Netgear HE102 Reference Manual
®
802.11a Wireless Access Point
54 Mbps HE102
User’s Guide
©2002 NETGEAR, Inc.Allrightsreserved.
Trademarks NETGEAR is a registered trademark of NETGEAR, Inc. Windowsis a registered
trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders.Information is subject to change without notice. All rights
reserved.
StatementofConditions In the interest of improving internal design, operationalfunction, and/or
reliability, NETGEAR reserves the right to make changes to the products described in this document
without notice. NETGEAR does not assume any liability that may occur due to the use or
application of the product(s) or circuit layout(s) describedherein.
FCC WARNING
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital d evice,
pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection
against harmful interferencein a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can
radiate radio frequency energyand, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may
cause harmful interferenceto radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that
interferencewill not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful
interference to radio or televisionreception, which can be determined by turning the equipment on
and off, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by on or more of the following
measures:
♦ Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
♦ Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver.
♦ Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is
connected.
♦ Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TXV technician for help. Modifications made to the
product, unless expresslyapproved by NETGEAR, Inc., could void the user’s authority to
operate the equipment.
♦ RF Exposure Requirements WARNING!! To ensure compliance with FCC RF exposure
requirements, the antenna used for this device must be installed to provide a separation
distance of at least 20 cm (8 in) from all persons and must not be co-located or operating in
conjunction with any other antenna or radio transmitter. Installers and end-users must follow
the installation instructions provided in this user guide.
Radio Frequency InterferenceRequirements This device is restricted to indoor use due to its
operation in the 5.15 to 5.25 GHz frequencyrange. FCC requires this product to be used indoors
for the frequency range 5.15 to 5.25 GHz to reduce the potential for harmful interference to cochannel Mobile Satellite systems. High power radars are allocated as primary users of the 5.25 to
5.35 GHz and 5.65 to 5.85 GHz bands. These radar stations can cause interference with and /or
damage this device.
Canadian DepartmentofCommunicationsRadioInterferenceRegulations This digital apparatus
(Model HE102 WirelessAccess Point) does not exceed the Class B limits for radio-noise
emissions from digital apparatus as set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Canadian
Department of Communications.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1—INTRODUCTION
Benefits
Features
Related NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless LAN Products
CHAPTER 2—WIRELESS NETWORK FUNDAMENTALS
Wireless Network Configuration
Service Set Identification (SSID)
Authentication and WEP Encryption
Wireless Channel Selection
CHAPTER 3—INSTALLATION
Installation Overview
Package Contents
Hardware Description
LED Indicators
System Requirements
Determine the Configuration of your Wireless Network
Wireless Access Point Installation
CHAPTER 4—ACCESS POINT CONFIGURATION
Access Point Setup
Wireless LAN Setup
TCP/IP Setup
Password
Security
Access Control
Firmware Upgrade
AP Status (Station List)
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Ad-hoc Mode (Peer-to-Peer Workgroup)
Infrastructure Mode........................................................................................................... 5
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CHAPTER 5—TROUBLESHOOTING
APPENDIX A—GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS
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CHAPTER 1—INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on your purchase of NETGEAR’s HE102 54 Mbps 802.11a
Wireless Access Point, which gives you the ultimate in office mobility. This
high-speed wireless device lets you quickly network multiple PCs and
notebooks together without laying any new cabling, and gives users the freedom
to roam throughout the workplace and stay connected to corporate resources, email, and the internet. It provides built-in capacity and flexibility for growing
networks so it’s easy to add new clients and/or move your entire network to a
new office site. Equipped with auto-sensing capability, it allows packet transfer
at up to 54 Mbps for maximum throughput, or speed reduction to the lower 6
Mbps speed for distance or for operating in a noisy environment.
Benefits
♦ Blazing fast speeds – up to 54 Mbps, 72 Mbps in turbo mode
♦ Seamlessly integrate into the existing 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet
LAN
♦ Ultra-reliable, standards-based IEEE 802.11a wireless local area networking
♦ Free from interference, it coexists with IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth™
devices
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Features
The key features of the HE102 Wireless Access Point are:
♦ Reliable IEEE 802.11a standards-based wireless technology.
♦ Interfaces directly to 10Mbps IEEE 802.3 Ethernet and IEEE802.3u Fast
Ethernet networks.
♦ Roaming support between access points.
♦ Up to 72 Mbps high-speed rate in Turbo mode. Wireless nodes negotiate to
operate in the optimal data transfer rate. In a noisy environment or when the
distance between the wireless nodes is far, the wireless nodes automatically
fall back to operate at the lowest transfer rate of 6 Mbps.
♦ Highest level of data encryption using 152-bit Shared Key data encryption
method. Lower level of data encryption or no data encryption is available to
simplify your network setup or to improve data transfer rate.
♦ Extensive coverage and available bandwidth with eight (8) non-overlapping
channels in the 5 GHz band (5.15 to 5.35 GHz).
