ZigBee

ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols

using small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4-
2003 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs), such as
wireless headphones connecting with cell phones via short-range radio.
The technology defined by the ZigBee specification is intended to be
simpler and less expensive than other WPANs, such as Bluetooth. ZigBee
is targeted at radio-frequency (RF) applications that require a low data
rate, long battery life, and secure networking.

The relationship between IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee is similar to that

between IEEE 802.11 and the Wi-Fi Alliance. The ZigBee 1.0 specification
was ratified on 14 December 2004 and is available to members of the
ZigBee Alliance. Most recently, the ZigBee 2007 specification was posted
on 30 October 2007. The first ZigBee Application Profile, Home
Automation, was announced 2 November 2007. As amended by NIST, the
Smart Energy Profile 2.0 specification will remove the dependency on
IEEE 802.15.4. Device manufacturers will be able to implement any
MAC/PHY, such as IEEE 802.15.4(x) and IEEE P1901, under an IP layer
based on 6LowPAN.

Licensing
For non-commercial purposes, the ZigBee specification is available free to
the general public.[3] An entry level membership in the ZigBee Alliance,
called Adopter, provides access to the as-yet unpublished specifications
and permission to create products for market using the specifications.
The click through license on the ZigBee specification requires a
commercial developer to join the ZigBee Alliance. "No part of this
specification may be used in development of a product for sale without
becoming a member of ZigBee Alliance." The annual fee conflicts with
the GNU General Public License. From the GPL v2, "b) You must cause
any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or
is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole
at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License." Since the
GPL makes no distinction between commercial and non-commercial use it
is impossible to implement a GPL licensed ZigBee stack or combine a
ZigBee implementation with GPL licensed code. The requirement for the
developer to join the ZigBee Alliance similarly conflicts with most
other Free software licenses.[

Metropolitan area network

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a large computer network that
usually spans a city or a large campus. A MAN usually interconnects a
number of local area networks(LANs) using a high-capacity backbone
technology, such as fiber-optical links, and provides up-link services
to wide area networks and the Internet.
The IEEE 802-2001 standard describes a MAN as being[1]:
A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area
“ than a LAN, ranging from several blocks of buildings
to entire cities. MANs can also depend on
communications channels of moderate-to-high data
rates. A MAN might be owned and operated by a
single organization, but it usually will be used by
many individuals and organizations. MANs might also
be owned and operated as public utilities. They will
often provide means for internetworking of local
networks. ”
Authors Kenneth C. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon of Management
Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm 10th ed. define a
metropolitan area network as:
A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a large
“ computer network that spans a metropolitan area or
campus. Its geographic scope falls between a WAN
and LAN. MANs provide Internet connectivity for LANs
in a metropolitan region, and connect them to wider
area networks like the Internet. ”
It can also be used in cable television.
[edit]Implementation
Some technologies used for this purpose are Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM), FDDI, and SMDS. These technologies are in the process of
being displaced by Ethernet-based connections (e.g., Metro Ethernet) in
most areas. MAN links between local area networks have been built
without cables using either microwave, radio, or infra-red laser links. Most
companies rent or lease circuits from common carriers due to the fact that
laying long stretches of cable can be expensive.
DQDB, Distributed Queue Dual Bus, is the metropolitan area network
standard for data communication. It is specified in the IEEE
802.6 standard. Using DQDB, networks can be up to 20 miles (30 km) long
and operate at speeds of 34 to 155 Mbit/s.

