- 1 Evolution of Mobile Cellular Networks
- 2 Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)
- 3 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
- 4 Personal Communications Services (PCSs)
- 5 Wireless LANs (WLANS)
- 6 Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)
- 7 IMT2000
- 8 IS-95, cdmaOne and cdma2000 Evolution
- 9 Organization of this Book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
1.5 Wireless LANs (WLANS)
Wireless LAN technology has evolved to extend to existing wired networks. Local area networks (LANs) are mostly based on Ethernet media access technology that consists of an interconnection of hosts and routers. LANs are restricted by distance. They are commonly found in offices and inside buildings. Interconnection using wires can be expensive when it comes to relocating servers, printers, and hosts.
Now, more wireless LANs (WLANs) are being deployed in offices. Most WLANs are compatible with Ethernet, and hence, there is no need for protocol conversion. The IEEE has standardized 802.11 protocols to support WLANs media access. A radio base station can be installed in a network to serve multiple wireless hosts over 100-200 m. A host (for example, a laptop) can be wirelessly enabled by installing a wireless adapter and the appropriate communication driver. A user can perform all network-related functions as long as he or she is within the coverage area of the radio base station. This gives the user the capability to perform work beyond his or her office space.
As shown in Figure 1.4, several overlapping radio cells can be used to provide wireless connectivity over a desired region. If a wireless host migrates from one radio cell to another within the same subnet, then there is no handoff. It is basically bridging, since the host's packet will eventually be broadcast onto the same Ethernet backbone.
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Figure 1.4. A WLAN with an Ethernet wired backbone.
WLANs support existing TCP/IP-based applications. There has been considerable debate in the past as to the low throughput WLANs provide compared to high-speed wired networks. It was not long ago that switched Ethernet technology8 evolved, bringing the communication throughput of Ethernet into the gigabit range.
The desire to support higher throughput and ad hoc mobile communications has prompted the ETSI (European Communications Standard Institute) to produce a standard for high-performance Radio LAN (HIPERLAN), at 20Mbps throughput with a self-organizing and distributed control network architecture. HIPERLAN II is a wireless ATM system operating at the 17GHz band.