Wireless Signals

Introduction

Wireless communication is conducted by four common methods: radio, microwave, satellite, and infrared. Each of the four types of wireless technology offers their own set of advantages and disadvantages. A summary of each type of wireless communication is summarized in the table below and the following sections.

Cost

Installation

Data

Capacity

Security &

Reliability

Radio

Low to

Moderate

Easy to Hard

Up to 10 Mbps

Very Low to

Moderate

Microwave

High

Complex

Up to 10 Mbps

Low

Satellite

Very high

Complex

Up to 10 Mbps

Low

Infrared

Low to

Moderate

Easy to Hard

Up to 16 Mbps

Low to Moderate

Table one - A comparison of common wireless technologies (Regan, 2004) Radio

Radio is used widely in communications and has its good and bad features. Radio can be used for both short and long-range communications, high and low speed capability, and it is relatively inexpensive to implement. With these positive attributes come some drawbacks for using radio as a communication medium. For example, radio has limited security because of the lack of confinement of the signal, and range due to attenuation and signal loss since radio requires line of sight. Microwave

Microwave is used for long distance telecommunications transmissions, mostly by the major telecommunication providers. Microwave is an excellent method for sending data over long distances where laying cable is impractical and too costly. Because of the cost and expertise required to install and operate terrestrial microwave communication systems, applications are mostly limited to the major telecommunications providers. Microwave communication systems can provide a cost effective way to transmit data over long distances by installing many towers over great distances, usually placed on mountaintops since microwaves are like radio waves and are line of sight dependant. Satellite