Wireless Articles and Documents

In the last couple of years, an unprecedented surge in interest in wireless networking hardware has brought a huge variety of inexpensive equipment to the market. So much variety, in fact, that it would be impossible to catalog every available component. In this chapter, we’ll look at the sort of features and attributes that are desirable in a wireless component, and see several examples of commercial and DIY gear that has worked well in the past. Read the rest of this entry »

The transmitter that generates the RF1 power to drive the antenna is usually located at some distance from the antenna terminals. The connecting link between the two is the RF transmission line. Its purpose is to carry RF power from one place to another, and to do this as efficiently as possible. From the receiver side, the antenna is responsible for picking up any radio signals in the air and passing them to the receiver with the minimum amount of distortion, so that the radio has its best chance to decode the signal. For these reasons, the RF cable has a very important role in radio systems: it must maintain the integrity of the signals in both directions. Read the rest of this entry »

Before purchasing equipment or deciding on a hardware platform, you should have a clear idea of the nature of your communications problem. Most likely, you are reading this book because you need to connect computer networks together in order to share resources and ultimately reach the larger global Internet. The network design you choose to implement should fit the communications problem you are trying to solve. Do you need to connect a remote site to an Internet connection in the center of your campus? Will your network likely grow to include several remote sites? Will most of your network components be installed in fixed locations, or will your network expand to include hundreds of roaming laptops and other devices? Read the rest of this entry »

The primary technology used for building low-cost wireless networks is currently the 802.11 family of protocols, also known in many circles as Wi-Fi. The 802.11 family of radio protocols (802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g) have enjoyed an incredible popularity in the United States and Europe. By implementing a common set of protocols, manufacturers world wide have built highly interoperable equipment. This decision has proven to be a significant boon to the industry and the consumer. Consumers are able to use equipment that implements 802.11 without fear of “vendor lock-in”. As a result, consumers are able to purchase low-cost equipment at a volume which has benefitted manufacturers. If manufacturers had chosen to implement their own proprietary protocols, it is unlikely that wireless networking would be as inexpensive and ubiquitous as it is today. Read the rest of this entry »