A111 Wireless Card A daptor Ad User’s Manual
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Disclaimer Mitsubishi Electric Australia Pty. Ltd. makes no representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any warranties, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, Mitsubishi Electric Australia reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the contents hereof without obligation to notify any person of such revision or changes.
Chapter 2 - Installation System Requirements To begin using the A111 Wireless Card Adaptor, you must have the following minimum requirements: Chapter 2 Quick Start • • • • Windows 2000 or XP Standard PCMCIA Slot Type II 128MB system memory or larger 300MHz processor or higher Installation Procedures Important: Install the A111 WLAN Card utilities before inserting the A111 card into your computer. Follow these two easy steps before using the A111 card. 1.
Chapter 2 - Installation Installing the A111 utilities and driver Chapter 2 Quick Start Follow these instructions to install the A111 card utilities and driver. Insert the support CD and an autorun menu will appear. If your autorun is disabled, double click SETUP.EXE in the root directory of the support CD. 1. Click Install A111 WLAN Card Utilities/Driver. 2. Click Next on the Welcome screen. 3. Click Next to use the default Destination Folder or click Browse to select another folder. 4.
Chapter 2 - Installation Chapter 2 Quick Start 6. Windows XP users: When the program is launched for the first time (during Windows restart), you will be asked which function to use. Choose the Diamond Digital WLAN utlities to access the functions listed in Chapter 3. 7. Carefully insert the A111 card into your computer’s PC card slot. Windows will automatically find and configure the WLAN card using the drivers installed in the previous steps.
3. Use Site Survey if you don’t know the name of your access point(s). 4. Encryption settings must also match those set in the access point. Ask your network administrator about the settings if necessary. Click Apply to save your settings 5. Check the Status page to see the Association State. It should show “Connected - xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx”. 6. You can also see the connection quality on the Connection page. Click OK to exit the utility.
Chapter 2 - Installation Soft AP (Windows XP Only) Soft AP mode allows the A111 card to act as a virtual access point. The computer needs to be connected to a wired network using an Ethernet connection in order to provide network access to WLAN clients. Chapter 2 Quick Start 1. Select Soft AP Mode 2. Drag and drop a wired network connection next to the globe icon. 3. Enable ICS* and Firewall if desired. Refer to Windows help for information on “Internet Connection Sharing”. 4.
Chapter 2 - Installation Soft AP Access Control and WDS Soft AP mode allows for Access Control and WDS configuration. Chapter 2 Quick Start Access Control The AP provides facilities to limit the wireless clients that associate with it and the data packets that can forward through it. Filters provide network security or improve performance by eliminating broadcast/multicast packets from the radio network.
Chapter 2 - Installation IMPORTANT: Before setting up a WDS network, make sure all APs have the same Channel and WEP encryption settings. Chapter 2 Quick Start Enter a MAC Address on the Access Control page and select Accept or Reject or Disable. Enter a MAC Address on the WDS page and click Add, then select WDS enabled or uncheck to disable this function. Note: Both the Access Control and WDS functions require MAC addresses using 12 hexidecimal numbers.
Chapter 2 - Installation Reading the A111 Status Indicators Chapter 2 Quick Start The part of the A111 card that protrudes out of the PCMCIA socket consists of two LEDs that indicate the status of the A111 . LNK ACT LNK (Link) LED OFF: No power, error, or not connected to a wireless AP or Router. ON: Lights when connected to a wireless Access Point or Router. ACT (Activity) LED OFF: No wireless activity. Blink: Transmitting or receiving wireless data.
Chapter 3 - Reference 3. Software Reference Chapter Overview The A111 Card software includes several utilities: • • A111 Control Center – Makes it easy to launch applications and activate network location settings. Wireless Settings – Allows users to configure the A111 Card. Additional Reference Chapter 3 Software Reference • 12 Windows XP Wireless Properties - Brief overview of the wireless settings provided in Windows XP.
Chapter 3 - Reference Windows XP Wireless Options The wireless option shown below is only available for Windows XP. The first time you run the Control Center utility, it will automatically show. Select one of the radio buttons to decide which interface to use with your WLAN Card. Only use XP wireless function – Only use “Windows XP” wireless network settings to configure the A111 card.
