Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance that may be used with certified products that belong to a class of wireless local area network (WLAN) devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. Because of the close relationship with its underlying
standard, the term Wi-Fi is often used as a synonym for IEEE 802.11 technology.The Wi-Fi Alliance is a global, non-profit association of companies that promotes WLAN technology and certifies products if they conform to certain standards of interoperability. Not every IEEE 802.11-compliant device is submitted for certification to the Wi-Fi Alliance, sometimes because of costs associated with the certification process, and the lack of the Wi-Fi logo does not necessarily imply a device is incompatible with Wi-Fi devices.


Campus-wide Wi-Fi

Carnegie Mellon University built the first wireless Internet network in the world at their Pittsburgh campus in 1994, long before the Wi-Fi standard was adopted.

Direct computer-to-computer communications

Wi-Fi also allows communications directly from one computer to another without the involvement of an access point.This is called the ad-hoc mode of Wi-Fi transmission.

The term Wi-Fi suggests Wireless Fidelity, compared with the long-established audio equipment certification term High Fidelity Wireless Fidelity has often been used, even by the Wi-Fi Alliance itself in its press releases and documents; the term may also be found in a white paper on Wi-Fi from ITAA. However, based on Phil Belanger's statement, the term Wi-Fi was never supposed to mean anything at all.


Wi-Fi allows LANs to be deployed without wires for client devices, typically reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion. Spaces where cables cannot be run, such as outdoor areas and historical buildings, can host wireless LANs.

Wireless network adapters are now built into most laptops. The price of chipsets for Wi-Fi continues to drop, making it an economical networking option included in even more devices. Wi-Fi has become widespread in corporate infrastructures.


Wi-Fi availability in the home is on the increase. Examples of remote monitoring include security systems and tele-medicine. In all these kinds of implementation, if the Wi-Fi provision is provided using a system running one of operating systems mentioned above, then it becomes unfeasible due to weight, power consumption and cost issues.

Increasingly in the last few years (particularly as of early 2007), embedded Wi-Fi modules have become available that incorporate a real-time operating system and
provide a simple means of wirelessly enabling any device which has and communicates via a serial port. This allows the design of simple monitoring devices, for example, a portable ECG device monitoring a patient at home. This Wi-Fi-enabled device can communicate via the Internet.

These Wi-Fi modules are designed so that implementers need only minimal Wi-Fi knowledge to provide Wi-Fi connectivity for their products.