Wi-Fi Systems

Design parameters
Wi-Fi or wireless fidelity is a popular technology that
allows an electronic device to exchange data or connect
to the internet wirelessly using UHF radio waves. Wi-Fi
can be less secure than wired connections (such as
Ethernet) because an intruder does not need a physical
connection. Web pages that use SSL are secure but
unencrypted internet access can easily be detected by
intruders. Because of this, Wi-Fi has adopted various encryption technologies. The early
encryption WEP, proved easy to break. Higher quality protocols (WPA, WPA2) were added later.
Wi-Fi connections support millions of people in homes, businesses, and public locations around
the world.

Many devices can use Wi-Fi, e.g., personal computers, video-game consoles, smartphones,
some digital cameras, tablet computers and digital audio players. These can connect to a
network resource such as the Internet via a wireless network access point. Such an access point
(or hotspot) has a range of about 20 meters (66 feet) indoors and a greater range outdoors.
Hotspot coverage can comprise an area as small as a single room with walls that block radio
waves, or as large as many square miles achieved by using multiple overlapping access points.

USES

To connect to a Wi-Fi LAN, a computer has to be equipped with a wireless network interface
controller. The combination of computer and interface controller is called a station. All stations
share a single radio frequency communication channel. Transmissions on this channel are
received by all stations within range. The hardware does not signal the user that the
transmission was delivered and is therefore called a best-effort delivery mechanism. A carrier
wave is used to transmit the data in packets, referred to as "Ethernet frames". Each station is
constantly tuned in on the radio frequency communication channel to pick up available
transmissions.
Internet access
A Wi-Fi-enabled device can connect to the Internet when within range of a wireless network
which is configured to permit this. The coverage of one or more (interconnected) access
points—called hotspots—can extend from an area as small as a few rooms to as large as many
square miles. Wi-Fi provides service in private homes, businesses, as well as in public spaces at
Wi-Fi hotspots set up either free-of-charge or commercially, often using a captive portal
webpage for access. Organizations and businesses, such as airports, hotels, and restaurants,
often provide free-use hotspots to attract customers. Enthusiasts or authorities who wish to
provide services or even to promote business in selected areas sometimes provide free Wi-Fi
access.

Routers that incorporate a digital subscriber line modem or a cable modem and a Wi-Fi access
point, often set up in homes and other buildings, provide Internet access and internetworking
to all devices connected to them, wirelessly or via cable. Similarly, there are battery-powered
routers that include a cellular mobile Internet radiomodem and Wi-Fi access point. When
subscribed to a cellular phone carrier, they allow nearby Wi-Fi stations to access the Internet
over 2G, 3G, or 4G networks. Many smartphones have a built-in capability of this sort, including
those based on Android, BlackBerry, Bada, iOS (iPhone), Windows Phone and Symbian, though
carriers often disable the feature, or charge a separate fee to enable it, especially for customers
with unlimited data plans. "Internet packs" provide standalone facilities of this type as well,
without use of a smartphone; examples include the MiFi- and WiBro-branded devices. Some
laptops that have a cellular modem card can also act as mobile Internet Wi-Fi access points.

Wi-Fi also connects places that normally don't have network access, such as kitchens and
garden sheds.
Advantages of Wi-Fi

The main advantages of using Wi-Fi technology is the lack of wires. This is a wireless connection
that can merge together multiple devices.

Wi-Fi network is particularly useful in cases where the wiring is not possible or even
unacceptable. For example, it is often used in the halls of conferences and international
exhibitions. It is ideal for buildings that are considered architectural monuments of history, as it
excludes the wiring cables.

Wi-Fi networks are widely used to connect a variety of devices, not only between themselves
but also to the Internet. And almost all modern laptops, tablets, and some mobile phones have
this feature. It is very convenient and allows you to connect to the internet almost anywhere,
not just where the cables are laid. Today, you can access the network, for example, being in the
park for a walk across the street or in an airport lounge. The main thing that was available near
the point of Wi-Fi.

Another advantage can be pretty easy to create a mesh Wi-Fi. To connect a new device to your
network, simply turn on the Wi-Fi and do the simple setting in the software. In the case of wire
technologies still need to pull the wire. Therefore, many modern offices are switching to this
technology.

Standardization of Wi-Fi technology allows you to connect to the network in any country,
although there are still little features of its application. All equipment with technology Wi-Fi
certified and allows us to achieve high compatibility.
Disadvantages of Wi-Fi

Call quality is greatly influenced by the environment, is particularly sensitive to electromagnetic

radiation generated by household appliances. This primarily affects the speed of data
transmission.

Despite the global standardization, many devices from different manufacturers are not fully
compatible, which in turn affects the speed of communication.

Wi-Fi has a limited radius of action and it is suitable for home networking, which is more
dependent on the environment. For example, a typical home router with Wi-Fi in the room has
a range of up to 45 meters and up to 450 meters outside.

At high density Wi-Fi-points operating in the same or adjacent channels, they can interfere with
each other. This affects the quality of the connection. This problem is common in apartment
buildings, where many residents are using this technology.

Really Wi-Fi technology is not perfect and has many flaws that limit its use. However, the
benefits of it are much greater. Therefore, every day, this modern technology is increasingly
used and becomes a popular.

Range

Wi-Fi networks have limited range. A typical wireless access point using 802.11b or 802.11g
with a stock antenna might have a range of 35 m (115 ft) indoors and 100 m (330 ft) outdoors.
IEEE 802.11n, however, can more than double the range. Range also varies with frequency
band. Wi-Fi in the 2.4 GHz frequency block has slightly better range than Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz
frequency block which is used by 802.11a and optionally by 802.11n. On wireless routers with
detachable antennas, it is possible to improve range by fitting upgraded antennas which have
higher gain in particular directions. Outdoor ranges can be improved to many kilometres
through the use of high gain directional antennas at the router and remote device(s).

Due to reach requirements for wireless LAN applications, Wi-Fi has fairly high power
consumption compared to some other standards. Technologies such as Bluetooth (designed to
support wireless PAN applications) provide a much shorter propagation range between 1 and
100m[42] and so in general have a lower power consumption. Other low-power technologies
such as ZigBee have fairly long range, but much lower data rate. The high power consumption
of Wi-Fi makes battery life in mobile devices a concern.
Researchers have developed a number of "no new wires" technologies to provide alternatives
to Wi-Fi for applications in which Wi-Fi's indoor range is not adequate and where installing new
wires (such as CAT-6) is not possible or cost-effective. For example, the ITU-T G.hn standard for
high speed Local area networks uses existing home wiring (coaxial cables, phone lines and
power lines). Although G.hn does not provide some of the advantages of Wi-Fi (such as mobility
or outdoor use), it's designed for applications (such as IPTV distribution) where indoor range is
more important than mobility.

Due to the complex nature of radio propagation at typical Wi-Fi frequencies, particularly the
effects of signal reflection off trees and buildings, algorithms can only approximately predict
Wi-Fi signal strength for any given area in relation to a transmitter.[43] This effect does not
apply equally to long-range Wi-Fi, since longer links typically operate from towers that transmit
above the surrounding foliage.

The practical range of Wi-Fi essentially confines mobile use to such applications as inventory-
taking machines in warehouses or in retail spaces, barcode-reading devices at check-out stands,
or receiving/shipping stations. Mobile use of Wi-Fi over wider ranges is limited, for instance, to
uses such as in an automobile moving from one hotspot to another. Other wireless
technologies are more suitable for communicating with moving vehicles.

Local Area Network

A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that user interconnects computers in a
limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building using network
media. The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast
to wide area networks (WANs), include their smaller
geographic area, and non-inclusion of leased
telecommunication lines.[citation needed]

ARCNET, Token Ring and other technology standards

have been used in the past, but Ethernet over twisted
pair cabling, and Wi-Fi are the two most common
technologies currently used to build LANs.

Most LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings, however, one LAN can be
connected to other LANs over any distance via telephone lines and radio waves. A system of
LANs connected in this way is called a wide-area network (WAN).
Also, LANs connect workstations and personal computers. Each node (individual computer ) in a
LAN has its own CPU with which it executes programs, but it also is able to access data and
devices anywhere on the LAN. This means that many users can share expensive devices, such as
laser printers, as well as data. Users can also use the LAN to communicate with each other, by
sending e-mail or engaging in chat sessions.

LANs are capable of transmitting data at very fast rates, much faster than data can be
transmitted over a telephone line; but the distances are limited, and there is also a limit on the
number of computers that can be attached to a single LAN.

Cabling

Early LAN cabling had been based on various grades of coaxial cable. Shielded twisted pair was
used in IBM's Token Ring LAN implementation. In 1984, StarLAN showed the potential of simple
unshielded twisted pair by using Cat3 cable—the same simple cable used for telephone
systems. This led to the development of 10Base-T (and its successors) and structured cabling
which is still the basis of most commercial LANs today. In addition, fiber-optic cabling is
increasingly used in commercial applications. Generally a LAN network uses Gigabit Ethernet
cabling to the hub or switch (wired router, cannot be wireless), then the router connection is
bridged to the wireless router.

As cabling is not always possible, Wi-Fi is now very common in residential premises, and
elsewhere where support for laptops and smartphones is important.

Technical Aspects

Network topology describes the layout of interconnections between devices and network
segments. At the Data Link Layer and Physical Layer, a wide variety of LAN topologies have been
used, including ring, bus, mesh and star, but the most common LAN topology in use today is
switched Ethernet. At the higher layers, the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) has become the
standard, replacing NetBEUI, IPX/SPX, AppleTalk and others.