Chapter 3 - Reference A111 Control Center Control Center is an application that makes it easy to launch applications and activate network location settings. Control Center starts automatically when the system boots. Whenever Control Center is running, you will see a Control Center icon displayed on the Windows taskbar. Starting the Control Center manually • Access the A111 Wireless LAN Card folder in the Programs area of the Windows Start menu.
Chapter 3 - Reference Wireless Status Icons (on the taskbar) Excellent link quality and connected to Internet (Infrastructure) Good link quality and connected to Internet (Infrastructure) Fair link quality and connected to Internet (Infrastructure) Poor link quality and connected to Internet (Infrastructure) Not linked but connected to Internet (Infrastructure) Excellent link quality but not connected to Internet (Infrastructure) Chapter 3 Control Center Good link quality but not connected to Internet (Inf
Chapter 3 - Reference Taskbar Icon - Right Menu Right-clicking the taskbar icon shows the following menu items: • • • • • • Chapter 3 Control Center • Wireless Settings – Launches Wireless Settings application. Activate Configuration – Allows you to set which profile to use. Mobile Manager – Launches Mobile Manager application. Site Monitor – Launches the Site Monitor application. Change Mode (Windows XP Only) - Configures your card in Station (STA) or Soft Access Point (Soft AP) mode.
Chapter 3 - Reference Wireless Settings Utility Wireless Settings is an application that allows you to control your A111 card. Use Wireless Settings to view or modify the configuration settings and monitor the operational status of your card adaptor. Once Wireless Settings is launched, you can see the tabbed property sheet. This property sheet is composed of tabbed “pages”, each with its own group of feature-specific settings.
Chapter 3 - Reference Association State Displays the connection status as follows: Connected - The station is now associated with one wireless LAN device. When operating in Infrastructure mode, this field shows the MAC address of the Access Point with which you are communicating. When operating in Ad Hoc* mode, this field shows the virtual MAC address used by computers participating in the Ad Hoc* network. Scanning...
Chapter 3 - Reference Radio State Shows if the wireless radio is on or off. Radio On - When the wireless radio is turned on, the following icon appears in the upper left of the Settings property page. Radio Off - When the wireless radio is turned off, the following icon appears in the upper left of the Settings property page. Rescan – Force the radio to rescan all available channels.
Chapter 3 - Reference Status - Connection Tab You can view the current link statistics about the A111 card. These statistics are updated once per second and are valid only if the A111 card exists. Chapter 3 Wireless Settings Scanning Frame Sent/Received Transmitted - The number of frames that were transmitted. Received - The number of frames that were received. Frame Error Transmitted - The number of frames that were not successfully transmitted.
Chapter 3 - Reference Status - IP Config Tab The IP Config tab shows all the current network configuration information for the A111 card. Use it to verify your network settings. Chapter 3 Wireless Settings IP Config will display all the current TCP/IP configuration values including the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) and DNS configuration.
Chapter 3 - Reference Config - Basic Tab Lets you change the A111 card configurations without rebooting your computer. Chapter 3 Wireless Settings Network Type Infrastructure – Select the Infrastructure mode to establish a connection with an Access Point. Your computer is able to access wireless LAN and wired LAN (Ethernet), via an associated access point. The Channel field turns to Auto when Infrastructure is selected.
Chapter 3 - Reference Channel Use the Channel field to select the radio channel for A111 card. In an infrastructure network, your A111 will automatically select the correct frequency channel required to communicate with an Access Point, this parameter will be fixed in Auto and cannot be changed. In an Ad Hoc network, you can decide the channel number for the A111 card. Any WLAN card can communicate in the same network if they have the same frequency channel setting.
Chapter 3 - Reference Config - Encryption Tab Lets you configure the A111 card encryption settings. For data confidentiality in a wireless environment, IEEE 802.11 specifies a Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) algorithm to offer transmission privacy similar to a wired network.WEP uses keys to encrypt transmit data packets and decrypt received data packets. The encryption process can scramble frame bits to avoid disclosure to others.
