default

values after the upgrade. The user should record these and other parameters to reload into the BreadCrumb devices after the software installation procedure is completed.

1. Turn OFF power to the BreadCrumb.

2. Remove the top PCMCIA card, leaving one radio card still installed in the bottom slot.

• In dual-radio BreadCrumb products, remove the top radio card.

• In single-radio BreadCrumb products, move the radio to the bottom slot.

• Plug the ﬂash card, white label side up, into the top slot.

• Turn unit ON and observe the amber light ON on the radio card. (The green light sometimes goes

ON, sometimes not.)

• Wait for the amber light to go out.

• TURN THE POWER OFF to the BreadCrumb.

• Remove the ﬂash card, and replace the radio(s) to their original positions.

• Power the unit back ON.

Chapter 2. Upgrading to Version 8.4

• Allow the BreadCrumb to operate FOR NO LESS THAN 5 MINUTES before rebooting or turning

OFF.

Important: After a ﬂash update, you should ensure that at least one client device has the new BCAdmin installed, is "permitted" in the device’s ACL list, and is designated as an administrator. Important settings that were lost in the ﬂash may be re-keyed, but do not reboot the BreadCrumb device until it has run for at least ﬁve minutes after its initial power-up after ﬂash.

Rebooting before the end of the ﬁve-minute "bake period" can result in a faulty ﬂash update, requiring the ﬂash operation to be performed again.

Chapter 3. Models

The following table summarizes the differences between the BreadCrumb models available. Each model is described in greater detail later in this chapter.

ME WE SE XL XLV XLE

Usage Weight/

size-sensitive deployments (UAVs, etc.)

Dimensions 6" x 3.75" x

7.5"

Weight 1.5lbs 3.9lbs (incl.

Number of Radios

Ethernet Yes (via

Input Power 6-15VDC 6-15VDC 6-15VDC 9-15VDC 6-40VDC

1 (2 optional)

RJ-45 dongle)

Worn by mobile individual

7.25" x 4.75" x 2.5"

battery) 1 2 2 2 2

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Placed as necessary, short/ medium range use

8.25" x 6.5" x 3.5"

2.5lbs 9.7lbs 12.0lbs 14.0lbs

Placed as necessary, long range use

9" x 6.5" x4"9" x 6.5" x4"12" x 12" x

Vehiclemounted, long-range use

(4-amp start)

Placed as necessary, incl. vehicle mount, contains embedded MPEG video encoder, long-range use

2.5"

6-40VDC (4-amp start)

RF Output Power (no antenna gain)

23dBm/ channel +-2dBm

25dBm/ channel +-2dBm

23dBm/ channel +-2dBm

27dBm/ channel +-2dBm

ME WE SE XL XLV XLE

Security 256-bit AES

FIPS 140-2 using embedded AirFortress Client; Access Control Lists; WEP; Third-party VPNs

Harris SecNet11 Support

Integrated Antennas

No No Yes (waiver

None 5dBi omnidi-

256-bit AES FIPS 140-2 using embedded AirFortress Client; Access Control Lists; WEP; Third-party VPNs

rectional

256-bit AES FIPS 140-2 using embedded AirFortress Client; Access Control Lists; WEP; Third-party VPNs; Type 1 encryption with Harris SecNet11

required)

4x2dBi dipole

Chapter 3. Models

256-bit AES FIPS 140-2 using embedded AirFortress Client; Access Control Lists; WEP; Third-party VPNs; Type 1 encryption with Harris SecNet11

Yes (waiver required)

None None None

256-bit AES FIPS 140-2 using embedded AirFortress Client; Access Control Lists; WEP; Third-party VPNs; Type 1 encryption with Harris SecNet11

Yes (waiver required)

256-bit AES FIPS 140-2 using embedded AirFortress Client; Access Control Lists; WEP; Third-party VPNs; Type 1 encryption with Harris SecNet11

External Antenna Connectors

Managed Networking Features

Table 3-1. Available BreadCrumb Models

Note: A BreadCrumb Wireless Network can include any combination of these models.

SMA (F) None 1xfemale