• What is a wireless network?
• Types of wireless networks
• Advantages of wireless networks
• Disadvantages of wireless networks
• Devices on a wireless network
• Examples of wireless networks

We explain what a wireless network is, its advantages, disadvantages and some examples. In addition, the devices that compose it.

A wireless network is a connection through electromagnetic waves.

What is a wireless network?

In computing Y telecommunications, is known as net wireless to a type of connection between computer systems (that is, between computers) that is carried out through various waves of electromagnetic spectrum.

That is, it is a node connection that does not require any type of wiring or wired device, since the transmission and reception of the information It is produced through specialized ports. This type of technology represents a huge leap forward compared to methods traditional.

It originated in 1971, when a group of researchers led by the American computer engineer Norman Abramson, created at the University of Hawaii ALOHA, the first packet switching system through a radio wave communications network.

ALOHA was made up of 7 computers located on different islands of the region, linked together by means of a server central that carried out different calculations to supply them. The first drawbacks had to do with the fact that posts coming from the different stations did not overlap each other, which required the creation of the first MAC protocols.

By the following year, ALOHA was connecting to ARPANET, the American computerized information service, the forerunner of Internet.

Types of wireless networks

Wireless networks can be classified based on two different criteria:

• According to its area of ​​reach. They are classified similarly to wired networks:
  • WPAN. Acronyms for Wireless Personal Area Network (Wireless Personal Area Network), has a maximum range of 10 meters, so it can be used for one or two users maximum, that they are together. These types of technologies include Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc.
  • WLAN. Acronyms for Wireless Local Area Network (Wireless Local Area Network), is the standard for communications on which the technologies are based Wifi, capable of reaching a much greater distance based on repeaters, interconnecting various types of devices using radio waves.
  • WMAN. Acronyms for Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (Metropolitan Area Wireless Network), networks with a much greater range, capable of covering up to 20 kilometers.
  • WWAN. Acronyms for Wireless Wide Area Network (Wide Area Wireless Network), uses cell phone and microwave technologies to transfer data over vast distances. Some of its types of technology are GPRS, EDGE, GSM, 3G, 4G or 5G.
• According to your range of frequencies. Depending on what part of the electromagnetic spectrum you use to transmit, we can distinguish between:
  • Terrestrial microwave. Using parabolic antennas of about 3 meters in diameter, a microwave signal is emitted that has a range of several kilometers, using frequencies between 1 and 300 GHz.
  • Satellite microwave. It operates based on the link between two or more base stations, through the intermediation of a satelite suspended in the atmosphere. Each satellite has its own specific frequency bands, but it has a much greater range and a higher speed.
  • Infrared. It uses modulators of non-coherent infrared light, which when directly aligned or reflected on a suitable surface, reach between 300 GHz and 384 THz transmission speed of data. However, it cannot pass through walls.
  • Radio waves. It uses waves at various frequencies (AM, FM, HF, VHF, UHF, etc.) to emit and receive information signals, achieving a effectiveness high over short distances, even through walls, but getting lost as the receiver physically moves away from the emitter.

Advantages of wireless networks

Wireless networks allow you to connect even while on the move.

The advantages of wireless networks can be summarized as:

• Savings in materials. Since kilometers of wiring and ground controllers are not required for the exchange of information.
• Communication more agile. Since an artifact that is in the network can connect to the network movement, or in remote places.
• Multiplicity of connections. Since more than one device can adhere to the same wireless signal simultaneously.

Disadvantages of wireless networks

On the other hand, wireless networks have the following difficulties:

• They require more security. Since the signal is uncontrollable and free, and anyone can catch it.
• They are susceptible to interference. Either from other signals on the same broadcast channel, or from continuous low-frequency noises, antennas, microwave devices or even a certain type of metals.
• Transmission is more complex. Since it requires additional mechanisms and devices to direct the transmission, and receiver devices with adequate power to achieve a stable and continuous signal.

Devices on a wireless network

Any wireless network must have the following elements:

• Devices with wireless capabilities. To connect to a wireless network you will need a computer, telephone, tablet or device equipped with an antenna capable of perceiving and emitting electromagnetic waves, that is, capable of receiving and emitting radio frequency signals. To do this, they must have a working wireless network card.
• Base stations. They are those modulators that convert the wired or traditional signal into a wireless signal transmitted by radio waves.
• Repeaters. Apparatus designed to capture and re-emit a specific signal of electromagnetic waves, to give it a boost and allow them to go further or to places that are otherwise inaccessible.
• Routers and access points. Routers ("routers”) Are the devices that“ translate ”the Internet signal and direct it to the access points, so that it can then be distributed by these to the various users of a network. In addition, the former assign an IP address to control and organize access to data packets and avoid losses and overlaps.

Examples of wireless networks

Some everyday examples of wireless networks include mobile phone networks, WiFi stations in our homes, in squares or at airports, or even satellite transmission via microwave of cable television that we consume in our homes.

The Bluetooth system with which we connect our wireless headphones to the reproductive system is also a good example. music, or cell phone.