802.11ac technology was released in two main groups, usually called ‘waves’. The primary difference is that Wave 2 devices have a few more technical capabilities when compared to Wave 1, but it is all interoperable.

What is Wireless Network? Diagram, Types, Examples, & Devices!!

A wireless network technology is a special computer network that allows to utilize the wireless data connections in between multiple network nodes. Hence, now we will explain about what is wireless network with diagram and its types, example ; and involving with different types of wireless network devices with ease. This article is the master piece over the internet; so i make sure that after reading this post, you will fully get know about what is wireless network without any issue.

Definition : If, Computer network do not need any types of cable for making connection in between multiple network nodes like as laptop, PC, phone, and more. So, it is known as “Wireless Network”, because, they mostly makes use of Radio Frequency (RF) connections between nodes in the network.

Diagram of Wireless Network

Wireless networks are best option for different areas like as homes, businesses, and telecommunications networks. Wireless network allows to users get freedom to move about specific range while connecting wireless devices.

Also Read – Advantages and Disadvantages of Wireless Network!!

Wireless networking is more cheapest and affordable method to set up an Internet network system, because there are not use any cable, so all family members can free to use their devices any area in the house, as well as other devices can be connected over the network in few seconds.

Wireless Network Tutorial Headlines:

In this section, we will show you all headlines about this entire article; you can check them as your choice; below shown all:

1. What is Wireless Network?
2. Types of Wireless Network
3. Examples of Wireless Network
4. Wireless Network Devices
5. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

• What is the meaning of wireless network technology?
• What are the different types of wireless network technologies?
• What are the some examples of wireless network technology?
• How many types of wireless network devices are there?

Wired vs. Wireless Network: What Is the Difference?

At the most obvious, a wireless network keeps devices connected to a network while still allowing them the freedom to move about, unencumbered by wires. A wired network, on the other hand, makes use of cables that connect devices to the network. These devices are often desktop or laptop computers but can also include scanners and point-of-sale machines.

There are more subtle technology differences that come in to play between wired and wireless. Most modern wired networks are now “full duplex”, meaning that they can be transmitting/receiving packets in both directions simultaneously. In addition, most wired networks have a dedicated cable that runs to each end user device.

In a Wi-Fi network, the medium (the radio frequency being used for the network) is a shared resource, not just for the users of the network, but often for other technologies as well (Wi-Fi operates in what are called ‘shared’ bands, where many different electronic devices are approved to operate). This has several implications: 1) unlike a wired network, wireless can’t both talk and listen at the same time, it is “half duplex” 2) All users are sharing the same space must take turns to talk 3) everyone can ‘hear’ all traffic going on. This has forced Wi-Fi networks to implement various security measures over the years to protect the confidentiality of information passed wirelessly.

Types of Wireless Network Connections

In addition to a LAN, there are a few other types of common wireless networks: personal-area network (PAN), metropolitan-area network (MAN), and wide-area network (WAN).

LAN

A local-area network is a computer network that exists at a single site, such as an office building. It can be used to connect a variety of components, such as computers, printers, and data storage devices. LANs consist of components like switches, access points, routers, firewalls, and Ethernet cables to tie it all together. Wi-Fi is the most commonly known wireless LAN.

PAN

A personal-area network consists of a network centralized around the devices of a single person in a single location. A PAN could have computers, phones, video game consoles, or other peripheral devices. They are common inside homes and small office buildings. Bluetooth is the most commonly known wireless PAN.

MAN

A metropolitan-area network is a computer network that spans across a city, small geographical area, or business or college campus. One feature that differentiates a MAN from a LAN is its size. A LAN usually consists of a solitary building or area. A MAN can cover several square miles, depending on the needs of the organization.

Large companies, for example, may use a MAN if they have a spacious campus and need to manage key components, such as HVAC and electrical systems.

WAN

A wide-area network covers a very large area, like an entire city, state, or country. In fact, the internet is a WAN. Like the internet, a WAN can contain smaller networks, including LANs or MANs. Cellular services are the most commonly known wireless WANs.

Types of Wireless Network Connections

In addition to a LAN, there are a few other types of common wireless networks: personal-area network (PAN), metropolitan-area network (MAN), and wide-area network (WAN).

LAN

A local-area network is a computer network that exists at a single site, such as an office building. It can be used to connect a variety of components, such as computers, printers, and data storage devices. LANs consist of components like switches, access points, routers, firewalls, and Ethernet cables to tie it all together. Wi-Fi is the most commonly known wireless LAN.

PAN

A personal-area network consists of a network centralized around the devices of a single person in a single location. A PAN could have computers, phones, video game consoles, or other peripheral devices. They are common inside homes and small office buildings. Bluetooth is the most commonly known wireless PAN.

MAN

A metropolitan-area network is a computer network that spans across a city, small geographical area, or business or college campus. One feature that differentiates a MAN from a LAN is its size. A LAN usually consists of a solitary building or area. A MAN can cover several square miles, depending on the needs of the organization.

Large companies, for example, may use a MAN if they have a spacious campus and need to manage key components, such as HVAC and electrical systems.

WAN

A wide-area network covers a very large area, like an entire city, state, or country. In fact, the internet is a WAN. Like the internet, a WAN can contain smaller networks, including LANs or MANs. Cellular services are the most commonly known wireless WANs.

The Components of a Wireless Network

Several components make up a wireless network’s topology:

1. Clients: What we tend to think of as the end user devices are typically called ‘clients’. As the reach of Wi-Fi has expanded, a variety of devices may be using Wi-Fi to connect the network, including phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and more. This gives users the ability to move about the area without sacrificing their bridge to the network. In some instances, mobility within an office, warehouse, or other work area is necessary. For example, if employees have to use scanners to register packages due to be shipped, a wireless network provides the flexibility they need to freely move about the warehouse.
2. Access Point (AP): An access point (AP) consists of a Wi-Fi that is advertising a network name (known as a Service Set Identifier, or SSID). Users who connect to this network will typically find their traffic bridged to a local-area network (LAN) wired network (like Ethernet) for communication to the larger network or even the internet.

The Components of a Wireless Network

Several components make up a wireless network’s topology:

1. Clients: What we tend to think of as the end user devices are typically called ‘clients’. As the reach of Wi-Fi has expanded, a variety of devices may be using Wi-Fi to connect the network, including phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and more. This gives users the ability to move about the area without sacrificing their bridge to the network. In some instances, mobility within an office, warehouse, or other work area is necessary. For example, if employees have to use scanners to register packages due to be shipped, a wireless network provides the flexibility they need to freely move about the warehouse.
2. Access Point (AP): An access point (AP) consists of a Wi-Fi that is advertising a network name (known as a Service Set Identifier, or SSID). Users who connect to this network will typically find their traffic bridged to a local-area network (LAN) wired network (like Ethernet) for communication to the larger network or even the internet.

How Does Wi-Fi Network Work?

A Wi-Fi based wireless network sends signals using radio waves (cellular phones and radios also transmit over radio waves, but at different frequencies and modulation).

In a typical Wi-Fi network, the AP (Access Point) will advertise the specific network that it offers connectivity to. This is called a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and it is what users see when they look at the list of available networks on their phone or laptops. The AP advertises this by way of transmissions called beacons. The beacon can be thought of as an announcement saying “Hello, I have a network here, if it’s the network you’re looking for, you can join”.

A client device receives the beacon transmitted by the AP and converts the RF signal into digital data, then that data is passed along to the device for interpretation. If the user wants to connect to the network, it can send messages to the AP trying to join and (when security is enabled) providing the proper credentials to prove they have the right to join. These processes are known as Association & Authentication. If either of these fail, the device will not successfully join the network and will be unable to further communicate with the AP.

Assuming all goes well, we come to the part that is the end user’s ultimate goal: passing data. Data from the client (or from the AP to the client) is converted from digital data into an RF modulated signal and transmitted over the air. When received, this is de-modulated, converted back to digital data, and then forwarded along to its destination (often the internet or a resource on the larger internal network).

