Wireless Networks:

How Do They Work?

Simply put: wireless networks use radio waves instead of wires to transmit data between computers. If you're curious to know the detail behind it, then read on.

The Binary Code: 1s and 0s

It's common knowledge today that computers transmit information digitally, using binary code: ones and zeros. This way of communicating translates very well to radio waves, since the 1s and 0s can be represented by different kinds of beeps. These beeps are so fast that they're outside the hearing range of humans. Radio waves that we can't hear are, in fact, around us all the time.

Morse Code: Dots And Dashes

The way it works is a lot like Morse code. You may already know that Morse code is a method of transmitting the alphabet over radio waves using dots (short beeps) and dashes (long beeps). Morse code was used manually for years, and with the invention of the telegraph it provided a way to get information from 1 place to another very quickly. More importantly for this example, though, it is a binary system, just like a computer system is.

Wireless networking, then, 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 get your data from her to there.

Wavelengths And Frequencies

You might wonder how the computer can actually transmit enough bits to send and receive meaningful data at such high speeds. There must be a limit to how many bits can be sent per second before it becomes garbled nonsense, right? Well, yes, but the key to wireless networking is how it gets around this problem.

First of all, wireless transmissions are sent at very high frequencies, which allow more data to be sent per second. Most wireless connections use a frequency of 2.4 gigahertz (2.4 billion cycles per second) -- a frequency similar to mobile phones and microwave ovens. A frequency this high, however, produces a wavelength that is very short, which is why wireless networking is effective only over a limited area.

Wireless networks also use a technique called "frequency hopping." They use dozens of frequencies within their given range, and constantly switch among them. This makes wireless networks more immune to interference from other radio signals than they would be if they transmitted on a single frequency.

Internet Access Points

The final step for a wireless network is to provide internet access for every computer on the network. This is done using a special piece of wireless equipment called an access point. An access point is more expensive than a wireless card for 1 computer, because it contains radios capable of communicating with around 100 computers, and sharing access to the internet among them. Dedicated access points are really essential only for larger networks, though. In a situation with only a few computers, it is possible to use 1 of them as the access point, or to substitute a wireless router.

Industry Standards

You may be wondering how wireless equipment from different manufacturers can work together to handle these complex communications. Well, the answer is that there are standards which guide the production of all wireless devices. These standards are technically called the 802.11 standards, and are set by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Because of the cooperation of the industry with these standards, wireless networking is both easy to use and affordable today.

Wireless Is Simple To Use

If all this talk of frequencies has you a little worried -- relax. Wireless networking hardware and software handles all of this automatically, without any need for the user's intervention. Wireless networking, for all its complicated ability, is really far simpler to use than you might expect.