Wireless Technology
Wireless LANs are everywhere – at the office, at home, in the hotel, in the coffee shop or at the airport. The
wireless concept that we take for granted now has its roots in the wireless modem of the early 90’s. Early wireless
modems were designed for single peripheral devices that needed a way to allow devices to send and receive
computer data. The modem speeds that we had grown accustomed to were more than adequate for the task.
Industry professionals drawn to this new emerging field are typically from the Information Systems Networking field
with a strong background in the concepts of wired LAN, MAN and WAN or from the Radio Telecommunications field
with an in-depth experience in wireless communication. This Wireless LAN field requires some degree of expertise
in both. The hardware is typically added to an existing system as an extension of the Access Layer requirements of
the network and managing the Air Interface requires another set of skills entirely. One of the best things about
WLANs is that they operate in a license-free band allowing the market to develop products and technologies
through open competition. One of the drawbacks with WLANs is that they operate in unlicensed bands, which
results in increasing radio interference from other devices such as cordless phones. Industry Canada determines
the frequency bands that WLANs operate in and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
develops the standards that describe how the technology will work in that spectrum.
www.laptoonz.com
Overview of Wireless Technology
LANs, WLANs and Protocols
What Is Wi-Fi?
Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. Computers can be equipped with Wi-Fi adapters (which are available as
internally-mounted cards, cards that fit in lap-top PCMCIA slots, or external devices attached via USB ports). WiFi
adapters are fairly inexpensive. The adapters seek out signals broadcast by devices called Access Points
(APs) that in turn are typically connected to the existing wired network. This gives Wi-Fi devices access to the
same resources that devices connected to the wired network have. Although it is less common, Wi-Fi devices
can also communicate directly (one-to-one) with each other. Wi-Fi devices employ several different technical
standards grouped together and referred to as the IEEE 802.11 specification in order to communicate with an AP.
What is the IEEE?
The IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) creates and finalizes standards for computer
networks, amongst other technologies. The IEEE 802.11 specification defines how wireless networks
communicate. As a comparison, most wired networks based on Ethernet and CSMA/CD (defined later)
technology conform to the 802.3 standard.
Wireless LANs are everywhere – at the office, at home, in the hotel, in the coffee shop or at the airport. The
wireless concept that we take for granted now has its roots in the wireless modem of the early 90’s. Early wireless
modems were designed for single peripheral devices that needed a way to allow devices to send and receive
computer data. The modem speeds that we had grown accustomed to were more than adequate for the task.
Industry professionals drawn to this new emerging field are typically from the Information Systems Networking field
with a strong background in the concepts of wired LAN, MAN and WAN or from the Radio Telecommunications field
with an in-depth experience in wireless communication. This Wireless LAN field requires some degree of expertise
in both. The hardware is typically added to an existing system as an extension of the Access Layer requirements of
the network and managing the Air Interface requires another set of skills entirely. One of the best things about
WLANs is that they operate in a license-free band allowing the market to develop products and technologies
through open competition. One of the drawbacks with WLANs is that they operate in unlicensed bands, which
results in increasing radio interference from other devices such as cordless phones. Industry Canada determines
the frequency bands that WLANs operate in and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
develops the standards that describe how the technology will work in that spectrum.
www.laptoonz.com
Overview of Wireless Technology
LANs, WLANs and Protocols
What Is Wi-Fi?
Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. Computers can be equipped with Wi-Fi adapters (which are available as
internally-mounted cards, cards that fit in lap-top PCMCIA slots, or external devices attached via USB ports). WiFi
adapters are fairly inexpensive. The adapters seek out signals broadcast by devices called Access Points
(APs) that in turn are typically connected to the existing wired network. This gives Wi-Fi devices access to the
same resources that devices connected to the wired network have. Although it is less common, Wi-Fi devices
can also communicate directly (one-to-one) with each other. Wi-Fi devices employ several different technical
standards grouped together and referred to as the IEEE 802.11 specification in order to communicate with an AP.
What is the IEEE?
The IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) creates and finalizes standards for computer
networks, amongst other technologies. The IEEE 802.11 specification defines how wireless networks
communicate. As a comparison, most wired networks based on Ethernet and CSMA/CD (defined later)
technology conform to the 802.3 standard.
