When we talk about wireless networks, we often refer
exclusively to "wi-fi" even when we talk about types of networks that
have nothing to do with this technology. While it might seem ideal that the
world of wireless networking uses only one common network protocol, such as
wi-fi, modern wireless networks use a variety of protocols instead. One reason
above all: no protocol, at least at the moment, is the ideal solution for all
existing situations and different types of use. Some protocols are more
optimized to conserve power on mobile devices, while others offer faster
transfer speeds or more reliable connections over long distances.
The protocols listed here have proved useful for use on a
large number of devices suitable for the consumer market as well as in
industrial and professional applications.
LTE
Modern smartphones adopt the so-called fourth generation
network (also known as 4G) for wireless networks. The phones use a great
variety of different network standards such as HSDPA, GPRS and EV-DO . Mobile
phone providers and industry have invested large amounts of capital to upgrade
the cellular network system and all connected network devices to support 4G,
adapting the standard of all their protocols to a common technology called Long
Term Evolution. (LTE) which established itself as the standard around 2010.
The LTE technology has been specifically designed to improve
the low connection speeds of the previous 3G technology and solve the roaming
problems of the old telephone protocols. This protocol can guarantee speeds of
more than 100 Mbps, although the bandwidth size is normally set to levels below
10 Mbps for each individual user. Due to the significant cost of the equipment
required to manage this technology, as well as numerous limitations imposed by
various governments around the world, telephone operators have not yet brought
the LTE standard to many places. LTE is also not particularly suitable for home
residences and other areas, being more designed to support a large number of
contemporary users served over long distances.
5G
There has been a lots of writing about 5G technology
recently, especially in the negative. To better understand the meaning of this
technological innovation, which is still struggling to spread in our country,
due to many resistance that operators are experiencing with local authorities,
it is necessary to clarify that 5G is simply a wireless standard that evolved
from the previous 4G, working with the same basic concepts. However, 5G is
meant to connect virtually anyone and anything, including even cars, objects
and micro devices suitable for improving artificial intelligence services.
5G technology is designed to handle even higher speeds, in
the order of several Gigabits per second, to ensure very low latency, greater
reliability, an ability to handle large amounts of traffic at the same time
and, above all, to ensure a user experience. of uniform use, without slowing
down when there are many simultaneous accesses. The increased performance and
improved efficiency significantly improve the experience of using wireless
networks and enable numerous industrial applications that were previously
unthinkable: just think of the autonomous car driving projects, which will
revolutionize the way we conceive of mobility in the years to come.
Wifi
Wi-Fi is widely associated, par excellence, with wireless
networks and has become the de facto standard for home networks and public
hotspots. Wi-fi has become popular since the early 90s as it was the protocol
used by a lot of hardware, such as PCs, printers and other consumer devices,
which soon became popular and inexpensive, improving connection speeds more and
more, arriving at more than decent levels (it quickly went from 11 Mbps up to
54Mbps and more).
Even if the wi-fi was designed to cover large distances in
controlled environments, the protocol has in fact adapted to work in
residential contexts and commercial buildings, as well as in outdoor areas, but
with very short distances. The speeds offered by wi-fi are, in general, lower
(at least in theory) than that offered by other wireless protocols. However,
mobile devices have gradually begun to support both the LTE protocol and the
wi-fi protocol (in addition to the older protocols for cellular networks), to
give users the greatest possible flexibility. Today it is very common to use
wi-fi at home and LTE networks when you are out and about with your smartphone.
The Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security protocol added
network authentication and signal encryption capabilities to wi-fi networks .
With the WPA2 protocol, security was significantly improved, so that even in
home networks it was possible to reasonably prevent unauthorized access from
the outside, which would allow authentication on the internal network and
intercept personal data sent over the air.
Bluetooth
One of the oldest wireless protocols that is still widely
available is Bluetooth which was created in the early 1990s to synchronize data
between phones and other battery-powered devices. The Bluetooth requires a
smaller amount of energy to operate compared to the wi-fi and many other
wireless procotolli. In return, however, Bluetooth connections operate over
much shorter distances, often limited to ten meters, and support relatively slower
connection speeds. Wi-fi has replaced Bluetoothas the main device for data
transfer on the most modern devices, but this protocol now lives a second youth
for all point-to-point applications, which require an efficient approach to
energy consumption: therefore, it is very popular for audio, being used in
bluetooth speakers , bluetooth headsets and wireless headphones, as well as for
all those accessories that connect to smartphones and tablets.
