Wireless Networks: How Do They Work?

Wireless networks use radio waves instead of cables to transmit data between computers. Here is how:

The Binary Code: 1s and 0s

It is well-known that computers transmit data digitally, using binary code: zeros and ones. This translates well to radio waves, because people 1s and 0s can be represented by different kinds of beeps. These beeps are so fast that they’re outside the hearing variety of people.

Morse Code: Dots And Dashes

It functions just like Morse code, and it is a means to transmit the music over radio waves with dots (short beeps) and dashes (long beeps). Morse code was used manually to get information from 1 location to another. More importantly for this case it is a system, just as there is a computer process.

Wireless media, subsequently, 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 receive your data out to there.

Wavelengths And Frequencies

You may wonder how the computer can send and receive data at high speed without getting garbled nonsense. The key to wireless network is the way that it eliminates this issue.

Wireless transmissions are sent at very high frequencies, which allows additional data to be sent each second. Most wireless connections use a frequency of 2.4 gigahertz (2.4 billion cycles per second) — a frequency comparable to cellular phones and microwave ovens. But this frequency generates a wavelength that is brief, which explains the reason why wireless networking is effective .

Wireless networks also use a technique called”frequency hopping.” They constantly switch one of them, and use dozens of frequencies. It makes wireless networks more immune to interference from other radio signals than when they transmitted on a single frequency.

Internet Access Points

The last step to get a wireless network is to give online access for each computer on the network. A piece of wireless equipment called an access point does this. As it contains radios capable of communicating with around 100 computers, sharing access, an access point is pricier than a wireless card for one pc. Dedicated access points are essential only for networks that are larger. With only a few computers, it is possible to use a router, or to use 1 of them as the access point.

Industry Standards

As there are standards which direct the production of all wireless devices wireless equipment from different manufacturers can work together to handle these communications. These standards are technically called the 802.11. Because of industry compliance with these standards, wireless networking is easy to use and very reasonably priced today.

Wireless Is Simple To Use

If all of this talk about frequencies has you stressed — unwind. Applications and wireless networking hardware handle all this automatically, without need for consumer intervention. Wireless media, for all its complicated ability, is far simpler to use than you may expect.