Simple LANs generally consist of one or more switches. A switch can be connected to a router,
cable modem, or ADSL modem for Internet access. Complex LANs are characterized by their use
of redundant links with switches using the spanning tree protocol to prevent loops, their ability
to manage differing traffic types via quality of service (QoS), and to segregate traffic with
VLANs. A LAN can include a wide variety of network devices such as switches, firewalls, routers,
load balancers, and sensors.[13]
LANs can maintain connections with other LANs via leased lines, leased services, or the Internet
using virtual private network technologies. Depending on how the connections are established
and secured in a LAN, and the distance involved, a LAN may also be classified as a metropolitan
area network (MAN) or a wide area network (WAN).

Types of Local-Area Networks (LANs)

There are many different types of LANs, with Ethernets being the most common for PCs. Most
Apple Macintosh networks are based on Apple's AppleTalk network system, which is built into
Macintosh computers.

The following characteristics differentiate one LAN from another:

 topology : The geometric arrangement of devices on the network. For example, devices
can be arranged in a ring or in a straight line.
 protocols : The rules and encoding specifications for sending data. The protocols also
determine whether the network uses a peer-to-peer or client/server architecture.
 media : Devices can be connected by twisted-pair wire, coaxial cables, or fiber optic
cables. Some networks do without connecting media altogether, communicating instead
via radio waves.
Design Considerations
Designing embedded systems with Wi-Fi connectivity

Today Wi-Fi products can do everything from sending email to streaming audio and video-
linking users to the Internet from their home, office, coffee-shop or even from a plane 30,000
feet in the air. All this is essentially enabled today by the Wi-Fi connection on laptops and
mobile phones.

The next wave of Wi-Fi applications will likely be driven by the integration of Wi-Fi into
embedded systems-the billions of dedicated electronic systems that run on microcontrollers.
The applicability of robust wireless local and Internet connectivity provided by Wi-Fi has
prompted a rush of Wi-Fi integration into embedded systems. These systems are the heart of a
broad range of devices in various vertical segments, including healthcare, industrial,
automotive, smart energy and smart buildings. In this article, we will cover the integration of
Wi-Fi connectivity into an embedded design and discuss come of the challenges and benefits of
doing so and how to overcome those challenges.

Wi-Fi's original intention was to provide wireless extension to data oriented Ethernet. The
software protocol is designed to work as a layer-2 network interface. The Wi-Fi protocol is
sophisticated and typically has a requirement to run a Wi-Fi driver on a host processor with a
minimum size of 100KB. Integration of these complex Wi-Fi drivers typically requires long
design cycles and expertise in Wi-Fi.

Embedded systems are characterized by limited computing resources with limited host
memory. They perform dedicated functions like interfacing to sensors or peripherals. They are
characterized by a variety of micro-controllers ranging from 8-bit versions, with a few kilobytes
of instruction memory, low-speed serial interfaces UART/SPI to 32-bit higher-end versions with
SDIO/USB interfaces. Most embedded systems run a simple RTOS or no operating system at all;
a host microcontroller may not even have TCP/IP on it.

Embedded Wi-Fi poses multiple challenges such as seamless ease of integration, how to future
proof Wi-Fi on resource constrained systems and shorter design cycles. Moreover, embedded
systems demand wireless devices that offer ease of integration, little or no load on the host
microcontroller, low power operation, low cost, quick wake-up from low power modes, small
footprint, and guaranteed interoperability in current or future wireless network scenarios. Their
users also wish to be free from demands associated with wireless engineering.
The integration of a Wi-Fi interface into these systems should not only have a minimal impact
on the system configuration and resources used, but also on the design methodology itself.
Embedded users are acquainted with tool-chain and development environment of
microprocessors. If Wi-Fi can act as a peripheral to microcontroller platforms providing an
option of ready-to-use starter kits with fully compiled libraries integrated to development
environment, it will also provide an excellent starting point for a large number of embedded
system designers to "Wi-Fi" their products.

Embedded Wi-Fi block diagram:

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows a WLAN subsystem integrated into the embedded system. The microcontroller's
UART or SPI interface is used here to connect to the WLAN module.

Design considerations for integrating Wi-Fi to an embedded system

Interfacing a WLAN subsystem to a microcontroller-based device requires considering several

factors including the physical and electrical specifications, choice of interface, host load, the
software architecture, power-save mechanisms, wireless configuration, wireless performance,
and certification. We look at these below.
Hardware integration:

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the main components of the Wi-Fi subsystem and integrated as a chip or
module. Fully integrated self-contained Wi-Fi modules or integrated chips require a single 3.3V
supply and provide a simple external interface consisting of the antenna and the host-interface.
High levels of integration, with on-chip DC-DC, zero-host-architecture and power-amplifier
integrated into the RF. The choice of host interface is generally made from one of several low-
power interfaces including SDIO, SPI, and UART. The modules are FCC/IC/CE certified and
enable modular certification for the systems into which they are built-in. Self-contained WLAN
modules are usually calibrated during manufacture, and the software controlling the device
would use the calibration data during normal operation. Using pre-calibrated wireless modules
helps avoid the complexity and cost of calibrating an assembled embedded system during its
manufacture.

