Jen English: If you've used a cell phone or GPS to
find your way, you've used wireless
communications. Wireless Communications is a
transmission of voice and data without the use of
cables or wires. Instead of a physical connection,
the data travels through electromagnetic waves.
The groundwork for today's wireless networking was
laid in the 1970s. With Aloha net in Hawaii. Aloha
net. Essentially a wide area network or WAN relied
on ultra high frequency signals to broadcast data
among the islands. The underlying tech of Aloha
net helped fuel creation of Ethernet in 1973, and
then the first wireless standard 802 11. Wireless
has been around for over a century. But in the
last 15 years, it's changed dramatically. Now all
types of wireless applications and services are
used by 1000s of companies and consumers. And that
time wireless features have evolved from slow
simple data transfers at rates of only 54 megabits
per second to speedy operations that require
gigabits of data to complete. Each new generation
of wireless communication creates more
sophisticated capabilities. These capabilities in
turn, give users flexibility and how they access
information and services. We're at a point now
where people can connect to resources from almost
anywhere using powerful mobile devices, and the
technology continues to mature. That means people
with wireless networking skills will be in greater
and greater demand. Wireless certification
programs like those offered by CompTIA and Cisco
help people acquire the skills they need to
support wireless systems. The future of wireless
is exciting. But before we get into that, let's
first look at how wireless communications work.
With wired networks a physical cable is needed to
establish communications between devices. But with
a wireless network data is sent and received
between devices over radio frequencies. So
wireless networks eliminate the need for dedicated
wired cabling. Many types of devices and equipment
use wireless communications, you've no doubt used
cell phones, cordless phones, a GPS, and laptops
with accessories like wireless mice, keyboards and
printers. Wireless Networks generally include some
type of radio transmission to send and receive
signals across a specified range of
electromagnetic spectrum. So a wireless network
might use this specific frequency band of 2.4
gigahertz and that band is separated into
different channels to reduce the risk of
congestion. Data transmission is typically done
with antennas, which you've likely seen on older
radios and television sets. On a modern device,
though, the antenna is typically a small piece of
hardware embedded in the device. Different
wireless networks serve different needs. Here are
a few examples. wireless local area networks, also
called wireless LANs. Use radio frequencies
instead of wires to connect nodes along the local
network. Wi Fi is a wireless standard that uses
wireless access points to connect endpoint devices
on a wireless LAN. Wireless wide area networks
also called wireless LANs or mobile broadband use
cellular technology like 5g to create a wireless
network over a large geographic area. Wireless
metropolitan area networks or wireless mans
provide access outside office and home networks.
Wireless MANs are larger than wireless LANs. But
smaller than wireless WANs. Fixed wireless
networks deliver last mile internet connectivity
to households and businesses. This is useful in
rural areas without wired connectivity, or
satellite internet is the only option. A wireless
personal area network or wireless PAN is a type of
network that uses short range wireless technology.
Think of a wireless keyboard, mouse or headphones
that use Bluetooth to connect with your laptop.
There are other types of wireless networks but
these examples help show how wireless networking
designs can be tailored to meet different needs.
Let's turn now to cellular networks. A cellular
network uses radio frequencies sending signals
from one device to the next through a cell, an
area that contains a fixed location transceiver or
a base station for much of the 1990s and 2000s
standard supported cellular networks Global System
for Mobile Communications or GSM. And code
division multiple access or CDMA GSM and CDMA.
Each had its own access architectures that use 2g
and 3g Cellular specifications. But with the
advent of 4g LTE and even more so with 5g, the
distinctions have diminished. Modern cellular
networks are typically defined in terms of which
generation of wireless standard supported. Let's
look at the most common types of cellular networks
in use now, 4g LTE or fourth generation wireless
and LTE, appeared in 2009. 4g LTE cellular
networks can theoretically reach speeds up to 100
megabits per second. 5g was first introduced as a
technical standard in 2016, and carriers began to
deploy it in 2019 5g data speeds can reach as high
as 20 gigabits per second with ultra low latency,
like five milliseconds of latency or less. 5g has
fueled new business cases, including autonomous
vehicles and sophisticated industrial control
systems, and six g, which will use higher
frequencies than 5g networks with higher capacity
and lower latency. Some vendors are investing in
six g, but it's not a functioning technology yet,
and likely won't be available commercially until
around 2030. Even so, some predictions about what
six g will enable are intriguing. These include
threat detection, health, monitoring, and facial
recognition. Six g is also expected to enable
emerging tech like Smart Cities virtual reality
and augmented reality.
Ever since remote work exploded in the wake of the
COVID 19 pandemic. We've existed in an environment
where employees need high performance access to
network resources wherever they are. Wireless
Communications enable that conductivity. Here are
the most notable benefits of wireless technology
cost savings. Wireless networks can be less
expensive to build and maintain than wired
infrastructure. Wireless features. new wireless
features, especially multiple input and multiple
output or MIMO. Allow physical access points to
serve more users, which also cuts costs. Mobility,
improved wireless performance now helps
organizations take advantage of greater mobility,
thus helping them redefine how they design offices
and workgroups. But wireless is not without its
challenges, challenges can include planning
demands. It takes forethought to design the right
strategy for wireless, good wireless strategies
must make sure access points and other components
are set up correctly, so users can reliably access
the services and applications they need. This
process requires a wireless site survey, which
helps ensure adequate coverage and signal strength
and identifies possible sources of interference
across the network security. A wireless network
typically has many devices using it and many
different types of devices, which expose the
network to threats. bad actors can target wireless
vulnerabilities using various network attacks,
such as spoofing or packet sniffing. Power
consumption is another challenge because wireless
network components require more power than wired
ones. This means enterprises should replace their
power over Ethernet switches, and other
infrastructure components to support the newest
wireless standards. Finally, troubleshooting can
get complicated with wireless. That's because
users are distributed rather than all in one
location. Plus, as previously mentioned, these
users are often communicating over different types
of devices.
The terms wireless and Wi Fi get tossed around a
lot. But Wi Fi is simply a subset of wireless
communications. It's a type of wireless LAN that
uses radio signals to send data from a wireless
router to your device, like your phone, tablet or
smart TV. Wi Fi standard use different frequency
bands to transmit data, such as 2.4 gigahertz and
five gigahertz. The latest Wi Fi standard is Wi Fi
six or 802 11 a x. The next iteration Wi Fi seven
is slated to release in 2024. Wi Fi networks have
their own security protocols that augment any
network control and access policies are already in
place. These security protocols include Wired
Equivalent Privacy, and Wi Fi protected access,
which work in different ways to help secure
enterprise Wi Fi networks. Wireless Communications
is a fundamental part of enterprise networking.
Advances in Wi Fi and cellular markets have
practically erased the performance gap between
wired and wireless infrastructure. That means
organizations can now go wireless first, and use
wired networks on an as needed basis.
Wi Fi seven the next standard of Wi Fi will
improve performance, increase throughput and allow
more devices to connect while cutting latency
issues. That new standard will support a maximum
throughput of at least 30 gigabits per second
three times the amount Wi Fi six enables for
cellular carriers are also working on 60
development. Six JS benefits will include low
latency like one microsecond with throughput and
capacity that exceeds 5g as capacity and
performance supported by these standards.
converge. Wireless Communications will let users
switch seamlessly between Wi Fi and cellular. That
means wireless consumers will be able to access
the services security protections and resources
they need, no matter where they are.