- Wi-Fi Internet is currently one of the hottest technologies in electronics. Printers, smart phones, computers and even gaming systems are being designed with it built in so that they can connect to the Internet wirelessly. The days of trying to find a phone jack to plug your laptop into are definitely over, and we can thank Wi-Fi technology for that. But how can all that information get to your laptop when you don't have a single wired connection to the Internet?
- Wi-Fi Internet gets to your computer in much the same way that music gets to your radio. Radio waves, like visible light, are a form of electromagnetic radiation. Traveling at the speed of light and invisible to the naked eye, they have been transmitting information through the air since the invention of the radio. Wireless networks relay and receive information in much the same way as a radio station does. However, the digital form of data a computer uses is much different than a radio wave. To account for this, Wi-Fi devices are able to translate between radio waves and digital information, and also communicate in either medium. The protocols for this communication are called "802.11," and can be thought of as analogous to the grammar and vocabulary of a language.
- A necessary component of any Wi-Fi network is a router connected to the Internet by some wired method, such as a DSL cable or phone line. Adjacent to this first component is a very important device known as a Wireless Access Point (WAP). A WAP serves as a central hub of communication between wireless devices that want to access the network and the actual wired Internet connection itself. By converting information from the Internet into radio signals, and then broadcasting them, the WAP actually creates the wireless network itself. No WAP, no Wi-Fi. The WAP is also likely the most visible part of a Wi-Fi network. Most wireless devices contain an adapter which does all the work involved in wireless communication, and then presents the information in question to the device itself. A wireless access point, however, is an electronic device itself, and resembles a router with an attached antenna. If you have a wireless network in your home or office you probably look at your WAP every day.
