This chapter covered a lot of material on RF communications and wireless/wireless-aware LAN design. We started with the fundamentals and basics of RF communications. We talked about how radio signals are created and propagated as well as some of the problems with attenuation and interference.

It went on to cover some of the laws and regulations in place around wireless communications. and the roles of various regulating agencies and the rules in place for using low power, unlicensed transmitters. This chapter also covered some of the health risks associated with EM radiation.

This chapter next covered the IEEE 802.11x standards and how they relate to wireless communications. It discussed how the standards define the data-link and physical layers of the OSI model as well as how each of the IEEE 802.11x standards differ from the others.

Finally, planning for RF deployments was covered. This section included everything from selecting the appropriate antenna to conducting a site survey. It discussed the importance of performing site surveys and included a sample site survey form for you to use.