WiMAX
a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of
data using a variety oftransmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to
portable and fully mobile internet access. The technology provides up to 10
Mbps [1] broadband speed without the need for cables. The technology is
based on the IEEE 802.16 standard (also called Broadband Wireless
Access). The name "WiMAX" was created by the WiMAX Forum, which
was formed in June 2001 to promote conformity and interoperability of the
standard. The forum describes WiMAX[2] as "a standards-based technology
enabling the delivery of last milewireless broadband access as an
alternative to cable and DSL".[3]

Definitions
The 802.16 standards are sometimes referred to colloquially as "WiMAX",
"mobile WiMAX", "802.16d" and "802.16e."[4] Their formal names are as
follow:
 802.16-2004 is also known as 802.16d, which refers to the working
party that has developed that standard. It is sometimes referred to as
"fixed WiMAX," since it has no support for mobility.
 802.16e-2005, often abbreviated to 802.16e, is an amendment to
802.16-2004. It introduced support for mobility, among other things and
is therefore also known as "mobile WiMAX".
[edit]Uses
The bandwidth and range of WiMAX make it suitable for the following
potential applications:
 Connecting Wi-Fi hotspots to the Internet.
 Providing a wireless alternative to cable and DSL for "last mile"
broadband access.
 Providing data, telecommunications and IPTV services (triple play).
 Providing a source of Internet connectivity as part of a business
continuity plan. That is, if a business has both a fixed and a wireless
Internet connection, especially from unrelated providers, it is less likely
to be affected by the same service outage.
 Providing portable connectivity.

[edit]Broadband access
Companies are evaluating WiMAX for last mile connectivity. The resulting
competition may bring lower pricing for both home and business customers
or bring broadband access to places where it has been economically
unavailable.
WiMAX access was used to assist with communications in Aceh,
Indonesia, after the tsunami in December 2004. All communication
infrastructure in the area, other than amateur radio, was destroyed, making
the survivors unable to communicate with people outside the disaster area
and vice versa. WiMAX provided broadband access that helped
regenerate communication to and from Aceh.
In addition, WiMAX was donated by Intel Corporation to assist
the FCC and FEMA in their communications efforts in the areas affected
by Hurricane Katrina.[5] In practice, volunteers used mainly self-healing
mesh, VoIP, and a satellite uplink combined with Wi-Fi on the local link.[6]
[edit]Subscriber units (client units)
WiMAX subscriber units are available in both indoor and outdoor versions
from several manufacturers. Self-install indoor units are convenient, but
radio losses mean that the subscriber must be significantly closer to the
WiMAX base station than with professionally-installed external units. As
such, indoor-installed units require a much higher infrastructure investment
as well as operational cost (site lease, backhaul, maintenance) due to the
high number of base stations required to cover a given area. Indoor units
are comparable in size to a cable modem or DSL modem. Outdoor units
are roughly the size of a laptop PC, and their installation is comparable to
the installation of a residentialsatellite dish.
With the potential of mobile WiMAX, there is an increasing focus on
portable units. This includes handsets (similar to cellular smartphones), PC
peripherals (PC Cards or USB dongles), and embedded devices in laptops,
which are now available for Wi-Fi services. In addition, there is much
emphasis from operators on consumer electronics devices such as
Gaming consoles, MP3 players and similar devices. It is notable that
WiMAX is more similar to Wi-Fi than to 3G cellular technologies.
Current certified devices can be found at the WiMAX Forum web site. This
is not a complete list of devices available as certified modules are
embedded into laptops, MIDs (Mobile internet devices), and private labeled
devices.
[edit]Mobile handset applications
Sprint Nextel announced in mid-2006 that it would invest about US$ 5
billion in a WiMAX technology buildout over the next few
years[7] ($5.4 billion in real terms[8]). Since that time Sprint has faced many
setbacks, that have resulted in steep quarterly losses. On May 7, 2008,
Sprint Nextel, Google, Intel, Comcast, Bright House, and Time
Warnerannounced a pooling of an average of 120 MHz of spectrum and
merged with Clearwire to form a company which will take the name Clear.
The new company hopes to benefit from combined services offerings and
network resources as a springboard past its competitors. The cable
companies will provide media services to other partners while gaining
access to the wireless network as a Mobile virtual network operator.
Google will contribute Android handset device development and
applications and will receive revenue share for advertising and other
services they provide. Sprint and Clearwire gain a majority stock ownership
in the new venture and ability to access between the new Clear and Sprint
3G networks. Some details remain unclear including how soon and in what
form announced multi-mode WiMAX and 3G EV-DO devices will be
available. This raises questions that arise for availability of competitive
chips that require licensing of Qualcomm's IPR.
The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, which had a WiMAX variant to be used on
Sprint's network, was announced in April 2008. It has been discontinued
since January 2009.
HTC currently has a WiMAX device in development. Codenamed,
"Supersonic", the HTC A9292 has been deemed considerably sluggish as
of January 2010, meaning the device is in early stages of development.
The estimated release date is sometime in the second half of 2010.[9]
Some analysts have questioned how the deal will work out: Although fixed-
mobile convergence has been a recognized factor in the industry, prior
attempts to form partnerships among wireless and cable companies have
generally failed to lead to significant benefits to the participants. Other
analysts point out that as wireless progresses to higher bandwidth, it
inevitably competes more directly with cable and DSL, thrusting
competitors into bed together. Also, as wireless broadband networks grow
denser and usage habits shift, the need for increased backhaul and media
service will accelerate, therefore the opportunity to leverage cable assets is
expected to increase.

