Introduction

Computer networks that are not connected by cables are called wireless networks. They
generally use radio waves for communication between the network nodes. They allow
devices to be connected to the network while roaming around within the network coverage.
Types of Wireless Networks
 Wireless LANs − Connects two or more network devices using
wireless distribution techniques.
 Wireless MANs − Connects two or more wireless LANs spreading
over a metropolitan area.
 Wireless WANs − Connects large areas comprising LANs, MANs and personal
networks.

Examples of wireless networks

 Mobile phone networks
 Wireless sensor networks
 Satellite communication networks
 Terrestrial microwave networks
Advantages of Wireless Communication
1. Flexibility
When it comes to installation options, wireless communications systems are very flexible. In
contrast to wired systems, which depend on the location and building's structure, wireless
systems can be installed practically anywhere. For instance, a wired internet system needs a
building that can accommodate drilling for wiring, which might not be feasible for glass, tented,
or historic buildings.
People may stay in touch wherever they are due to wireless communications. You can send an
urgent email even if you're not in the office.
Satellite connections can be used in far-off places like mines or resort hotels to make phone
calls and access the internet, keeping people connected to the outside world even when they
are thousands of miles from civilization.

2. Convenience and Mobility

People need to be continually linked, even while they're moving about, due to the increased use
of social media networks and email as communication tools. While wireless communication
devices are transportable and may be moved anywhere, wired communication systems are
fixed in the installation location and cannot be moved.
Wireless communications allow you to move freely and remain connected to the network.
Wireless networks work with various devices, whether desktop computers, laptops, or
smartphones. Now, presuming the meeting location has internet ports to plug into in the first
place, you may leave your office and go to a meeting and still be connected without lugging
cables with you.

3. Speed & Stability

The speed and stability of communications have both increased because of wireless
communication. Recall the days when a telephone pole outside your house would collapse on a
rainy day, cutting off your landline phone service. Or when it took a very long time for a
telephone provider to come and fix a cable cut due to an accident or simple wear and tear?
Such problems are no longer a concern because of smartphones. The same is true for wired
internet connections; interruption rates were significantly greater than when using a wireless
system, saving you vital time and money on maintenance and repairs.

4. Ease of Installation & Scalability

Wired communications installation is expensive and time-consuming. Even after installation,
additional money will be needed to scale the system to support new devices or users. If you are
located in a distant place, you should consider how long it will take to dig trenches, install wires,
and give the project additional time.
When using wireless communication, initial setup is simpler, and adding new users to the
network doesn't require further installation. As with WiFi connections, you must provide them
with their login information to get someone connected .
Disadvantages of Wireless communication
1. Security
Utilizing wireless networks raises serious security concerns. An improperly installed or managed
wireless network could pose serious security risks. A wireless network does not require physical
connections like wires. They merely require a wireless adaptor, which raises the risk of hacking
because hackers may easily enter the network. A worsening of the situation may occur if the
network has password protection.

2. Speed
The wireless network's speed is less rapid than that of wired networks. In a wireless network,
file transfers and file sharing are much slower. The location of the user on the network affects
performance as well. The connection degrades more rapidly the further the user is away from
the network. For vast areas or buildings, this is a major issue.

3. Prone to Interference

There is a high chance of interference and jamming in wireless networks because of

environmental variables like dust storms or fog. When too many users are in one area,
the air band that the signals are transported across can become overloaded. A wireless
network could become unreliable due to fog, radiation, radio waves, or any other type of
interference since wireless networks are particularly prone to interference.

4. Requires Basic Computer Knowledge

A basic understanding of computers is necessary to set up a wireless network. Installing

a wireless network might be difficult for people with little computer skills. Security is
risky, and those networks are easy targets for hackers.
Wired vs. Wireless Network: What Is the Difference?

At the most obvious, a wireless network keeps devices connected to a network while still
allowing them the freedom to move about, unencumbered by wires. A wired network, on the
other hand, makes use of cables that connect devices to the network. These devices are
often desktop or laptop computers but can also include scanners and point-of-sale
machines.

There are more subtle technology differences that come in to play between wired and
wireless. Most modern wired networks are now “full duplex”, meaning that they can be
transmitting/receiving packets in both directions simultaneously. In addition, most wired
networks have a dedicated cable that runs to each end user device.

In a Wi-Fi network, the medium (the radio frequency being used for the network) is a shared
resource, not just for the users of the network, but often for other technologies as well (Wi-Fi
operates in what are called ‘shared’ bands, where many different electronic devices are
approved to operate). This has several implications: 1) unlike a wired network, wireless
can’t both talk and listen at the same time, it is “half duplex” 2) All users are sharing the
same space must take turns to talk 3) everyone can ‘hear’ all traffic going on. This has
forced Wi-Fi networks to implement various security measures over the years to protect the
confidentiality of information passed wirelessly.
The Components of a Wireless Network
Several components make up a wireless network’s topology:

1. Clients: What we tend to think of as the end user devices are typically called
‘clients’. As the reach of Wi-Fi has expanded, a variety of devices may be using Wi-
Fi to connect the network, including phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and more.
This gives users the ability to move about the area without sacrificing their bridge to
the network. In some instances, mobility within an office, warehouse, or other work
area is necessary. For example, if employees have to use scanners to register
packages due to be shipped, a wireless network provides the flexibility they need to
freely move about the warehouse.
2. Access Point (AP): An access point (AP) consists of a Wi-Fi that is advertising a
network name (known as a Service Set Identifier, or SSID). Users who connect to
this network will typically find their traffic bridged to a local-area network (LAN) wired
network (like Ethernet) for communication to the larger network or even the internet.
How Does Wi-Fi Network Work?

A Wi-Fi based wireless network sends signals using radio waves (cellular phones and
radios also transmit over radio waves, but at different frequencies and modulation).

In a typical Wi-Fi network, the AP (Access Point) will advertise the specific network that it
offers connectivity to. This is called a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and it is what users see
when they look at the list of available networks on their phone or laptops. The AP
advertises this by way of transmissions called beacons. The beacon can be thought of as
an announcement saying “Hello, I have a network here, if it’s the network you’re looking for,
you can join”.

A client device receives the beacon transmitted by the AP and converts the RF signal into
digital data, then that data is passed along to the device for interpretation. If the user wants
to connect to the network, it can send messages to the AP trying to join and (when security
is enabled) providing the proper credentials to prove they have the right to join. These
processes are known as Association & Authentication. If either of these fail, the device will
not successfully join the network and will be unable to further communicate with the AP.

Assuming all goes well, we come to the part that is the end user’s ultimate goal: passing
data. Data from the client (or from the AP to the client) is converted from digital data into an
RF modulated signal and transmitted over the air. When received, this is de-modulated,
converted back to digital data, and then forwarded along to its destination (often the internet
or a resource on the larger internal network).

Wi-Fi communication is only approved to transmit on specific frequencies, in most parts of

the world these are the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, although many countries are
now adding 6GHz frequencies as well. These frequency bands are not the same that
cellular networks use, so cell phones and Wi-Fi are not in competition for use of the same
frequencies. However that does not mean that there are not other technologies that can
operate in these bands. In the 2.4GHz band in particular there are many products,
including Bluetooth, ZigBee, cordless keyboards, and A/V equipment just to name a small
subset that does use the same frequencies and can cause interference.
Multiple Devices on One AP

If several Wi-Fi devices all want to connect to a network, they can all use the same AP. This
offers a convenient solution, making Wi-Fi extensible into environments where coverage for
many users is needed. Problems arise, however, if too many people need access at the
same time, all needing high levels of bandwidth. For example, if several users are watching
high-definition video at the same time, they may experience drops in performance because
congestion at RF layer makes it difficult to impossible for the AP to pass all the necessary
packets in a timely manner.

Wi-Fi Network Standards

The networking standard used by wireless architecture is IEEE 802.11. However, this
standard is in continual development and new amendments come out regularly.
Amendments to the standard are assigned letters, and while many amendments have been
released, the most commonly known are:

802.11a
This original amendment added support for the 5 GHz band, allowing transmission up to 54
megabits of data per second. The 802.11a standard makes use of orthogonal frequency-
division multiplexing (OFDM). It splits the radio signal into sub-signals before they get to a
receiver. 802.11a is an older standard and has been largely replaced by newer
technology.

802.11b
802.11b added faster rates in the 2.4GHz band to the original standard. It can pass up to 11
megabits of data in a second. It uses complementary code keying (CCK) modulation to
achieve better speeds. 802.11b is an older standard and has been largely replaced by
newer technology.

802.11g
802.11g standardized the use of OFDM technology used in 802.11a in the 2.4GHz band. It
was backwards compatible with both 802.11 and 802.11b. 802.11g is an older standard
and has been largely replaced by newer technology.

802.11n
Once the most popular standard 802.11n was the first time a unified specification covered
both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. This protocol offers better speed when compared to
those that came before it by leveraging the idea of transmitting using multiple antennas
simultaneously (usually called Multiple In Multiple Out or MIMO technology). 802.11n is an
older standard, but some older devices may still be found in use.
802.11ac
802.11ac was only specified for the 5GHz band. It built upon the mechanisms introduced in
802.11n. While not as revolutionary as 802.11n was, it still extended speeds and
capabilities in the 5GHz band. Most devices currently out in the wild are likely 802.11ac
devices.

802.11ac technology was released in two main groups, usually called ‘waves’. The primary
difference is that Wave 2 devices have a few more technical capabilities when compared to
Wave 1, but it is all interoperable.

802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6)
802.11ax (much like 802.11n) unified the specification across all applicable frequency
bands. In the name of simplicity, the industry has started to refer to it as Wi-Fi 6. Wi-Fi 6
has expanded the technologies used for modulation to include OFDMA, which allows a
certain amount of parallelism to the transmission of packets within the system, making more
efficient use of the available spectrum and improving the overall network throughput. Wi-Fi
6 is the latest technology and is what most new devices are shipping with.

Other 802.11 Standards

There are many more amendments that have been made to the standards over the years
(most letters of the alphabet have been used over time). Additional 802.11 standards have
focused on things like better security, increased Quality of Service, as well as many other
enhancements.
Wi-Fi Network Connection Modes

There are multiple Wi-Fi network connection styles, the most prevalent are: infrastructure,
ad hoc, and Wi-Fi Direct.

Infrastructure
Infrastructure mode is the most common style of Wi-Fi, and it is the one people think of
when they connect at home or the office. With infrastructure mode, you need an access
point that serves as the primary connection device for clients. All other clients in the network
(computer, printer, mobile phone, tablet, or other device) connect to an access point to gain
access to a wider network.

Ad Hoc
Ad hoc mode is also referred to as peer-to-peer mode because it does not involve an
access point, but is instead made up of multiple client devices. The devices, acting as
“peers” within the network, connect to each other directly.

Wi-Fi Direct
Wi-Fi Direct is a form of Ad Hoc, but with some additional features and capabilities.
Wireless connectivity is provided to compatible devices that need to connect without the use
of an access point. Televisions are frequently Wi-Fi Direct compatible, allowing users to
send music or images straight from a mobile device to their TV.
Wi-Fi Hotspot

The term “Wi-Fi hotspot” usually refers to wireless networks placed in public areas, like
coffee shops, to allow people to connect to the internet without having to have special
credentials. While some are free, others require a fee, particularly those administered by
companies that specialize in the provision of hotspots in places like airports or bus
terminals.

Many cell phones are hotspot-enabled, and users can turn on the feature by contacting their
cell service provider. With a hotspot turned on, the user can share their internet connection
with someone else, providing them with a password for more secure access.