Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)

Wireless Local Area Network or simply WLAN is a network that connects two or more devices wirelessly. A full TCP/IP protocol stack is followed in order to achieve end-to-end communication. This technology is based on IEEE 802.11 standard in which the communication between devices is achieved by a centralized hub/router. The devices are commonly referred to as nodes and the centralized router is referred to as wireless access point. In a usual situation, the wireless access point has a fixed location where the nodes can freely roam around within the coverage area of the access point. The connected devices can be tablet computers, laptops, desktops, cell phones or any IoT device (such as a smartwatch or Google Chromecast). Residentially, a typical access point covers an apartment but in commercial situations multiple access points can be bind to one SSID. If a node travels from Router 1's coverage area to Router 2's coverage area, they will perform a seamless handover between each other. Modern day WLAN are advertised under the Wi-Fi brand name.

Following mentioned diagram shows how Wi-Fi router communicates to its nodes. It is a typical working model of a WLAN:

Wireless Local Area Network architecture

This technology is proven to be very effective in modern day Internet of Things because the architecture is simple and can easily be implemented on a device with limited capabilities. Moreover, IPv6 gives us approximately 3 x 10^38 addresses which are more than enough to give identity to every atom in the world, let alone smart devices.

WLAN is sold under the name Wi-Fi and can work on five different spectrums. 5.9 GHz, 5 GHz, 4.9 GHz, 3.6 GHz and 2.4 GHz. Each frequency range is further pided into many channels and countries impose their radio regulations independently.

Wireless Local Area Network is an important technology in the Internet of Things and devices like smart watches, media players and autonomous vehicles often use this technology to transfer information. Sometimes, this technology is used to give a control to the smart devices over a long distance.