Wireless data networking is becoming a popular access technology for people to get connected into the wired local area network and the backbone network as well as to the voice network. In this article, only the data networking technologies, namely wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal networking (WPAN) and wireless metro area network technologies are introduced. Mobile wireless and 3G technologies will be overviewed in a different article.

WLAN - The Wireless Local Area Network technology is defined by the IEEE 802.11 family of specifications. There are currently four specifications in the family: 802.11, 802.11a , 802.11b and 802.11g . All four use the Ethernet protocol and CSMA/CA (carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance; instead of CSMA/CD) for path sharing.802.11 applies to wireless LANs and provides 1 or 2 Mbps transmission in the 2.4 GHz band using either frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) or direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS).

WPAN (Bluetooth) - For short range and low power wireless (less than 10 meters) communications among personal devices such as PDA, Bluetooth and subsequent IEEE standards (802.15) are taking effects. IEEE 802.15 is a specification for wireless personal area networks (WPANs), which has characters such as short-range, low power, low cost, small networks and communication of devices within a Personal Operating Space.

WiMax - For long range wireless communications in the metropolitan areas, WiMax as defined in the IEEE 802.16 is the standard. An WiMax service provides a communications path between a subscriber site and a core network such as the public telephone network and the Internet. This wireless broadband access standard provides the missing link for the "last mile" connection in metropolitan area networks where DSL, Cable and other broadband access methods are not available or too expensive.

IEEE 802.15/Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11/WLAN and IEEE 802.16/WiMAX technologies are complementary to each other and each play a unique role in today's wireless communications. The following table outlines the three technologies:

Wireless Data Networking Overview

Related Terms：WLAN, Wireless Local Area Networking, Wireless Personal Networking, WPAN, Wireless Matro Networking, WiMax, 3G , Bluetooth