Page 84 - DCAP311_DCAP607_WIRELESS_NETWORKS

Wireless Networks

Notes z z PC input devices: The input unit is formed by the input devices attached to the computer.
Ex - Keyboard, Microphone etc. An input unit takes the input & converts it into binary
form so that it can be understood by the computer.

z z Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver: The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-
based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather
conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to
four or more GPS satellites. The system provides critical capabilities to military, civil and
commercial users around the world. It is maintained by the United States government and
is freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.
z z Dial-up modem: Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities
of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a dialed connection to an
Internet service provider (ISP) via telephone lines. The user’s computer or router uses an
attached modem to encode and decode Internet Protocol packets and control information
into and from analogue audio frequency signals, respectively.
z z Wireless remote control: A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most
commonly a television set, DVD player and home theater systems originally used for
operating the device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance. Remote control has
continually evolved and advanced over recent years to include Bluetooth connectivity,
motion sensor-enabled capabilities and voice control.
z z Sensor modem: Wireless sensor nodes comprises a variety of low power, battery-operated
wireless data acquisition devices to which different sensors may be directly connected.

5.2 Radio NIC (Network Interface Card)

The hardware required to connect a computer to a network is a network interface card (NIC).
Each network interface card has a unique number called a MAC address, which is a six-figure
hexadecimal number such as AB:1C:FF:56:4D:33. Most NICs are designed to connect to twisted-
pair cable; however, there are NICs that connect to all types of network cable and wireless NICs
that send and receive radio waves through an aerial. Wireless ATM networks will provide
multimedia information to end users anywhere and anytime. A key technology component
in the integration of a wireless ATM (WATM) network is the WATM network interface card
(NIC). Similar to ATM NICs, the WATM NIC requires the support of the ATM and AAL layer
transfer protocols. But, in order to provide a reliable wireless transmission platform, WATM
NICs should also incorporate data link control (DLC), media access control (MAC), and radio
physical (RPhy) layer functionality. As a result, the WATM NICs processing requirements are
more demanding than that of ATM NICs at equivalent transmission rates. Thus, the design of a
high-performance WATM NIC software/hardware low-cost architecture poses a new challenge.
This paper presents a new architecture and implementation of a first generation 8 Mb/s WATM
NIC developed at NEC Princeton for the WATMnet network.
In the early days of computing, individual computers operated as stand-alone systems. The
earliest personal computers did not have an easy way to connect to other computers. In order
to transfer files between computers, you had to use a portable storage medium such as a floppy
disk; however, in modern day computers, connecting to a network is essential. For example, you
need it to use e-mail, access information on the Internet, share documents within a corporate
network.
A computer uses a network interface card (NIC) to become part of a network. The NIC contains
the electronic circuitry required to communicate using a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) or a
wireless connection (e.g., WiFi).

78 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY