Introducing and defining WIFI technology
WIFI (Wireless Fidelity) is a set of wireless communication protocols governed by standards published IEEE under the 802.11 grouping.
It was first used commercially in 1999 and makes it possible to form connections using waves emitted by a variety of computing devices such as computers and smartphones to enable them to transmit data.
The WIFI name refers to a certification awarded by the WIFI Alliance (Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance), an organisation which exists to specify interoperability standards between 802.11- compliant hardware.
The standard makes it possible to link devices with a high-speed connection with bandwidth of around 11Mbits/s.
The 802.11 standard aims to define the lower layers of the OSI model for a wireless connection using electromagnetic waves, namely :
– the Physical layer (referred to as the PHY Layer), which offers four types of information encryption. It defines the modulation of radio waves and the characteristics of signalling used to transmit data
– the Data Link layer that defines the interface between the machine bus and the PHY layer, and which consists of two sub-layers
– Logical Link Control (LLC)
– Media Access Control (MAC)
This new system was first integrated by Apple’s revolutionary iBook in 1999, under the name of AirPort.
Finally, from 2003 onwards, laptop computers incorporating the Intel Centrino platform began appearing, simplifying the process of creating integrated WIFI networks.
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