Wi-Fi communication is only approved to transmit on specific frequencies, in most parts of the world these are the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, although many countries are now adding 6GHz frequencies as well. These frequency bands are not the same that cellular networks use, so cell phones and Wi-Fi are not in competition for use of the same frequencies. However that does not mean that there are not other technologies that can operate in these bands. In the 2.4GHz band in particular there are many products, including Bluetooth, ZigBee, cordless keyboards, and A/V equipment just to name a small subset that does use the same frequencies and can cause interference.

Why wireless?

At this point, digging into a particular technology is getting a little ahead of the story, however. Wireless networks share some significant benefits, regardless of how the protocols are built or what kind of information they bring.

Mobility is the most apparent value of wireless networking. Wireless network users can link to existing networks and are then able to travel freely. In a single call, a mobile phone user will travel miles because the phone links the user via cell towers.

Mobile telephony was costly initially. These costs limited its use to highly mobile professionals such as sales managers and significant executive decision-makers who would need to be reached at a moment’s notice regardless of their venue. However, mobile telephony has proved to be a useful service and is now increasingly popular.

Usually, wireless networks have a lot of versatility, which can translate into rapid implementation. Wireless networks use a variety of base stations to connect users to an existing network.

How wireless networks work

Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) serves the same function as a wired one to connect a group of computers. Since “wireless” does not require expensive wiring, the primary advantage is that it is typically simpler, quicker, and cheaper to set up.

By contrast, it can be labor-intensive and costly to build a network by dragging wires over an office’s walls and ceilings. But a wireless network can be a cost-effective way to extend or increase it, even though you have a wired network already in place.

Wireless networks operate using Radio Frequency (RF) technology, a frequency associated with radio wave propagation within the electromagnetic spectrum. An electromagnetic field is generated when an RF current is supplied to an antenna that can then spread through space.

A system recognized as an access point (AP) is the core of a wireless network. An access point’s primary role is to broadcast a wireless signal sensed and tuned into by computers. Since wireless networks are typically linked to wired networks, access points often act as a gateway to a wired network’s resources, such as an Internet connection.

Computers need to be fitted with wireless network adapters to connect to an access point and join a wireless network. These are mostly built right into the device, but if not, by using an add-on adapter attached to an empty expansion slot, USB port, or, in the case of notebooks, a PC card slot, just about any computer or notebook can be made wireless-capable.

What is a wireless network and what is it for in computing?

With regard to such a network, it can be said that it is the one that offers the possibility of connecting various nodes without using a physical connection , such as cables. Therefore, it does so by establishing communication through electromagnetic waves.

For its part, in terms of the functions that this system has in computer science, the most notable of these is that it allows establishing links between computers and some other computer equipment without the prior requirement of installing a wiring in the site . Therefore, it means greater comfort for users and more economy in reference to infrastructure.

The wireless network provides greater simplicity so that you can interconnect a remarkable number of devices , be they mobile phones, computers, tablets, printers, faxes, etc. In addition to this, it works perfectly to perform a more elegant installation , ensuring that both the style and appearance of the place are not harmed at all.

Among other functions and / or advantages, we highlight that it serves to allow greater mobility to its users , since they can access the Internet from any site without complications. It also allows access to the network quickly and simultaneously.

However, in terms of security, it can cause problems if there is no efficient protection to prevent the entry of hackers and intruders that may affect you. In addition, it also stands out that the internet speed provided by this type of network and compared to the ethernet, is lower because of possible interference in space.

What types of wireless networks exist without wires?

For starters, it should be noted that networks of this class can be classified in different ways, either by frequency or according to their coverage . Given that the most common is to identify them by the scope that these networks reach, in this post we indicate the types of wireless networks that are depending on the coverage they show :

WPAN

The acronym for “ Wireless Personal Area Network ” that stands out for allowing wireless communications for particular devices. That is, it is based on offering a purely personal coverage, so it is the type of least scope of the list. Taking into account that it only provides a path of approximately 10 meters.

