Data-Oriented Networks

Data-Oriented Networks
The 1997 ratification of the IEEE 802.11 standard was a major milestone in the WLAN
industry. The 10-year standardization effort not only produced an international standard
assuring product compatibility among WLAN manufacturers, but the project also provided
good solutions to some difficult problems that had to be faced in creating wireless
extensions to the then-ubiquitous wired LANs. The 802.11 standard dealt with mobility,
link reliability management, power management, interference minimization, and
security. While the initial standard did not provide data rates as high as then-standard
10-Mb/s Ethernet over wired LANs, the 1- to 2-Mb/s wireless rates met the needs of many users, who welcomed the mobility afforded by WLAN technology despite the
data-rate limitations. The demand for higher data rates was inevitable, of course, and
subsequently, the IEEE was able to issue the 802.11a (rates up to 54 Mb/s), 802.11b
(rates up to 11 Mb/s), and 802.11g (rates up to 54 Mb/s) enhancements, based on
the solid foundation of 802.11, the higher data rates achieved through use of the
OFDM and CCK modulation schemes. Now appearing on the horizon is ultrawideband
(UWB) pulse transmission, which offers promise of further increases in data rates
and coexistence of even larger numbers of simultaneous users.