Wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless local area network that links two or more computers or devices using spread-spectrum or OFDM modulation technology based to enable communication between devices in a limited area. This gives users the mobility to move around within a broad coverage area and still be connected to the network.

For the home user, wireless has become popular due to ease of installation, and location freedom with the gaining popularity of laptops. Public businesses such as coffee shops or malls have begun to offer wireless access to their customers; some are even provided as a free service. A wireless LAN (or WLAN, for wireless local area network, sometimes referred to as LAWN, for local area wireless network) is one in which a mobile user can connect to a local area network (LAN) through a wireless (radio) connection. The IEEE 802.11 group of standards specify the technologies for wireless LANs. 802.11 standards use the Ethernet protocol and CSMA/CA (carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance) for path sharing and include an encryption method, the Wired Equivalent Privacy algorithm.

Three IEEE Standards are :

802.11b

802.11a

802.11g

 

Image; Wireless Router 

 

 

Benefits

The popularity of wireless LANs is a testament primarily to their convenience, cost efficiency, and ease of integration with other networks and network components. The majority of computers sold to consumers today come pre-equipped with all necessary wireless LAN technology. Benefits of wireless LANs include:

Convenience

The wireless nature of such networks allows users to access network resources from nearly any convenient location within their primary networking environment (home or office). With the increasing saturation of laptop-style computers, this is particularly relevant.

Mobility

With the emergence of public wireless networks, users can access the internet even outside their normal work environment. Most chain coffee shops, for example, offer their customers a wireless connection to the internet at little or no cost.

Productivity

Users connected to a wireless network can maintain a nearly constant affiliation with their desired network as they move from place to place. For a business, this implies that an employee can potentially be more productive as his or her work can be accomplished from any convenient location. For example, a hospital or warehouse may implement Voice over WLAN applications that enable mobility and cost savings.

Deployment

Initial setup of an infrastructure-based wireless network requires little more than a single access point. Wired networks, on the other hand, have the additional cost and complexity of actual physical cables being run to numerous locations (which can even be impossible for hard-to-reach locations within a building).

Expandability

Wireless networks can serve a suddenly-increased number of clients with the existing equipment. In a wired network, additional clients would require additional wiring.

Cost

Wireless networking hardware is at worst a modest increase from wired counterparts. This potentially increased cost is almost always more than outweighed by the savings in cost and labor associated to running physical cables.

 

 

 Image; A typical wireless network setup

 

How to Configure a Wireless LAN for your PC & Laptops

 

(In the example below we are using Intel Pro Software-by Intel Corp.)

Install the access point by connecting it to your wired LAN and powering it on. A CD should have come with the access point that contains the software that will allow the network name to be configured and to create the encryption key.

OK lets describe in detail about how to install Wireless Adapter in your computer tower or notebooks;

  The first thing to do is pop a WLAN network adapter into your system—and it's still best to do this while the system is shutdown. In most cases, you'll probably be putting a PC Card adapter into a laptop system. However, there are also PCI and USB adapters for desktop systems.

 

Image; A Wireless Adapter used in Desktop

 

Next thing is to install the drivers and utilities by the help of product CD (labeled- Drivers and Utilities).

Verify that XP recognizes the WLAN card
Once you power on your system, Windows XP should automatically recognize your WLAN card. (It has a vast database of WLAN adapter drivers built in.) After it is recognized, Windows will automatically add it to the list of available interfaces in Network Connections. To verify this:

1. Click Start | Control Panel.
2. Click Network And Internet Connections.
3. Click Network Connections.

 

 

 You should then see an icon that says Wireless Network Connection. Double-click that icon to bring up the Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box (as shown in the image below). This should look familiar. It's basically the same as the Local Area Connection Status dialog box you see when you double-click on a standard Ethernet NIC, but there's one distinction. The wireless version has a nice little graphic with green bars to show the signal strength of your radio wave connection.

The WLAN status box shows the signal strength of the wireless connection.

Configuring wireless networks
When you're ready to configure your WLAN settings, click the Properties button. This will bring up the network settings properties (as shown in the image below) that you're probably familiar with. They're the same as the network properties for a standard Ethernet NIC, but with one important addition: When you are configuring a WLAN network card, you will see a tab called Wireless Networks.

 

 

Refer to your user's manual for your device and determine how to turn on the Wireless Network card if it is not turned on.

Image; A Typical Wireless Card mainly used in old notebooks(it comes with the Device Driver CD which helps in wireless connectivity)

 

Click on "Start," in the lower left-hand corner of your desktop screen--> "Control Panel" -->"Network and Internet Connections."--> "Wireless Network Setup Wizard" on the device that you want to connect to the wireless.Complete the questions that the wizard asks, using the network name and key that was created previously. Upon completion, Windows will connect the system to the wireless LAN.

 

 

Here in the above Image you can see the Wireless Network Connection Wizard(This interface is of Windows-XP OS).Under the Network Task (left hand top) click on "Refresh Network List" and then you will see the wireless devices on the right hand pane and click on the devices you want to connect.

Note ; This settings will work only when you are using Windows Operating System to connect to a wireless network(it will not work while using a third party software)

 

 

 In the above image you can see the Intel Pro Wireless Driver.Click on any of those names like Airport,MU etc and click on connect.

Note; Intel Pro Icon can be found in the system tray (i.e. on the right hand bottom of your screen)

 

 

 

 Once connected you can see connected written in the pane (as shown in the image above)

 

 

 

 You can also enable the password in order to make your wireless connection secure from unauthorized access.

 

 

 

 In the Device Manager window you can see the Intel(R) Pro/Wireless Driver Installed.

 

 

 

 In Windows Vista Operating System click on Start(on the left hand bottom-->Control Panel-->Network and Internet(as shown above)

 

 

 

 

 Under Network and Internet you can see the Intel(R) ProSet/Wireless Tools installed.