UNEX Wireless LAN
By Anthony 'ee92as' Sims

Introduction - The wonderful world around us is forever changing, integrating, and multiplying. Lets face it, we are all greedy little beggars in this world, we demand the cheapest goods with the highest quality and reliability and our imaginative little minds believe that technology and the economy can actually keep up.

The question of why we are so greedy is simple…. Why not?

I have a hunger for all things networked; others have a need for speed, power and/or quality. Yet today my friends I have been the one to feast. For I will be having a look into the world of wireless networking using a small selection of items made by a Taiwanese company called UNEX.

Fig 1. Our test equipment for the day

What is wireless networking - Before I start looking at the test gear, I will just briefly explain roughly what wireless networking is all about. If you have a good idea, then just head on to the next section.

Wireless technology works through the airwaves at various different frequencies. The carrier wave frequency for wireless networking products is at the moment 2.4Ghz.

Transferring data at this frequency is done roughly how your old 56k modem does it, only faster and more efficient.

The range of this is at the moment limited. The reason for this is two fold. Power, think about your little laptop batteries, and also noise. Electrical interference, buildings and rain all limit the effective range.

The communication between two wireless devices can be done via an access point or by ad-hoc networking (see nearer the end for that). I don’t want to get into a technical guide, so I will simply say this.

Each device has a unique physical address, which it doesn’t change (a MAC address), exactly the same as your modem, or NIC.

The client searches the area for viable networks to connect to. If there is more than one, then you will be given a list.

Certain passwords (WEP Keys) may be asked for, and then if correct, the client will be issued TCP/IP details, as a normal network would do. This is all done over the medium of 2.4Ghz waves.

Once connected, the device transfers data without having to request anymore information (in normal use). This connection is completely transparent to the user.

If you really want to learn more, then have a look on www.practicallynetworked.com or www.80211-planet.com.