AirborneM2M™ User Guide
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The private network is the wired interface provided by the bridge. This interface includes a DHCP
server and supports dynamic and static IP address assignment. This means any Ethernet client
supporting DHCP can be connected to the wired interface without any configuration changes. The
private network host can communicate with the Airborne Adapter using the bridge’s Ethernet IP address
on the private network.
The Airborne Ethernet Adapter supports NAT Level 3 and, as such, provides the following advantages
over the more traditional bridge functionality:
A single network IP address on the public network. This simplifies management of the devices
on the network.
A single point of authentication. The Airborne device handles authentication for the public
network. This means a single point of contact for all security interaction, simplifying deployment
for the network.
Zero security footprint on the private network host.
Support for DHCP and static IP on the private network. This capability allows the host to be
shipped without any configuration changes.
Port forwarding. Allows you to decide if web page, telnet or FTP access should be forwarded to
the private network or handled by the Airborne Bridge.
Plug-n-Play. In most cases, all that is required for full functionality is configuration of the
wireless interface for the target network. This can be done before deployment to minimize
deployment time and complexity.
PUBLIC NETWORK INTERFACE
The public network interface is the Airborne Adapter WLAN port. This interface must be configured to
associate and authenticate with the target network. Configuration of this interface is covered in section 17.0.
The public address becomes the target address for all accesses to the host device connected to the private
network. In the example shown in Figure 20, any device on the public network wanting to communicate with
the Host device (IP: 192.168.2.100), would use the IP address 123.45.67.89, the Airborne Ethernet Adapter
will forward all traffic to the private address 192.168.2.100.
The network infrastructure will show the MAC and IP address of the Airborne Adapter WLAN interface as the
network presence, as a consequence of this all traffic will be identified as being from or to this address.
Figure 20 - Airborne Ethernet Bridge IP Configuration
The public network interface supports the Airborne™ discovery protocol and will respond to discovery
requests issued on the public network.