Guide to WiFi Technology

EYO Feature Article: EYO’s Guide to WiFi Technology

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EYO’s Guide to WiFi Technology

Background

When most people think of networking these days, Wi-Fi is often the first thing to spring to mind. Like Bluetooth, the concept of wireless, always-on connectivity definitely carries the “cool” factor. So what actually lies under the wireless hood?

Wi-Fi is essentially wireless LAN technology, as defined by the various IEEE 802.11 standards. It was first defined in 1997, but a lack of standardisation effectively prevented any widespread implementation of the technology. There are quite a few ratified standards, all amendments to the legacy standard, but by far the most popular and widely-used are 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. The newest standard is 802.11n, but this has yet to the ratified.

The Standards

802.11a, was ratified in 1999. It offers a maximum data rate of 54Mbit/s with an effective rate of around 23 Mbit/s. It operates in the 5GHz spectrum and has an effective indoor range of around 30m. 802.11a was not instantly popular, as the components necessary for communicating on the 5GHz band were more expensive and harder to obtain than those used on the more common 2.4GHz band.

Also ratified in 1999 was 802.11b. This operates on the 2.4GHz band and offers a maximum data rate of 11Mbit/s, with an effective data rate of around 4Mbit/s and an indoor range of around 35m. Due to the cheaper cost of manufacture, 802.11b products started shipping in 2000, before 802.11a. The two standards are incompatible as they operate on different radio spectrums, but most products offer dual-mode support and are able to operate on either band.

Ratified in 2003, the 802.11g standard is currently the most common standard used in wireless networking. It also works on the 2.4GHz band and has the same effective range as 802.11b. It’s fully backwards-compatible with 802.11b, and so the two standards tend to be linked together as 802.11b/g. It’s rare to find a networking device which support 802.11g and not 802.11b. The main advantage of 802.11g is data throughput – it offers a maximum rate of 54Mbit/s and a typical data rate of around 19Mbit/s.

Most devices are capable of supporting all three standards, connecting to whichever is available. Due to the lower cost and higher availability, most wireless networks run on the 802.11b/g standard. 802.11a does offer some advantages though. As it runs on the 5GHz band it’s far less susceptible to interference from other radio devices like mobile phones, microwaves and Bluetooth products. It does suffer more than 802.11b/g from absorption by solid objects like walls, but it’s extremely effective in clear spaces like open-plan offices, although it does cost more to implement.

The most recent new standard on the wireless scene is 802.11n. This operates on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, has a maximum data rate of around 248Mbit/s and a typical rate of 74Mbit/s. It also has an indoor range of around 70m. This standard has yet to be formally ratified, but products are being shipped based on the early specifications. These products are not true 802.11n devices, but rather “pre-N” or “draft n”.

Living Wirelessly

Most home networks these days run wirelessly. Users love the ability to share out broadband connections without wading through a tangle of cords, surfing the web from the sofa, or streaming out the music collection to every corner of the house. Businesses are bit users of wireless technology also, enabling workers to be always connected regardless of where they’re working. As an extension of networking technology, wireless VoIP (WVoIP or VoWLAN) is also becoming increasingly popular in both home and business environments. Hotspots are another highly popular implementation of Wi-Fi – being able to jump online in your favourite coffee shop or even on the beach.

All these implementations are great, and offer new opportunities in our online lives. They also give clues as to where the future of wireless technology lies. As wireless users have to share bandwidth with other connected users, and as both home and business users are looking to manipulate increasingly large amounts of data, data transfer rates become ever-more important. Of course, this has other implications too – access points have to use quite a lot of power in order to be able to pump out a high-bandwidth radio signal that maintains its integrity over long distances, and there are limitations as to how much power an access point can use and generate, when in close proximity to people.

It’s more likely that, instead of looking to constantly engineer bigger, faster bandwidth, the future of wireless technology lies in being able to do more with existing bandwidth. This is already so in the case of hotspots – wireless range is much greater when the connection speed is reduced and more users can connect, but in order to maintain functionality and usability, advanced compression algorithms are needed to make the most efficient use of available bandwidth.

This efficiency is also needed when you consider the large amount of mobile, low-power devices like UMPCs, mobile phones and PDAs which have wireless adaptors in-built. Enabling Wi-Fi at maximum speed is a sure-fire way of draining the battery quickly, and users aren’t going to be interested in a service which renders their device useless in 30 minutes.

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