WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK CONCEPTUAL DESIGN AND PLANNING IN CAMPUS (PRACTICE IN UTP)

Wireless communication is currently in a state of rapid evolution. This evolution is
driven by the numerous advantages of the wireless networks. Wireless Local Area
Network (WLAN) is one of the new networking environments where it supports
the mobility of the network user without being encumbered by the existing cable.
Since the current Local Area Network (LAN) in Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
(UTP) is fairly growth with good performance reliability, shifting the current
setup to WLAN is locally accepted. This will benefit all the UTP users including
students, respective lecturers, and beneficial for administration line of staff. The
current planning and setup will cover certain stages in order to build a high
reliability and best performance of the WLAN environment. Data transmission
and signal strength for the area is practically surveyed in order to obtain best
performance and ability to transmit data in bit per second required.
Research and questionnaire have also been done throughout the UTP students and
IT Media Services Executives, in orderto determine the best design concept to be
applied in UTP campus and to determine the best place for WLAN to be
implemented. Usage models are required in order to support the activity that
will be in the WLANenvironment. The conceptual designofWLAN environment
will cater the area of the student residential including the Student Centre, cafeteria
and student residential. With the design, location of all the devices such as the
wireless access point (AP) and security access point (SAP) to roam the signal
coverage and to secure the signal for data transmission can be determined. The
technology used in data transmission is also being covered in this research paper,
which includes the Spread Spectrum LAN. To ensure the system meets the
budgeted cost, the author came out with the budgeting plan for all the devices
allocated for the WLAN setup. The WLAN planning and setup in UTP will help
the UTP management in getting the idea to implement a WLAN environment
insidethe campusas wellto compliance with the currentLANsetup.