National Datacomm 2210S01 User Manual

11Mbps Wireless Networking

WEC

Wireless Ethernet Client

NWH2210/NWH2610

Installation Guide

Rev. A1

December 2001

National Datacomm Corporation

4F, No. 24-2, Industry East 4th Road, Science Park
Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Technical Support

E-mail: [e-mail]

NDC World Wide Web

www.ndc.com.tw

TRADEMARKS

NDC and InstantWave are trademarks of National Datacomm Corporation. All other
names mentioned in this document are trademarks/registered trademarks of their
respective owners.
NDC provides this document “as is”, without warranty of any kind, neither expressed nor
implied, including, but not limited to, the particular purpose. NDC may make improvements
and/or changes in this manual or in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this
manual at any time. This document could include technical inaccuracies or typographical
errors.

FCC WARNING

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B Digital
device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide
reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This
equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and
used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio
communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a
particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or
television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user
is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

Ÿ Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna
Ÿ Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver
Ÿ Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the

receiver is connected

Ÿ 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 compliance could void your authority to operate the equipment.
This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following
two conditions:

1. This device may not cause harmful interference, and

2. This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may
cause undesired operation

FCC RF Radiation Exposure Statement

This equipment complies with FCC RF radiation exposure limits set forth for an
uncontrolled environment. This equipment should be installed and operated with a
minimum distance of 20 centimeters between the radiator and your body.

"This transmitter must not be co-located or operating in conjunction
with any other antenna or transmitter."

ii InstantWave 11Mbps Wireless Ethernet Client

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS..................................................................................................1

PLACEMENT G UIDELINES................................................................................................. 1

HOW TO USE THIS G UIDE.................................................................................................2

TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS G UIDE..............................................................................2

APPLICATION SCENARIOS................................................................................................3

Infrastructure Network................................................................................................3

Ad Hoc Network...........................................................................................................4

HARDWARE DESCRIPTION.......................................................................................5

LED INDICATORS..............................................................................................................5

WEC CONFIGURATION TOOL INSTALLATION ..............................................6

USING THE WEC COMFIG TOOL............................................................................7

CONNECT ............................................................................................................................7

PASSWORD.........................................................................................................................8

SERVICE..............................................................................................................................8

General ..........................................................................................................................9

Encryption ...................................................................................................................11

Ethernet .......................................................................................................................13

PERFORM WEC SELF DIAGNOSTIC TEST ....................................................................14

UPGRADE WEC FIRMWARE..........................................................................................14

RESET WEC CONFIGURATION......................................................................................15

CONNECT AN ETHERNET DEVICE......................................................................15

TECHNICAL SUPPORT...............................................................................................16

NDC LIMITED WARRANTY.....................................................................................17

SPECIFICATIONS..........................................................................................................19

APPENDIX.........................................................................................................................22

INDEX .................................................................................................................................23

InstantWave 11Mbps Wireless Ethernet Client iii

List of Figures

FIGURE 1. INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK ..........................................................................3

FIGURE 2. AD HOC NETWORK...........................................................................................4

FIGURE 3. REAR PANEL......................................................................................................5

FIGURE 4. FRONT PANEL....................................................................................................5

FIGURE 5. CONNECT ...........................................................................................................7

FIGURE 6. PASSWORD.........................................................................................................8

FIGURE 7. SERVICE .............................................................................................................8

FIGURE 8. CONFIGURATION/GENERAL............................................................................9

FIGURE 9. CONFIGURATION/ENCRYPTION.....................................................................12

FIGURE 10. CONFIGURATION/ETHERNET.........................................................................13

FIGURE 11. HARDWARE DIAGNOSIS.................................................................................14

FIGURE 12. UPGRADE FIRMWARE.....................................................................................15

FIGURE 13. RESET CONFIGURATION.................................................................................15

Packing List

The package should contain the following items:

• One InstantWave Wireless Ethernet Client

• RS-232 Cable

• Cross-over Ethernet Cable

• One Floppy Disk

• Installation Guide

iv InstantWave 11Mbps Wireless Ethernet Client

Introduction

Congratulations on choosing an InstantWave Wireless Ethernet Client (WEC ).
This guide gives instructions on installing the WEC and using the configuration
program.

The InstantWave WEC is part of a family of easy to use high-performance wireless
communication products. The family products also include:

• InstantWave AP (NWH660)

• InstantWave PC Card (NWH610)

• InstantWave PCI Card (NWH630)

The InstantWave WEC provides a wireless connection to the Internet or to shared
resources for an Ethernet-enabled device. Once the WEC has been set up, all that
is required is a simple cross-over Ethernet cable between the WEC and the device
to be connected, e.g. notebook computer. Ad hoc mode allows Ethernet-enabled
devices to communicate wirelessly WEC to WEC

System Requirements

System requirements to install and operate the InstantWave WEC are:

• An Ethernet adapter

• A PC running Windows 95/98/Me/NT4.0/2000/XP (only required when

configuration of the WEC’s network properties is necessary)

Placement Guidelines

A few tips to mention that are particularly significant in a radio wave
communications system:

1. Radio waves reflect or refract from buildings, walls, metal furniture, or other
objects. This could result in performance degradation due to the fluctuation of
the received signal.

2. Microwave ovens use the 2.45 GHz frequency band. InstantWave also
functions in the 2.4 ~ 2.5 GHz band, and therefore shares some of the band
with microwave ovens. This means that when a nearby microwave oven is in
use, it may interfere with InstantWave signals, resulting in performance
degradation on the wireless network.

For the best performance, follow the guidelines below in placing the product:

• Place as high as possible, in as open an area as possible

InstantWave 11Mbps Wireless Ethernet Client 1

• Avoid placing the WEC (especially the antenna) close to metal objects (e.g.
file cabinets, metal cubicles, etc.)

• Keep WECs as far away as possible from microwave ovens (10 meters min. is
advisable)

How to Use this Guide

The Installation Guide gives complete instructions for installation of the
InstantWave Wireless Ethernet Client (WEC).

Use the WEC COMFig tool , see page 7, to change the default WEC settings. The
WEC COMFig tool permits basic WEC offline configuration from a PC via an RS­232 cable/COM port connection.

Terminology Used in this Guide

Domain Name/SSID

A “Domain” is most commonly used to refer to a group of computers whose
hostnames share a common suffix. The domain is usually defined by the network
administrator as a segment/subnet of a large network and may be made up of
overlapping wireless cells. Wireless nodes can roam freely within the same
domain without disconnecting from the network.

Regulatory Domain

InstantWave products use the unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) band
to communicate through radio waves. Different countries offer different radio
frequencies to be used as the ISM band. There are four frequency bands defined
by IEEE 802.11: Japan (2.471GHz – 2.497 GHz), USA, Extended Japan, Canada,
and Europe (2.4 GHz – 2.4835 GHz), Spain (2.445 GHz – 2.475 GHz), and France
(2.4465 GHz – 2.4835 GHz). To use InstantWave in a country not listed above,
check with your government’s regulating body to find the correct frequency band
to use. All InstantWave products are supplied preset to the country of sale’s
frequency band.

WEP

WEP stands for Wired Equivalent Privacy. It is an encryption scheme that

provides secure wireless data communication. WEP uses a 40-bit or 128-bit key to
encrypt data. In order to decode the data transmission, each wireless client on the
network must use identical keys.

2 InstantWave 11Mbps Wireless Ethernet Client

Application Scenarios

Ethernet Ready

Computer with

Hub

Infrastructure Network

An Infrastructure network is formed by several stations and one or more Access
Points (APs), with the stations within a set distance from the AP. Figure 1 depicts
a typical Infrastructure network topology.

Print Server

WEC

Wireless LAN
Card

Access Point

Computer

Figure 1. Infrastructure Network

InstantWave 11Mbps Wireless Ethernet Client 3

Ad Hoc Network

Server

Ethernet Ready

Computer

An Ad hoc network is formed by a number of wireless stations (without an Access
Point) communicating via radio waves. For the users, the shared resources on the
wireless network appear exactly as they would on a regular wired network. The
wireless operation of the network is totally transparent. Figure 2 depicts a typical
Ad hoc network scenario.

Computer

Print

WEC

Figure 2. Ad Hoc Network

WEC

with

Wireless

LAN Card

4 InstantWave 11Mbps Wireless Ethernet Client

Hardware Description

The WEC rear panel contains the cable connectors. One RS-232 port for
connecting the configuration cable from a computer COM port, one UTP port for
connecting a cross-over Ethernet cable from an Ethernet device, and the DC5V
power-in port for connecting the power adapter.

Note: Use only the supplied power adapter.

Figure 3. Rear Panel

Figure 4. Front Panel

LED Indicators

The WEC LEDs on the front panel (Figure 4) show the status of the connections.

PWR/STATUS

Ethernet LINK

Ethernet TX/RX

Wireless LINK

Wireless TX/RX

Unlit: Power is off
Blinking Green: Diagnostic test
Steady Green: Healthy condition
Steady Red: Sick condition
Blinking Green: The WEC COMFig Tool is being

used to configure the WEC
Unlit: No link
Steady Green: Ethernet link
Unlit: No activity
Blinking Orange: TX/RX activity
Unlit: No link
Steady Green: Radio link
Blinking Green: The WEC COMFig Tool is being

used to configure the WEC
Unlit: No activity
Blinking Orange: TX/RX activity

InstantWave 11Mbps Wireless Ethernet Client 5