Design and Simulation of Wireless Local Area Network for Administrative Office using OPNET Network Simulator: A Practical Approach

Abstract

Wireless local Area Network (WLAN) is a networking standard that links two or more devices with the use of wireless signal (radio frequency). It is based on the IEEE 802.11 standards (IEEE Standard 2007). Its advantages over the traditional wired technology, includes: reduction in wires, mobility and flexibility. It can be deployed in ad-hoc (infrastructure less) and infrastructure based, which uses access point as its central coordinating facility. In this paper, infrastructure-based WLAN is used. In this case, there is an access point (AP) and stations/clients (that could be mobile). This BSS connects to other neighbouring BSSs through a high speed back-bone, the back-bone then connects to the ISP through a modem for internet services. As a result, we designed and simulated WLAN and identified the key network performance parameters (such as delay, throughput, packet drop, etc) that must be addressed to guarantee optimal service delivery

Keywords: WLAN, QoS, Broadband, Bandwidth, Throughput.