ICTP - URSI SCHOOL ON DIGITAL AND MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATIONS USING TERRESTRIAL AND SATELLITE RADIO LINKS 12th February - 2nd March 2001 , Trieste (Italy)
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	Laboratory Diary: wednesday 21st february

                   Laboratory Diary: wednesday 21st february
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Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 21:13:55 +0100 (MET)
Prepared by:  Daniel Obuobi <obuobid@ictp.trieste.it>


LABORATORY DIARY FOR 21/2/01


1. THE PROJECT

The day started with a detailed explanation of the project work
by C. FondaS. He explained what is required from all participants.
Partcipants were divided in four groups as follows

 GROUP 1 - Science Faculty
 Group 2 - Agruculture Faculty
 GROUP 3 - LITERATURE 
 GROUP 4 - ECONOMICS
 GROUP 5 - COMPUTER CENTRE

These groups were to work on the project considering realistic needs,
possibilities and constraints, required to plan and develop a Campus
Network.  The were given options to choose from with respect to the
implementation of wireless links in a real life situation within each
building whilst stressing the dos and don'ts.

2. Line-Of-Sight and Not-LOS Wireless Links Planning

Next was a lecture on the Line-Of-Sight and Not-LOS Wireless Links
Planning. This lecture provied an insight into the nature of radio
propagation in the spectrum (upper VHF to microwave). It covered the
basics of free space path loss calculations, and then considers the
effects of refraction, diffraction and reflections on the path loss of
Line of Sight (LOS) links. The nature of non-LOS radio links is then
examined, and propagation effects other than path loss which are important
in digital transmission were also described.The class was given some
formulas from which actuall deductions could be made.

He stressed that the technology is changing as access to the Internet
becomes cheaper and faster. Also the fundamental aim of radio link is to
deliver sufficient signal power to the receiver at the other end.
Partcipants were taken through a number of examples. It was a very nice,
lively and interesting lecture.

3. PROJECT PLANNING

The last 35 minute of the morning session was devoted to planning of the
project in terms of the budget, technical specfication and implementaion.
The variables for the planning were logistic, technical and economic.
The keywords were PLANNING, COLLABORATION AND INTERNET.
 
In the afternoon session was even more interesting. Each group made a
presentation of how they hope to build the network to simulate the 
typical campus network. Each presetation was discussed and suggestion
offered to throw more light on the real life situation and the project.

4. INSTALLATION OF WIRELESS 

This was a typically interesting practical session which saw participants
playing around with the different types of radio - the true PLUG & PLAY
and then "PLUG and WORK" or "PLUG and PRAY" as C. Fonda put it. In the
case of the Breezecom equipment the change of router connection from cable
to wireless worked without any effort. On the other subnets, on which
another product, Lucent was used ,there was a need to spend some in the
configuration before the system actually worked! That is PLUG and WORK on
the system. Mr. C. Fonda also gave a live demonstration of the
configuration of the ORINOCO Residentail Gateway from Lucent Technologies.

Unfornately we could not cover the other topics for the day ( Spread
Spectrum Overview and Ethernet Cabling Overview) due to the fact that the
exercises took a lot of time. However, participant were happy for the days
work since today was the most interesting of all the days.

What a great day !!!!!

Daniel Obuobi

updated 22 February 2001, © 2001 ICTP-ARPL, HTML by cfonda