60 GHz protocols - WirelessHD and WiGig
One of the most popular activities on computer networks is
video data streaming, and many wireless protocols operating at the frequency of
60 Gigahertz (Ghz) are designed to better support these uses that require large
network bandwidths. Two different industry standards called WirelessHD and
WiGig were created around the early 2000s, both leveraging 60Ghz technology to
support high-bandwidth wireless connections: WiGig offers 1 to 7 Gbps
bandwidth, while WirelessHD supports 10 to 28 Gbps.
Although basic video streaming can also be easily achieved
with wi-fi networks and many other wireless protocols (LTE in the lead),
streaming in very high definition requires the technically maximum amount
possible that the technology is able to offer. The very high frequencies in
which these protocols operate (60 Ghz against 2.4 or 5 Ghz) severely limit the
range of the connection, often shorter even than Bluetooth and typically
limited to a single room (in fact, 60 Ghz does not penetrate the walls
effectively. ).
Wireless protocols for Home Automation - Z-Wave and Zigbee
The various network protocols that have been created to
support home automation systems that allow, for example, the remote control of
lights, appliances and various other electronic gadgets, are basically two:
Z-Wave and Zigbee . To achieve the extremely low levels of power consumption
required in the field of home automation, these protocols and their associated
hardware only support very low connection speeds, in the order of 0.25 Mbps for
the Zigbee and only 0.01 Mbps for the Z-Wave. While these speeds are obviously
unsuitable for general network use, these technologies work well to manage
interfaces to electronic gadgets that only have the limited task of
communicating in limited space environments.
Introduction to 60 GHz wireless protocols
In the world of wireless protocols, some of these are meant
to operate at very high frequencies having the burst of supporting the highest
possible transfer rates in wireless communications.
What is a 60 GHz protocols?
This category of wireless protocol operate in a signal band
(range) around 60 Gigahertz (Ghz). (It should be noted that the range is quite
wide: these protocols can communicate at frequencies of no less than 57 Ghz and
no more than 64 Ghz.).
These frequencies are significantly highers than those used
by other wireless protocols, such as LTE (0.7 Ghz up to 2.6 Ghz) or Wi-Fi (2.4
Ghz or 5 Ghz). This key difference allows 60Ghz systems to have some technical
advantages over other protocols such as Wi-Fi but with some limitations.
Pros and cons of 60 Ghz protocols
60Ghz protocols really use these high frequencies to
increase the amount of network bandwidth and actual data rates they can
support. These protocols are especially suitable for high quality video
streaming, as mentioned above, but also for some industrial and professional
applications that require very wide data transfer rates. Compared to wi-fi
networks that can guarantee transfer speeds between 54 Mbps and at most 1 Gbps
in conditions or really optimal, the 60 Ghz protocols guarantee a minimum of 1
Gbps up to several gigabits per second. Although, as mentioned, videos can also
be streamed via wi-fi, they often require some compression techniques that can
negatively affect the quality of the video;
In exchange for the increased speed, 60Ghz protocols
sacrifice range. A typical 60Ghz network protocol can only operate at a maximum
distance of about 10 meters or less. Extremely high frequency radio signals are
unable to pass through most physical obstructions as well as connections made
indoors rarely go beyond a single rooms.
On the other hand, the greatly reduce range of this type of
radio connection means that these protocols are unlikely to interfere with
other 60 Ghz networks nearby, as well as making them much safer and safe from
intrusions or prying eyes.
Government agencies in many countries of the world
(including in Italy) do not generally require that the devices that use them be
licensed, unlike other signal bands. Being an unlicensed bandwidth spectrum, 60
Ghz represents a significant advantage in terms of cost and rapid availability
on the market which translates into as many immediate benefits for consumers.
These radio frequencies also tend to consume much more power than other types
of wireless connections and thus, makes them unsuitable for many mobile
devices.
An industry group created the first 60 Ghz standard,
WirelessHD , specifically designed to support high-performance video streaming.
Version 1.0 of the standard was completed in 2008 to support 4 Gbps transfer
rates, while version 1.1 improved it to support a maximum of 28 Gbps. UltraGig
is a specific brand names for WirelessHD standard-based devices offered by a
company called Silicon Image.
WiGig
The 60 Ghz wireless standard called WiGig (also known as
IEEE 802.11ad) completed in 2010 supports transfer rates up to 7 Gbps. In
additions to support for video streaming, network accessory manufacturers have
used WiGi as a wireless replacement for video monitor cabling and other computer
peripherals.
An industrial group called the Wireless Gigabit Alliance
controls the development of WiGig technology.
WiGig and WirelessHD are often seen as competing
technologies. Some believe that WiGig could also replace Wi-Fi technology in
the future, although the limitations due to bandwidth coverage limitations need
to be resolved.
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