For its part, it aims to communicate devices such as computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, PDAs, etc. This, from its peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, controls, among others. Taking into account that, mainly, makes use of technologies such as bluetooth and infrared . Without a doubt, the best of these two is bluetooth because it includes the ability to transmit data between 1 and 100 meters .

WLAN

With respect to the previous one, this type of technology has a greater reach and basically, it facilitates the connection of portable devices, tablets, etc. Which, makes use of a radiofrequency technology and with it, allows users greater mobility in order to reduce cable connections. Therefore, it is a very flexible wireless data communication system.

It is valuable to highlight that WLANs (Wireless Local Area Network) have taken great power in different fields; as, for example, for manufacturing and warehouses , that is, in establishments where the information needs to be transmitted in real time to a central terminal.

Standards / Technologies

These are a few different types of network technologies. The most common and newest version is 802.11ac but there are different types including 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ac/ab. Speeds have increased from approximately 11mbps to 500mbps.

Distance affects the signal of the Wi-Fi, if the signal is indoors it can spread to a distance of 50-70m and outdoors it can spread to a distance of 250m. It is weaker indoors because of interference like doors, walls, pipework and microwaves.

SSID

Each network is set a SSID (Service Set Identification). This is the name that is associated with a network. When a device is trying to connect to a network, the device will search for a network . and that network will report back with its SSID. Some networks don't broadcast there SSID. This is so that devices can't find the network during a search, they can still connect to the network but they will need to know it exists.

A MAC (Media Access Control) address is a group of hexadecimal digits that contain information about that device that broadcasts data. the first three groups represents the manufacturer (or manufacturer & type of device) and the last three groups represent your actual device.

The purpose of the MAC Address is to uniquely identify your device, any data is sent to the MAC Address at a specific IP Address. Your device may have several MAC Addresses, one for Wi-Fi, one for Bluetooth, and one for NFC.

History and Types of Wi-Fi

In the 1980s, a technology designed for wireless cash registers called WaveLAN was developed and shared with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers group responsible for networking standards, known as Committee 802. This technology was further developed during the 1990s until the committee published standard 802.11 in 1997.

The initial form of Wi-Fi from that 1997 standard supported only 2 Mbps connections. This technology was not officially known as Wi-Fi from the beginning, either; that term was coined a few years later as its popularity increased. An industry standards group has continued to evolve the standard ever since, generating a family of new versions of Wi-Fi called successively 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, and so on. Each of these related standards can communicate with each other, although newer versions offer better performance and more features.

Wi-Fi Hardware

Wireless broadband routers commonly used in home networks serve as Wi-Fi access points (along with other functions). Similarly, public Wi-Fi hotspots use one or more access points installed inside the coverage area.

Small Wi-Fi radios and antennas are embedded inside smartphones, laptops, printers, and many consumer gadgets enabling these devices to function as network clients. Access points are configured with network names that clients can discover when scanning the area for available networks.

Wireless Networking and Wi-Fi

Networking technologies that connect multiple computers and devices without wires, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN), also fall under the wireless umbrella. Often, these devices are referred to by the catch-all term "Wi-Fi," which is trademarked by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Wi-Fi covers technologies that incorporate 802.11 standards, such as 802.11g or 802.11ac network cards and wireless routers.

You can use Wi-Fi to print wirelessly over a home or office network, connect directly to other computers in your network, and turn your phone into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot for other devices.

Bluetooth is another wireless technology that you're probably familiar with. If your devices are close enough together and support Bluetooth, they can be connected to transmit data without wires. These devices might include your laptop, phone, printer, mouse, keyboard, hands-free headsets, and smart devices.

The Wireless Industry

Wireless on its own is typically used to refer to products and services from the cellular telecommunications industry. CTIA, the Wireless Association, for example, is comprised of wireless carriers, such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint, and cellphone manufacturers like LG and Samsung. Different wireless protocols and phone standards include CDMA, GSM, EV-DO, 3G, 4G, and 5G.

The term wireless internet most often refers to cellular data, though the phrase can also mean data accessed via satellite.

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