Software integration:

Software architecture is an important aspect of the integration of a wireless LAN into an

embedded system. Figure 3 shows the typical complete software stack related to data transfer
over 802.11 WLAN. This software option is used when a host microprocessor has an operating
system and has the capability to handle a Wi-Fi host driver.
On the other, most embedded systems are based on low-end microprocessors with no
operating system or TCP-IP stack capability. Figure 4 shows the delineation of software
functionality between the host microcontroller and the WLAN module in such cases.

Ease of deployment (Wireless configuration):

Embedded Wi-Fi modules are sometimes integrated into end devices that lack a
display/keyboard to configure the wireless link (e.g., security password and other link
parameters). This limitation can be overcome if the end device has a serial or USB connector; in
that case, the link can be configured through that interface. In a few embedded systems (e.g.,
wireless tags) the provision of that connector would violate the system form-factor- in such
cases the "wireless" configuration mechanisms have to be deployed. One of the possible
implementation could be:

The embedded Wi-Fi device is put to a factory-reset state, starting with a default configuration.
New credentials like SSID, passphrase for new connection are wirelessly transferred through a
configuration application running on a laptop or a smartphone.

Full featured and future proof for long-life span:

Embedded systems (wireless thermostats, sensors, etc.) demand long-life span. Wi-Fi
technology evolved from802.11b in 1997 with a migration to 802.11g in 2003 and then to latest
state of the art 802.11n technology in 2009. Designing an embedded system with future proof
technology like 802.11n is a very important design consideration. The following are a few
advantages of 802.11n devices over legacy 802.11b/802.11g Wi-Fi devices:

1. Future-proof without cost overhead

Single antenna 802.11n incurs zero cost-overhead over legacy 802.11b or 802.11b/g solutions
and future-proofs the Wi-Fi system!

2. Lower power
The higher available data-rates (up to 65Mbps) enable smaller durations for packet transfers
and hence less time spent in "active" mode, thus reducing average current consumption. In-fact
single-antenna 802.11n solutions transfer 20x more data than 802.11b solutions and 2x more
data than 802.11g solutions on the same battery!

3. Better coexistence

Increasingly, 802.11n embedded systems are deployed into enterprise and commercial 802.11n
networks. These networks use Wi-Fi for voice, video and other quality-of-service intensive
applications. Legacy solutions, especially 802.11b solutions, disrupt such networks since they
use the same wireless medium. In addition to this, 802.11n access-points use ‘legacy
protection' mechanisms in the presence of legacy 802.11b or 802.11g solutions. Legacy
solutions affect the network throughputs and quality of service. Network capacity is preserved
with 802.11n devices.

4. Higher throughputs

Due to higher PHY data-rates and advanced MAC mechanisms including packet-aggregation and
block-ack to reduce overheads, single-stream, 802.11n implementations can achieve 40-
45Mbps of host goodput. This is almost double compared to legacy 802.11g implementations.

5. Higher range

STBC in the down-link (AP to STA) and MRC in the uplink (STA to AP) enable 6-9dB better
performance in multipath for single-antenna 802.11n stations over legacy 802.11b and
802.11b/g stations.
Development path with Wi-Fi starter kits:

Wi-Fi Starter and evaluation platforms provide a user-friendly introduction of embedded Wi-Fi
modules, for example Connect-io-n modules from Redpine and its integration with MCUs from
leading vendors (Atmel, Cypress, Freescale, Renesas,etc). These kits include an API library to
control and configure the Wi-Fi module, sample code, and easy-to-use demo applications
integrated to MCU software/hardware tools.

This approach makes the integration of Wi-Fi connectivity into an embedded design as easy as
using any peripheral on microcontroller and aid penetration of Wi-Fi connectivity to billions of
embedded devices.
Scope and Limitation

The general scope of this design is to create a LAN (local Area Network) and Wi-Fi

(Wireless Fidelity) in building to secure an internet in every corner of the building with

fast internet access and interconnects all computers.

This design of a LAN and Wi-Fi system in a building are only in facilities, rooms

and some areas within the building.

Also, the LAN design interconnects all computers only in first floor just to
maintain privacy in our residence in residential floor from 2nd to 6th floor, but they can
have an access in the internet using routers and switches that set in every floor of the
building.
Description of the System

The design of LAN (Local Area Network) and Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) in the building