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Wireless Networks

Notes PC Card. These products are available from different vendors. Many of the newer PDAs and
laptops come equipped with one or more wireless PAN interfaces. This makes these wireless
devices ready to connect with other devices, such as printers, PDAs, and cell phones that also
have wireless PAN interfaces. The larger PC Cards are uncommon for wireless PANs, mainly
because wireless PAN technologies are ideal for small devices.

USB Adapters

Several companies offer a wireless PAN USB adapter (see Figure 1.2), which is also called a
wireless dongle. For example, you can purchase a USB Bluetooth adapter and connect it to a USB
port on your PC. This makes the PC able to synchronize with other devices having Bluetooth
connectivity. Bluetooth?which is discussed later?is a specification developed for short-range,
radio-based transceivers.
Figure 1.2: Bluetooth Wireless USB Adapters Enable PCs and Laptops to Interface with other
Bluetooth Devices

Source: http://etutorials.org/Networking/wn/Chapter+4.+Wireless+PANs+Networks+for+Small+Places/Wireless+PAN
+Components/
A PDA utilizing Bluetooth can wirelessly interface with the Bluetooth-enabled PC and
synchronize without placing the PDA in a synchronization cradle. A USB connection over
Bluetooth, however, is generally slower than having a directly wired interface through the PC’s
USB port. This is because the wireless USB adapter is mapped to the PC’s serial port, which runs
slower than the USB port. The wireless solution might be more convenient, but you might need
to wait twice as long before synchronization is complete.

Routers

Most wireless PAN applications simply involve cable replacement, but some vendors sell
Bluetooth-equipped routers to support wireless connections to the Internet. Because of limited
range, though, these wireless PAN routers are primarily for home and small office use. In order
to satisfy more connectivity needs, some wireless PAN routers also support wireless LAN
interfaces, such as 802.11.

Did u know? The advanced technology and development in wireless network topology
has unshackled wired communication. Wireless communication technologies are point-to-
point, line of sight, scatter, reflective, radio broadcast, satellite, microwave, light-based and
cellular technology. The wireless network topologies that are relevant for communication
are star, tree, line, mesh and ring.

1.4.2 Wireless LANs

Wireless LAN (WiFi) offers the promise of unhindered access to network resources even outside
the reach of a wired setup. In this tutorial, take a closer look at the technical concepts that
drive WiFi and how WiFi stacks up against some of the other competing technologies.

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