Technology Essay Example: Wireless Networks

Types of Technologies

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) describes an antenna as a structure that transmits radio electromagnetic waves made of metallic elements. These antennas come in all shapes and sizes depending on their use (Lugaz et al., 2015). They are used for television sets and even mobile devices. Wireless antenna technology dates back to 19th century around the mid-1800 when Faraday created an electromagnet. The concept of electromagnetic waves had not been developed, later on towards the end of the century Heinrich Hertz went on to develop a communication system that was wireless by nature (Lugaz et al., 2015).

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The Yagi-Uda antenna was one of the first antennas to be built and also the simplest. It is also one of the most common antennas' since it is used on our television sets and is always placed on the roofs for the best signal. It also needs to be pointing to the source of the waves since it primarily works as a point to indicate a connection. It operates on a very low frequency the HF (High frequency) and UHF (Ultra high frequency), this means that the range is 3 and 30 MHz and 300 MHz and 3 GHz respectively (Wanberg, 2012). This was the beginning of modern day telecommunication. They offer excellent noise cancellation, cheap to buy and easy to mount. They have a low and limited frequency range, and they degrade rather fast. For long-term use, they continuously need to be replaced over and over since the signal weakens as they deteriorate.

The Horn antenna provides a transition to the areas of free space. Principally a section of the waveguide where the open end is flared, it could be either rectangular or circular in nature. The most common one is the rectangular one (Wanberg, 2012). It has a radio frequency of 377 ohms. They are easy to build and very powerful. They require a very high rate and thus using them on low frequency will not work, and the direction they are set up matters for them to function optimally (Wanberg, 2012). They are great but also very limiting on what they can be used.

Cellular antenna is another type of antenna; they are two, one that is placed on the phone and another out in the open commonly known as a booster. Unlike the ones mentioned before they are more complicated and have to be set at a particular place on the phone, usually at the bottom of the phone. This to reduce interference from our heads specifically our brains. They are small and very complicated, and they function on a wide range of frequencies of which some of the overlap. The boosters, on the other hand, are large and can be very unsightly (Wanberg, 2012). They have several advantages some of which include, full range frequency, more secure, reduced noise interference and increased bandwidth. The demerits include how sophisticated they are, location to be placed and how large they are (boosters).

The Three Types of Wireless Network

Due to the increasing demand for wireless networking and an increase in population, there is a need for better and more advanced ways of wireless networking. Advancements such as Bluetooth which is a software-based platform with a range of ten meters to four hundred meters. It is great for sending and receiving data for shorter distances have come up. Considering it is a software-based platform it is important to note that not all devices can access it since specific parameters have to be put into place before it works (Wanberg, 2012). The limiting factor is that it has to be paired to the receiving device and might be slow depending on how large the files are, there is an option for broadcasting, but mostly, it's point to point.

Wi-Fi which is a wireless network operates on the manipulation of frequencies and not the amplification of frequencies; the input signal is manipulated form directional to omnidirectional. This means more than one person or device can get the information or data sent by one device. It also uses radio frequencies. It is commonly used to send files to a vast number of devices all at once. It is also limited to a certain radius and involves specific parameters that are software-based. Li-Fi which is short for light fidelity uses light to transmit data. It is the brainchild of Harald Haas (Wanberg, 2012). It works almost the same as Wi-Fi but uses visible light to send data. It does not need a direct interface since light that has bounced off the walls could be used. According to Haas Li-Fi is better regarding security since it has a limited range and thus cannot be hacked as quickly as a Wi-Fi platform. The only shortcoming to this is that the electric bulbs have to be always on.

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a groundbreaking system that directs the networks in a more flexible and agile direction through the separation of the control and data plane (Wanberg, 2012). The introduction of this platform has changed the wireless networking industry completely. Rangisetti and Tamma (2017), looked at how SDN would affect virtualization, security, flexibility and increased traffic issues would affect the 4G and 5G platforms (Rangissetti & Tamma, 2017). According to them, there was still a lot of work to be done since the platform requires further research. According to Bernardos, Oliva, Serrano, Banchs, Contreras, Jin and Zuniga, (2014), SDN is going to improve services and accommodate new ventures that the operators might deem necessary to give to the consumers (Barnados, 2014). They are talking about the safety of the platform and how well it can perform due to the increase in traffic.

Reflection of Articles

The authors of software define the wireless networks wrote this article to highlight how the mobile networks are facing various challenges due to their expensive and inflexible network infrastructures (Rangissetti & Tamma, 2017). When we look at what we meet in reality is similar to what the authors are trying to insinuate. This is because of the growing traffic demand of mobile users. One solution that the mobile network operators do to ensure that this problem is eradicated is by modeling the network paradigms which will simplify the issue of network control and management by allowing faster development of solutions through software updates (Rangissetti & Tamma, 2017). I agree with the answer because when we look at how our mobiles operate, most of the time the network makes them either slow or not working at all.

One way this problem was brought to an end is by applying the Software-defined networking which is known to make the networks more flexible and agile because it separates the control and data plane tasks. It also plays a role of channeling the mobile networks to the system functioning virtualization. Since technology has improved, it is true what the authors are saying because after doing my research I discovered that the mobile networks are all channeled to the software-defined networking, and that's why they are fast and easy to use.

The article "An architecture of how software's define the wireless network" was written by several authors to show how the software-defined networks are characterized by the separation of data and control planes (Barnados, 2014). The authors also show how the adoption of the SDN can make the wire. In today's world, telecommunication is undergoing through a radical revolution that has shaped the way networks behave regarding services, the deployment, and designs (Barnados, 2014). This is very true when connected to what the authors were saying these days we experience an explosion when it comes to the number of services and applications made by the mobile users. Since the demand for network usage is high, the use of the SDN as mentioned by the authors has simplified the challenges experienced by networks.

References

Bernardos, C. J., Oliva, A. d. l., Serrano, P., Banchs, A., Contreras, L. M., Jin, H., & Zuniga, J. C. (2014). Architecture for software-defined wireless networking. IEEE Wireless Communications, 21(3), 52-61. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2014.6845049

Lugaz, N., Farrugia, C. J., Smith, C. W., & Paulson, K. (2015). Shocks inside CMEs: A survey of properties from 1997 to 2006. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 120(4), 2409-2427. doi:10.1002/2014ja020848

Rangisetti, A. K., & Tamma, B. R. (2017). Software Defined Wireless Networks: A Survey of Issues and Solutions. Wireless Personal Communications, 97(4), 6019-6053. doi: 10.1007/s11277-017-4825-8

Wanberg, C. (2012). Wireless Communications and Networking Conference - WCNC. IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, 2006. WCNC 2006., 44-56. doi:10.1109/wcnc.2006.1696561