Wireless at NCI-Frederick

NCI-Frederick has an ongoing project underway to overlay and supplement the existing wired campus data network with a wireless network. The first generation of this technology has been in place for over three years supporting entry of animal data in Building 539. This capability allows technicians mobility within the animal facility to enter real-time mouse data. For the current project, public areas of the NCI-Frederick campus, such as the Café, Conference Center, Scientific Library, and various conference rooms, were the initial focus of the project, but the wireless network is being expanded as rapidly as funding allows. A map showing all areas of wireless coverage on campus is available via the link below.

The NCI-Frederick wireless network is a mix of IEEE 802.11b technology, which specifies an eleven (11) Mbps shared transmission scheme and IEEE 802.11g, which specifies a fifty-four (54) Mbps shared transmission scheme. The higher speed 802.11g is fully backwards compatible with 802.11b network adapters. Plans are to eventually migrate all access points to support the 802.11g standard. Click on the link below to see a map of where wireless is available.

Because of the inherent limitations in wireless technology, the wireless network does not compete with the wired network in terms of performance and reliability, but rather complements it with added flexibility and mobility. A wireless connection is easily adequate for applications such as email and web surfing. However, accessing multimedia-rich resources such as video over a wireless network will usually produce less than desirable results.

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