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Computer or PC Tips InformationWireless Networks: How Do They Work?
by:
Ron King
Wireless networks use radio waves instead of wires to transmit data between computers. Here's how:
The Binary Code: 1s and 0s
It's well best-known that computers transmit information digitally, mistreatment binary code: ones and zeros. This translates well to radio waves, since those 1s and 0s can be delineate by some kinds of beeps. These beeps are so fast that they're outside the hearing range of humans.
Morse Code: Dots And Dashes
It works like Morse code, which is a way to transmit the alphabet over radio waves mistreatment dots (short beeps) and dashes (long beeps). Morse code was used manually for years via telegraph to get information from 1 place to another really quickly. Much significantly
for this example, though, it is a binary system, simply as a computer system is.
Wireless networking, then, can be thought of as a Morse code for computers. You plug in a combined radio receiver and transmitter, and the computer is able to send out its equivalent of dots and dashes (bits, in computer-speak) to get your data from here to there.
Wavelengths And Frequencies
You power wonder how the computer can send and obtain data at high speed without becoming disconnected nonsense. The key to wireless networking is how it gets about this problem.
First, wireless transmissions are sent at really high frequencies, which allows much data to be sent per second. Most wireless connections use a frequency of 2.4 gc (2.4 billion cycles per second) -- a frequency similar to mobile phones and microwave ovens. However, this high frequency produces a wavelength that is really short, which is why wireless networking is effective only over short distances.
Wireless networks as well use a technique called "frequency hopping." They use dozens of frequencies, and perpetually
switch among them. This does wireless networks much immune to interference from different radio signals than if they transmitted on a single frequency.
Internet Access Points
The final step for a wireless network is to provide cyberspace access for every computer on the network. This is done by a special piece of wireless instrumentation
called an access point. An access point is much costly than a wireless card for 1 computer, because it contains radios capable of act with about 100 computers, sharing cyberspace access among them. Dedicated access points are necessary only for larger networks. With only a few computers, it is possible to use 1 of them as the access point, or to use a wireless router.
Industry Standards
Wireless instrumentation
from some manufacturers can activity together to handle these complex communications because there are standards which manual the creation of all wireless devices. These standards are technically called the 802.11. Because of industry compliance with these standards, wireless networking is some
easy to use and cheap today.
Wireless Is Simple To Use
If all this talk of frequencies has you distressed -- relax. Wireless networking hardware and code handle all of this automatically, without need for user intervention. Wireless networking, for all its complex
ability, is far simpler to use than you power expect.
Just about the author:
Ron King is a full-time researcher, writer, and web developer. Visit http://www.havewireless.comfor much info.
Copyright 2005 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact.
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