User's Manual

MDS 05-2708A01, Rev. D MDS TransNET I&O Guide 65
Invisible place holder
Figure 20. Co-Located Masters Sharing an Antenna
9.13 Security
Today, the operation and management of an enterprise is becoming
increasing dependent on electronic information flow. An accompanying
concern becomes the security of the communication infrastructure and the
security of the data itself. MDS takes this matter seriously, and provides
several means for protecting the data carried over its wireless products.
The radio addresses this issue primarily through the use of the following
items:
1. A proprietary modem/data link layer—Data signals are processed
using code and hardware specifically designed by MDS.
2. A unique Network Address—This provides a unique identifier for each
radio in a network. A radio is not addressable unless this unique code is
included in the data string.
3. An optional encryption value (code)—Setting an encryption code
requires the use of the
CODE command. This command scrambles the
radio’s hop pattern and encrypts payload data content. A radio requires
the correct Network Address (ADDR) and CODE value in order to
synchronize. When the
CODE command is used, the same value must be
programmed into all radios in the network. See “CODE [NONE,
1…255]” on Page 31 for more details.
The effective combination of
CODE and ADDR discourage the use of an
exhaustive search to gain access to a system.
The items described above provide sufficient security for a typical MAS
system. For more highly-sensitive applications, system designers should
consider employing application level encryption into their polling protocols
to further protect their systems. Third party software tools are available for
adding encryption, and these should be considered as part of any advanced
encryption scheme.
Master—Network “A”
CS Master
Power
Divider
(– 3 dB)
Omnidirectional
Antenna
Master—Network “B”
CS Slave
Network “A” Network “B”