Related NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless LAN Products
♦ HA501 802.11a Wireless CardBus Adapter
♦ HA301 802.11a Wireless PCI Adapter
♦ HR814 802.11a Cable/DSL Router
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CHAPTER 2—WIRELESS NETWORK
FUNDAMENTALS
Wireless Network Configuration
Ad-hoc Mode (Peer-to-Peer Workgroup)
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard for
wireless LANs (WLANs), 802.11 offers two methods for configuring a wireless
network — ad-hoc and infrastructure. In an ad-hoc network, computers are
brought together as needed; thus, there is no structure or fixed points to the
network — each node can generally communicate with any other node. There is
no access point involved in this configuration. It enables you to quickly set up a
small wireless workgroup and allows workgroup members to exchange data or
share printers as supported by Microsoft Networking in the various Windows
operating systems. Some vendors also refer to ad-hoc networking as peer-topeer workgroup networking.
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In this configuration, network packets are directly sent and received by the
intended transmitting and receiving stations. As long as the stations are within
range of one another, this is the easiest and least expensive way to set up a
wireless network.
To set up an ad-hoc workgroup operating with standard protocols, do the
following:
♦ Set all stations to connect in Ad-hoc mode (or Peer-to-Peer workgroup
mode).
♦ Set all stations to use the same network name (or SSID). Please refer to
page 6 for more information.
♦ Set all stations to use no WEP encryption key or an identical WEP
encryption key.
♦ Set all stations to use the same wireless channel for communication.
Infrastructure Mode
With a wireless access point, you can put the wireless LAN into the
infrastructure mode. It provides wireless connectivity to multiple wireless
network devices within a fixed range or area of coverage, interacting with a
wireless node via an antenna.
In the infrastructure mode, the wireless access point converts airwave data into
wired Ethernet data, acting as a bridge between the wired LAN and wireless
clients. Connecting multiple HE102 Wireless Access Points via a wired Ethernet
backbone can further extend the wireless network coverage. As a mobile
computing device moves out of the range of one access point, it moves into the
range of another. As a result, wireless clients can freely roam from one access
point domain to another and still maintain seamless network connection.
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To set up an infrastructure network operating with standard protocols, do the
following:
♦ Set all wireless stations to connect in infrastructure mode
♦ Set all stations to use the same network name (or SSID).
♦ Set all wireless access points to use the same network name (or ESSID). For
more information, please refer to page 7.
♦ Set all stations to use no WEP encryption key or an identical WEP
encryption key as the one used in Access points.
♦ Set up wireless channels used by individual access points. (It is not
necessary to set channels on the stations as the stations will automatically
scan through all channels for the nearest access point.)
Service Set Identification (SSID)
The Service Set Identification (SSID) is a thirty-two alphanumeric character
(maximum) string identifying the wireless local area network. Some vendors
refer to the SSID as “network name”. In order for stations to communicate with
each other, all stations must be configured with the same SSID.
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A wireless LAN consisting of nodes operating in ad-hoc configuration without
an access point is called a Basic Service Set (BSS). All nodes in a BSS must use
the same Basic Service Set ID (BSSID).
In an infrastructure configuration with access points, multiple BSS can be
configured to form an Extended Service Set (ESS). In this configuration, the
access points are configured with the same Extended Service Set ID (ESSID).
Wireless clients configured with the same ESSID can freely roam from one
access point domain to another and still maintain seamless connection to the
network
Authentication and WEP Encryption
The absence of a physical connection between nodes makes the wireless links
vulnerable to information theft. To provide a certain level of security, IEEE
802.11 standard has defined two types of authentication methods, Open System
and Shared Key. Open System authentication is a null algorithm. Shared Key
authentication is an algorithm where both the transmitting node and the
receiving node share an authentication key to perform a checksum on the
original message. By default, IEEE 802.11 wireless devices operate in an open
system network.
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) data encryption is utilized when the wireless
nodes or access points are configured to operate in Shared Key authentication
mode. There are three shared key methods implemented in NETGEAR’s
802.11a solutions: the standard based 40-bit WEP data encryption and 128-bit
WEP data encryption plus the extended 152-bit WEP data encryption.
The forty-bit WEP data encryption method allows for a five-character (forty-bit)
input. Additionally, 24 factory-set bits are added to the forty-bit input to
generate a 64-bit encryption key. (The 24 factory-set bits are not user
configurable.) This encryption key will be used to encrypt/decrypt all data
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transmitted via the wireless interface. Some vendors may refer to the 40-bit
WEP data encryption as 64-bit WEP data encryption since the actual encryption
key used in the encryption process is 64 bits wide.
The 128-bit WEP data encryption method consists of 104 configurable bits and
the 152-bit WEP data encryption method consists of 128 configurable bits
Similar to the forty-bit WEP data encryption method, the remaining 24 bits are
factory set and not user configurable.
Encryption Key
Size
64-bit
(24+40)
128-bit
(24+104)
152-bit
(24+1280)
#of
Hexadecimal Digits
10 4C72F08AE1
26 4C72F08AE19D57A3FF6B260037
32 4C72F08AE19D57A3FF6B26003715DAC2
Example of Hexadecimal Key Content
Wireless Channel Selection
IEEE 802.11a utilizes 300 MHz of bandwidth in the 5 GHz Unlicensed National
Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band. Though the lower 200 MHz is
physically contiguous, the FCC has divided the total 300 MHz into three distinct
domains, each with a different legal maximum power output.
U-NII Band Low Middle High
Frequency (GHz) 5.15 – 5.25 5.25 – 5.35 5.725 – 5.825
Max. Power Output 50 mW 250 mW 1W
Note: The high band is not supported in HE102 Wireless Access Point.
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