CWEng study guide
CWEng · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
CWEng (Certified Wireless Engineer) is presented here as a vendor-neutral, engineering-level WLAN credential aimed at professionals who design, validate, secure, and troubleshoot enterprise wireless networks rather than simply administer them. Candidates typically arrive with several years of hands-on Wi-Fi operations experience and often already hold an entry-level or professional wireless certification; the intended audience is the engineer who owns RF design decisions, security architecture, and post-deployment performance analysis. The CWEng study guide has 5 sections and about 1,773 words.
01WLAN RF Fundamentals and Propagation
Wi-Fi is radio, so every design and troubleshooting decision reduces to signal versus noise. Frequency and wavelength are inversely related (λ = c/f): 2.4 GHz is roughly 12.5 cm, 5 GHz roughly 6 cm, 6 GHz roughly 5 cm.
401 words, about 2 min02WLAN Design and Site Survey
Predictive surveys simulate coverage from floor plans and attenuation values; passive surveys listen only and show the real RF environment; active surveys associate to the network and measure true throughput, roaming and application behavior. An AP-on-a-stick survey temporarily places one AP in many candidate locations to validate a predictive model.
344 words, about 2 min03WLAN Security Architecture
Enterprise WLAN security has three roles: supplicant (client), authenticator (AP or controller) and authentication server (usually RADIUS). 802.1X/EAP carries credentials; the EAP method decides the strength.
336 words, about 2 min04WLAN Analysis, Troubleshooting and Optimization
Separate the tools by what they see. A protocol analyzer in monitor mode captures 802.11 frames and exposes retries, management behavior, roaming and the 4-way handshake.
345 words, about 2 min05WLAN Protocols, Standards and Operations
802.11a (5 GHz OFDM), b (2.4 GHz DSSS), g (2.4 GHz OFDM), n (2.4/5 GHz, MIMO, 40 MHz), ac (5 GHz only, up to 80/160 MHz, MU-MIMO downlink), ax (2.4/5/6 GHz, OFDMA, BSS coloring, TWT, uplink and downlink MU-MIMO) and be (MLO, wider channels) form the progression. Remember that 802.11ac is 5 GHz only and that 6 GHz operation begins with Wi-Fi 6E.
347 words, about 2 min