Table of Contents
1) Introduction 2
2) Purpose: 3
3) Origin and meaning of the term "Wi-Fi": 3
4) Uses: 3
5) Advantages and challenges: 5
5.1 Operational Advantages: 5
5.2 Limitations: 5
5.3 Wi-Fi Security Issues: 6
5.4 Channel Pollution : 6
6) Hardware: 7
6.1 Standard Devices : 7
6.2 Embedded Systems : 8
7) Network Security: 9
8) History: 10
9) References: 11
Introduction
Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance, founded in 1999 as WECA (Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance). The organization comprises more than 300 companies, whose products are certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, based on the IEEE 802.11 standards (also called WLAN (Wireless LAN) and Wi-Fi). This certification warrants interoperability between different wireless devices.
The term "Wi-Fi" is often used by the public as a synonym for wireless Internet (W-LAN), although not every wireless Internet product has a Wi-Fi certification. This may be due to certification costs that must be paid for each certified device type.
Wi-Fi or Wireless Fidelity refers to the technology surrounding the radio transmission of internet protocol data from an internet connection wirelessly to a host computer. Most often the internet connection is a higher speed one such as satellite, DSL or cable rather than slower dial-up connections. It is essentially a wireless connection between your computer and the internet connection (e.g. DSL router or cable modem) in your house.
Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11b or 802.11a to transmit data from the internet connection to the host computer (e.g. your laptop). These technologies provide reliable and fast wireless connectivity and to some degree a level of security (to be addressed below). A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wired networks.
Purpose:
The purpose of Wi-Fi is to...