Wireless Technology
technician to patrol the floor and monitor each device individually, and speeds the response time when a failure occurs. These examples prove that businesses of all types are finding that wireless networks meet the high availability and capacity requirements needed for their specific applications. Once a decision is made to deploy a wireless system, the overriding question then becomes one of standards.
Meeting wireless standards Today’s popular wireless-networking standards are various and can prove very difficult to choose between. There are, however, important differences that are worth exploring in greater detail: 900 MHz technology: This is an unlicensed spectrum that has been commonly and traditionally used for portable phones, microwaves and wireless internet services. Internationally, the 900 MHz band is widely used for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) mobile telephone systems or military communications. As a result, companies with sites around the globe cannot standardise on 900 MHz- based solutions for all locations. But the 900 MHz band suffers from a lack of interoperability, as vendors employ proprietary radio protocols. The industry, on the other hand, is moving towards standards-based systems, with multi- vendor support for common WLAN infrastructures. By contrast, Wi-Fi consumers are not restricted to a single vendor for upgrades and expansion of their WLAN systems.
Wi-Fi: In a mixed wireless network
environment, it is important to select standards- based wireless products that are able to exchange and use information. Wi- Fi is a generic term that refers to any type of 802.11 network, the term is promoted by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Therefore, any products tested and approved as “Wi-Fi Certified” by the Wi-Fi Alliance are certified as interoperable with each other, even if they are from different manufacturers. A user with a Wi-Fi Certified product can also use any brand of access point with any other brand of client hardware that is also Wi-Fi certified. Users benefit from this interoperability by not being locked into one vendor’s solution. Bluetooth: Bluetooth is a short-range
(10 metre) frequency-hopping protocol that links devices. Designed to operate in noisy frequency environments, bluetooth uses a fast acknowledgement and frequency-hopping scheme to make a link robust. It avoids interference from other signals by hopping to a new frequency after transmitting or receiving a packet. Compared with other systems in the same frequency band, bluetooth hops faster and uses shorter packets. As a short-range, low-cost, wireless solution, bluetooth requires less operating power than most other devices. However, because it shares a specific radio spectrum, there is potential for interference with consumer appliances that operate in the same spectrum, such as cordless phones, microwaves and baby monitors.
Integrating the right solution Over the past decade, wireless local area
networks have played a key role in revolutionising the use of technology in our society. In the office and at home, and now across most business infrastructures, wireless connectivity is permeating every aspect of our lives. But as has been demonstrated, there are an abundance of complexities associated with wireless connectivity. The effort involved in understanding this technology and bringing it to embedded solutions can be daunting, time-consuming and expensive. It is therefore important for organisations to seek out providers that can simplify the process. To capitalise on
the growth in this space, they need a convenient, cost- effective, and easy-to- install solution for adding wireless connectivity to their embedded designs. Finding a provider that offers the flexibility to suit specific wireless requirements, with the ability to add connectivity modules to any product quickly and easily, is an important place to start.
Lantronix |
www.lantronix.com Martin Poppelaars is VP EMEA Sales, Lantronix
www.cieonline.co.uk
Components in Electronics
December 2011/January 2012 21
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