Chapter 3 - Reference Key Length For 64-bit encryption, each Key contains exactly 10 hex digits, or 5 ASCII characters. For 128-bit encryption, each Key contains exactly 26 hex digits, or 13 ASCII characters. Two ways to assign WEP keys Chapter 3 Wireless Settings 1. Manual Assignment - When you click this button, the cursor appears in the field for Key 1. For 64-bit encryption, you are required to enter four WEP Keys. Each Key contains exactly 10 hex digits (0~9, a~f, and A~F).
Chapter 3 - Reference 64/128-bit versus 40/104-bit You may be confused about enabling WEP encryption, especially when using multiple wireless LAN products from different vendors. There are two levels of WEP Encryption: 64-bit and 128-bit. Firstly, 64-bit WEP and 40-bit WEP are the same encryption method and can interoperate in the wireless network.
Chapter 3 - Reference Survey - Site Survey Tab Use the Site Survey tab to view statistics on the wireless networks available to the A111 Card. The Site Survey tab is read-only with no user configurable data fields. Use the Site Survey tab to view the following network parameters. BSSID – The IEEE MAC addresses of the available networks. SSID – The SSID (service set identification) within available networks. CH – The direct-sequence channel used by each network.
Chapter 3 - Reference About - Version Info Tab Uses the Version Info tab to view program and A111 card version information. The program version information field includes the Copyright and utility version. The version information includes the NDIS version, driver name, and driver version. Chapter 3 Wireless Settings This screen is an example only. Your version numbers will be different from what are shown here.
Chapter 3 - Reference Link State The Link State icon appears on the left side of the WLAN Card Settings. Use the icon to view the current signal status. Excellent Link Quality (Infrastructure) Good Link Quality (Infrastructure) Fair Link Quality (Infrastructure) Chapter 3 Wireless Settings Poor Link Quality (Infrastructure) Not linked (Infrastructure) Exit Wireless Settings To exit Wireless Settings, you can click OK or Cancel. This utility may be closed at any time and from any tab.
Chapter 3 - Reference Ad Hoc The A111 card adaptor when set to Ad Hoc mode can connect to other wireless device(s) in a wireless network called an Ad Hoc network. To connect the A111 card to another wireless device: Chapter 3 Software Reference 1. Launch the Wireless Settings utility by double-clicking the Control Center icon in the Windows® taskbar. 2. Click the Survey button to scan available wireless device(s) within the A111 card’s range. Select the the wireless device you wish to connect. 3.
Chapter 3 - Reference 6. Click the Connection tab to display the connection strength and link quality between the A111 card and the wireless device. A111 Wireless Card Adaptor Chapter 3 Software Reference 5. Click the Status button to verify if the A111 card is connected to the device.
Chapter 3 - Reference Windows XP Wireless Properties Chapter 3 Wireless Properties 32 1. Double-click the Network Connections icon in the Control Panel. 2. Double-click Wireless Network Connection 3. The General page will show status, duration, speed, and signal strength. Signal strength is represented by green bars with 5 bars meaning excellent signal and 1 bar meaning poor signal. Click on Properties for step 4. 4. The Wireless Networks page will show Available networks and Preferred networks.
Chapter 3 - Reference 5. The Authentication page allows you to add security settings. Read Windows help for more information. Chapter 3 Wireless Properties Windows XP Wireless Properties (Cont.) 6. The Advanced page allows you to set firewall and sharing. Read Windows help for more information.
Chapter 4 - Troubleshooting 4. Troubleshooting The following troubleshooting guides provide answers to some of the more common problems, which you may encounter while installing or using the A111 Wireless Card Adaptor. If you encounter difficulties that are not mentioned in this section, please contact Diamond Digital Technical Support. Verify if the A111 card is installed correctly. When the A111 card setup is complete, you can verify if the driver has been setup properly.
