PREPARED BY ARVIND SHARMA

WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

Wireless Local Area Networks A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is a network that interconnects devices using radio waves. Wireless networking technologies allow devices to communicate to each other without using cables or wires. The most common wireless technologies are: Bluetooth Infrared Direct Access (IrDA) Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) Bluetooth Bluetooth allows low bandwidth, short-range (up to 10 m) wireless communication using the 2.4GHz unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medicine) band. This technology is used to connect two or more devices in a home network and can support data rate up to 1Mbps. An example of a Bluetooth application is a laptop making call over a cellular phone. Another example is cordless keyboard, mouse and speaker connected to a Personal Computer. More information can be found at the following web site: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth6.htm Infrared Direct Access (IrDA) This technology allows devices to communicate using infrared light at a speed up to 4Mbps. Infrared light cannot pass through the walls or obstacles. So, devices can only communicate with each other, if they are in direct line of sight. A simple example of IrDA application is a laptop sending print documents to a printer using infrared port. Most of the new mobile phones and laptops have infrared port. You can also transfer data (like address book and calendar) between a mobile phone and a laptop through infrared port, if both devices have infrared port. Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) is a standard developed by an alliance of businesses called HomeRF Working Group. The HomeRF Working Group allows data and voice transmission using 2.4GHz ISM band. It supports data rate up to 1.6Mbps within the range of 30m. Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) The IEEE specifications of the 802.11 standard for wireless LANs have provided a big boost to the WLAN industry. These specifications allowed the creation of large scale commercial WLANs, but they do not certify WLANs equipments. Thats why, Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) was founded by six manufacturers: 3Com, Aironet, Intersil, Lucent Technologies, Nokia and Symbol Technologies to test and certify the interoperability of any WECA member's products. Such certification known as Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) is providing assurance that IEEE 802.11 standards compliant equipment purchased from one manufacturer will interoperate with the same standard equipments of others. Later, more companies supporting the IEEE 802.11 standard also joined the WECA. Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) technology is used in the Wireless LANs that follow IEEE 802.11 standard. This technology allows a radio transmitter (Wireless Network Card) to spread data packets over a fixed range of the frequency band. Another device carrying a radio receiver (Wireless Network Card) tuned to this range of the frequency band can intercept the data packet. To an unintended receiver, DSSS appears as low-power wideband noise and is rejected by most narrowband receivers. The IEEE 802.11b was the commonly used standard before 2002. It uses the 2.4 GHz radio spectrum and supports data rate up to11 Mbps. The new IEEE 802.11a standard operates in the 5.2 GHz- 5.8GHz spectrum and supports up to 54 Mbps rates. These WLANs can transmit data within a radius of 300 feet indoors and 1000 feet outdoors, but antennas, transmitters and other access devices can be used to increase the transmission distance. The IEEE 802.11a and 802.11b standards are not backward compatible. It means that a device having
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802.11b network card will not be able to communicate with another device having 802.11a network card. The latest IEEE wireless LAN 802.11g standard operates in the same frequency as 802.11b and is backward compatible. It transmits data at a speed of 22-54Mbps and provides additional security to data transmission. Intel and a group of other gear makers recently announced that the WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability of Microwave Access) Forum would do for wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs) what the Wi-Fi Alliance has done for wireless local area networks (WLANs). Products based on the 802.16a standard (nicknamed WirelessMAN) are expected to appear late in 2004 with the WiMAX Forum handing out their seal of approval in 2005. Along with Intel, the WiMAX Forum membership includes Airspan Networks, Aperto Networks, Ensemble Communications, Fujitsu, Nokia, OFDM Forum, Proxim and Wi-LAN. The WirelessMAN standard has a range up to 30 miles with a data rate of up to 70 Mbits per second. More information can be found at the following web site: http://www.wirelessethernet.org Peer-to-peer Wireless Local Area Networks It is a point-to-point network and is also called Ad hoc network. A basic peer-to-peer WLAN comprises two computers or/and laptops equipped with wireless adapter cards within range of one another as shown in figure 12.1. These networks are easy to install, manage and require no administration. There is no need of central device and each client would directly access resources of the other client.

Figure 12.1: A view of peer-to-peer Wireless LAN Client- Access Point Wireless Local Area Networks It is a Client-Server network and is commonly called Infrastructure network. In these networks, there is a need of a central device called Access Point. Each client on the network will communicate with other clients through this Access Point. It can provide services to 15-50 clients and extends the range of a peer-to-peer (ad hoc) network. An Access Point also connects wired and wireless networks together in a building. It enables the transfer of data between the clients of a wireless network and of a wired network as shown in figure 12.2. As per requirement, multiple Access Points can be used to extend a Wireless Local Area Network. Users can walk (Roam) with their Laptops between these access points without losing their connection. It is similar to a mobile phone communication. Wireless LAN technology allows you to wirelessly connect a wired LAN in one building to another wired LAN (or wireless LAN) in a different building as shown in figure 12.2. A device called bridge is required for this cross-building interconnection. Some Access Points can also act like bridges and can transmit data within a radius of 1.6 Km.

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Figure 12.2: A View of Wireless and Wired Local Area Network

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