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College of
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Wireless LAN (W-LAN)
Introduction:
A wireless LAN or WLAN is a wireless local area network, which is the linking of
two or more computers or devices without using wires. WLAN uses spread-
spectrum or OFDM modulation technology based on radio waves to enable
communication between devices in a limited area, also known as the basic
service set. This gives users the mobility to move around within a broad
coverage area and still be connected to the network.
For the home user, wireless has become popular due to ease of installation, and
location freedom with the gaining popularity of laptops. Public businesses such
as coffee shops or malls have begun to offer wireless access to their customers;
some are even provided as a free service. Large wireless network projects are
being put up in many major cities. Google is even providing a free service to
Mountain View, California and has entered a bid to do the same for San
Francisco. New York City has also begun a pilot program to cover all five
boroughs of the city with wireless Internet access.
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History
An embedded RouterBoard 112 with U.FL-RSMA pigtail and R52 mini PCI Wi-Fi
card widely used by wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) in the Czech
Republic.
The first generation of wireless data modems was developed in the early 1980s
by amateur radio operators, who commonly referred to this as packet radio. They
added a voice band data communication modem, with data rates below 9600
bit/s, to an existing short distance radio system, typically in the two meter
amateur band . The second generation of wireless modems was developed
immediately after the FCC announcement in the experimental bands for non-
military use of the spread spectrum technology. These modems provided data
rates on the order of hundreds of kbit/s. The third generation of wireless modem
[then] aimed at compatibility with the existing LANs with data rates on the order
of Mbit/s. Several companies [developed] the third generation products with data
rates above 1 Mbit/s and a couple of products [had] already been announced [by
the time of the first IEEE Workshop on Wireless LANs].
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Originally WLAN hardware was so expensive that it was only used as an
alternative to cabled LAN in places where cabling was difficult or impossible.
Early development included industry-specific solutions and proprietary protocols,
but at the end of the 1990s these were replaced by standards, primarily the
various versions of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi). An alternative ATM-like 5 GHz
standardized technology, HiperLAN/2, has so far not succeeded in the market,
and with the release of the faster 54 Mbit/s 802.11a (5 GHz) and 802.11g (2.4
GHz) standards, almost certainly never will.
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Benefits :
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than outweighed by the savings in cost and labor associated to running
physical cables
Disadvantage:
Wireless LAN technology, while replete with the conveniences and advantages
described above, has its share of downfalls. For a given networking situation,
wireless LANs may not be desirable for a number of reasons. Most of these have
to do with the inherent limitations of the technology.
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repeaters or additional access points will have to be purchased. Costs for
these items can add up quickly. Other technologies are in the
development phase, however, which feature increased range, hoping to
render this disadvantage irrelevant. (See WiMAX)
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Types of wireless LANs
1. Peer-to-peer
If a signal strength meter is used in this situation, it may not read the strength
accurately and can be misleading, because it registers the strength of the
strongest signal, which may be the closest computer.
802.11 specs define the physical layer (PHY) and MAC (Media Access Control)
layers. However, unlike most other IEEE specs, 802.11 includes three alternative
PHY standards: diffuse infrared operating at 1 Mbit/s in; frequency-hopping
spread spectrum operating at 1 Mbit/s or 2 Mbit/s; and direct-sequence spread
spectrum operating at 1 Mbit/s or 2 Mbit/s. A single 802.11 MAC standard is
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based on CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance).
The 802.11 specification includes provisions designed to minimize collisions.
Because two mobile units may both be in range of a common access point, but
not in range of each other. The 802.11 has two basic modes of operation: Ad hoc
mode enables peer-to-peer transmission between mobile units. Infrastructure
mode in which mobile units communicate through an access point that serves as
a bridge to a wired network infrastructure is the more common wireless LAN
application the one being covered. Since wireless communication uses a more
open medium for communication in comparison to wired LANs, the 802.11
designers also included a shared-key encryption mechanism, called wired
equivalent privacy (WEP), or Wi-Fi Protected Access, (WPA, WPA2) to secure
wireless computer networks.
2.Bridge
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