Chapter 4 - Troubleshooting Cannot connect to a Station (A111 Card) Follow the procedure below to configure your A111 card. a. Verify that the Network Type is in Ad Hoc mode. b. Verify that the SSID of your A111 is set to the same SSID of the other station (or another WLAN card). c. Verify that the channel of the A111 card is Auto or set to the same channel of the other station (or another WLAN card). d. Verify that the Encryption type is the same as the other station (or another WLAN card).
Chapter 5 - Glossary 5. Glossary Access Point (AP) A networking device that seamlessly connects wired and wireless networks. Access Points combined with a distributed system support the creation of multiple radio cells that enable roaming throughout a facility. Ad Hoc A wireless network composed solely of stations within mutual communication range of each other (no Access Point). Basic Rate Set This option allows you to specify the data transmission rate.
Chapter 5 - Glossary COFDM (for 802.11a or 802.11g) Signal power alone is not enough to maintain 802.11b-like distances in an 802.11a/g environment. To compensate, a new physical-layer encoding technology was designed that departs from the traditional direct-sequence technology being deployed today. This technology is called COFDM (coded OFDM). COFDM was developed specifically for indoor wireless use and offers performance much superior to that of spread-spectrum solutions.
Chapter 5 - Glossary DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) This protocol allows a computer (or many computers on your network) to be automatically assigned a single IP address from a DHCP server. DNS Server Address (Domain Name System) DNS allows Internet host computers to have a domain name and one or more IP addresses.
Chapter 5 - Glossary Encryption This provides wireless data transmissions with a level of security. This option allows you to specify a 64-bit or a 128-bit WEP key.A 64-bit encryption contains 10 hexadecimal digits or 5 ASCII characters. A 128-bit encryption contains 26 hexadecimal digits or 13 ASCII characters. 64-bit and 40-bit WEP keys use the same encryption method and can interoperate on wireless networks.
Chapter 5 - Glossary IEEE 802.11 IEEE 802.xx is a set of specifications for LANs from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Most wired networks conform to 802.3, the specification for CSMA/CD based Ethernet networks or 802.5, the specification for token ring networks. 802.11 defines the standard for wireless LANs encompassing three incompatible (non-interoperable) technologies: Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS), Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), and Infrared. 802.
Chapter 5 - Glossary IEEE 802.11b (11Mbits/sec) In 1997, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) adopted the 802.11 standard for wireless devices operating in the 2.4 GHz frequency band. This standard includes provisions for three radio technologies: direct sequence spread spectrum, frequency hopping spread spectrum, and infrared. Devices that comply with the 802.11 standard operate at a data rate of either 1 or 2 Mbps. In 1999, the IEEE created the 802.11b standard. 802.
Chapter 5 - Glossary LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a defined geographical area. The benefits include the sharing of Internet access, files and equipment like printers and storage devices. Special network cabling (10 Base-T) is often used to connect the PCs together. MAC Address (Media Access Control) A MAC address is the hardware address of a device connected to a network.
Chapter 5 - Glossary Preamble Allows you to set the preamble mode for a network to Long, Short, or Auto. The default preamble mode is Long. Radio Frequency (RF) Terms: GHz, MHz, Hz The international unit for measuring frequency is Hertz (Hz), equivalent to the older unit of cycles per second. One Megahertz (MHz) is one million Hertz. One Gigahertz (GHz) is one billion Hertz. The standard US electrical power frequency is 60 Hz, the AM broadcast radio frequency band is 0.55-1.
Chapter 5 - Glossary WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) This is a group of computers and other devices connected wirelessly in a small area. A wireless network is referred to as LAN or WLAN. WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an improved security system for 802.11. It is part of the 802.11i draft security standard.
Service Contacts If problems remain after checking this manual, please contact your place of purchase or contact: Australian Service Contacts Visit the Customer Support section of Mitsubishi Electric Australia’s website at: www.mitsubishielectric.com.
Western Australia 329 Collier Road Bassendean, WA, 6054 Telephone: (08) 9377-3411 Fax: (08) 9377-3499 New Zealand Contact: BDT New Zealand Ltd. 1 Parliament St. Lower Hutt Wellington Telephone: (04) 560-9100 Fax: (04) 560-9140 Web site: www.bdt.co.
