Chapter 1: Introduction to Wireless Technology

The present time might have let you allowed to be familiar with the term wireless technology. The term “wireless technology” has a wide circumference to cover in. However, in short, it can be described as connecting people or devices to communicate with each other or transfer data or power without any cable or wire, the technology is called wireless technology. So, to begin with, this new technology, let’s know about its brief history over the past decades.

Small History of Wireless Technology

The root of wireless technology was contained with Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist’s discovery of electromagnetic waves. When he was experimenting with electromagnetic waves between 1885 and 1889, he observed the following:

• the length and velocity of the wave and
• the nature of vibration and susceptibility of the wave to reflection and refraction were similar to that of the heat and light waves.

With his findings, he proved that heat and light are electromagnetic waves. This electromagnetic wave was called the Hertzian wave after the name of Heinrich Hertz and later on, it was told as a radio wave.

The First Wireless Communication

Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter invented the first photophone in 1880. The photophone was a type of telephone which was conducted through modulated light beams to communicate audio conversation.

Wireless Telegraphy with Long-distance Radio transmission

Italian electrical engineer, Guglielmo Marconi is a pioneer, who worked for a long-time on the long-distance radio transmission. Finally, Marconi worked with German physicist Karl Ferdinand Braun and developed their milestone invention of long-distance wireless telegraphy and they jointly shared the Nobel Prize in 1909.

The Radio, Television, and Satellite

With the development of Marconi’s long-distance radio transmission, the radio has emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. Later on, television has come which receives the broadcasted audio-visual communication without any wire. Satellite is also an example of wireless technology.

Wireless Technology in Today’s Era

Wireless technology today has become a part of everybody’s life. If you ask anyone what they know about wireless technology, they will answer you exemplifying the use of a smartphone, tablet, laptop, modem, etc. However, today, wireless technology is used under two broad categories. They are:

• Wi-Fi Technology – Wi-Fi technology connects two devices through radio frequencies (RF) or radio waves. It is commonly used to attach internet router with devices like laptops, tablets, computers, mobile phones to communicate with each other. In fact, Wi-Fi technology is a wireless local area network (WLAN) that runs 802.11 protocols which are developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The specification that the “802.11 families” use is the Ethernet protocol and the protocol shares its path by following Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) with Collision Avoidance (CA) mechanism.

Wi-Fi can use both 2.4GHz UHF (Ultra High Frequency) and 5GHz SHF (Super High Frequency). You will be wondering to know that wherever you go, for example, your club, coffee shop, the marketplace, or even you stay at home, you are surrounded and succumbed to the radio waves. Whatever gadget you are using, that may be a cell phone, a Bluetooth earpiece, a baby monitor, a car door opener, a garage opener all are run by the radio frequency and the magnitude of frequency is 2.4GHz. so, you are living your life within 2.4GHz RF.

Now the question is what the number 2.4GHz signifies? It is the frequency of the radio wave that is broadcasted by the cell phone service provider to your handset. The number refers to the oscillation of wave or in other words, it can be said number of times that a wave oscillates in one second. In the case of the computer, it tells you about the speed of the computer’s processor or clock’s rate. In the case of your television set, it refers to the rate at which your TV set refreshes its screen.

5GHz is a part of the SHF radio spectrum that has been allotted internationally to the amateur radio and satellite users on a secondary basis. Although the user must accept its harmful interference from the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) bands. However, it is included in the IEEE C Band spectrum.

Both the band 2.4GHz and 5GHz do not need any license to run from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to operate in the USA.

• Cellular Networks or Cell Phone Networks – A cellular network is a network that connects two electronic devices over a long distance to communicate with each other or transfer data. Due to covering a long-distanced frequency re-use is necessary. Usually, the network services are provided with the help of a number of base stations. Each base station covers a small area called a cell. The limited power of a station makes possible to re-use the same frequency from a cell which is located a few cells away from the base station and that too becomes possible without any interference. The cell size differs based on the number of users and traffic per user in the area.

The Market for Wireless Technology

The wireless technology market is widespread and it includes fixed wireless, mobile wireless, portable wireless, IR wireless. When you use wireless technology in your office or your home, you mainly use fixed wireless to connect equipment or devices to get access to the internet through a modem. People use mobile wireless in vehicles, PCS (personal communication services) and cell phones. Portable wireless devices include battery-powered cell phone and personal communication system (PCS). IR (Infrared) wireless is used to transfer data in a controlled system.

What are the Industrial Applications of Wireless Technologies?

Maybe you have been using wireless devices during the last two decades but in industry, it has been using over three decades. First, such an application has been used to crane and Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) to get flexible controllable access to industrial vehicles. However, the standardized protocol of RF like WLAN (IEEE802.11, IEEE802.15.4) and Bluetooth technology (IEEE802.15.1) have now been playing the most dominating role in the industry. The advantages of wireless technology over industrial applications include: