Contents

Introduction Architecture Various Standards

Security
Examples

Conclusion

Introduction
Wireless Routers are physical devices that join multiple wireless

networks together. Wireless routers are the foundation of an all-wireless home WLAN. These routers are based on the 802.11 standards.

Architecture
Wireless Interoperability Model (WIM) sets the foundation to build a Wireless Router (WR) to interwork devices using these various standards. The goal of this model is to enable the major wireless networking standards to interwork and seamlessly support multi-protocol upper layer applications. The Wireless Router forms the interworking means between the different standards.

 To understand the architecture we first define the Wireless Router itself as a device acting as the default gateway to all the other network standards. It has the capability of receiving all the network traffic in its covering range by incorporating all the standards physical network transceivers. Upon receiving the traffic, the Wireless Router maintains a routing table based on the devices IP addresses and their Physical addresses and interface types. The interface type is known from the transceiver receiving the devices packet. By knowing the destinations address, its transceiver type and so its protocol can be obtained where then routing functionality is performed and finally the packets are forwarded to their destinations according to their IP addresses. In case of many Wireless Routers operating in the network an address resolution function must be performed where routing is then performed by a multi-hop routing functionality.

Evolution of Various Standards

`The first WLAN standard is 802.11, It has a maximum bandwidth of 2Mbps. No longer in use.

802.11b is an expansion of 802.11 with a bandwidth upto 11Mbps

802.11a was developed almost at the same time when 802.11b was developed. This is mostly used for small business and 802.11b is used for home services. It serves a maximum bandwidth of 54Mbps. 802.11g was developed with the best features of both 802.11a and 802.11b with 54Mbps bandwidth and 2.4Ghz frequency for greater range. 802.11g is the most promising option of all.

Enabling Security
Changing the manufacturer's default password on the network administrator's account is a "must" for ensuring home wireless LAN security. Changing the manufacturer's default network name (SSID) will greatly improve the security of a home wireless LAN Disable SSID broadcast on home wireless routers to improve network security. SSID broadcast is a standard feature of many wireless routers and access points. Hardware or "MAC" address filtering is a feature that improves wireless home network security. Most wireless routers disable this feature by default. Consider enabling it.

Examples
Router
Netgear 802.11b Wireless Router MR314 Belkin Wireless Cable/DS L Router Actiontec WirelessReady Cable/DS L Router Linksys Wireless Access Point Router BEFW11S 4 D-Link AirPlus Router DI-614+ Apple AirPort 2

Average Throughp ut (Mbps

Percent Data Loss

4.876

4.783

4.8

4.989

4.951

4.776

22

44

28.9

38.4

15.4

31.4

Conclusion and Future

Increasing the bandwidth range. Ensuring perfect security is always a challenge and has scope for more in the future in developing protocols incorporating security.

References
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelessrouters/ http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/~jphb/cp4040/rolandonotes/CSNDSP200 2/Papers/J1/J1.1.pdf http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/wirelessrouters/tp/80211ghom e.htm http://www.g4tv.com/freshgear/features/39751/Wireless_Router_Ba sics_pg4.html