Spectrum allocation issues

The 802.16 specification applies across a wide swath of the RF spectrum,
and WiMAX could function on any frequency below 66 GHz,[14] (higher
frequencies would decrease the range of a Base Station to a few hundred
meters in an urban environment).
There is no uniform global licensed spectrum for WiMAX, although the
WiMAX Forum has published three licensed spectrum profiles: 2.3 GHz,
2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz, in an effort to decrease cost: economies of scale
dictate that the more WiMAX embedded devices (such as mobile phones
and WiMAX-embedded laptops) are produced, the lower the unit cost. (The
two highest cost components of producing a mobile phone are the silicon
and the extra radio needed for each band.) Similar economy of
scale benefits apply to the production of Base Stations.
In the unlicensed band, 5.x GHz is the approved
profile. Telecommunication companies are unlikely to use this spectrum
widely other than for backhaul, since they do not own and control the
spectrum.
In the USA, the biggest segment available is around 2.5 GHz,[15] and is
already assigned, primarily to Sprint Nextel and Clearwire. Elsewhere in
the world, the most-likely bands used will be the Forum approved ones,
with 2.3 GHz probably being most important in Asia. Some countries in
Asia like India and Indonesia will use a mix of 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz and other
frequencies. Pakistan's Wateen Telecom uses 3.5 GHz.
Analog TV bands (700 MHz) may become available for WiMAX usage, but
await the complete roll out of digital TV, and there will be other uses
suggested for that spectrum. In the USA the FCC auction for this
spectrum began in January 2008 and, as a result, the biggest share of the
spectrum went to Verizon Wireless and the next biggest to AT&T.[16] Both
of these companies have stated their intention of supporting LTE, a
technology which competes directly with WiMAX. EU
commissioner Viviane Reding has suggested re-allocation of 500–
800 MHz spectrum for wireless communication, including WiMAX.[17]
WiMAX profiles define channel size, TDD/FDD and other necessary
attributes in order to have inter-operating products. The current fixed
profiles are defined for both TDD and FDD profiles. At this point, all of the
mobile profiles are TDD only. The fixed profiles have channel sizes of
3.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 7 MHz and 10 MHz. The mobile profiles are 5 MHz,
8.75 MHz and 10 MHz. (Note: the 802.16 standard allows a far wider
variety of channels, but only the above subsets are supported as WiMAX
profiles.)
Since October 2007, the Radio communication Sector of the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) has decided to include WiMAX
technology in the IMT-2000 set of standards.[18] This enables spectrum
owners (specifically in the 2.5-2.69 GHz band at this stage) to use Mobile
WiMAX equipment in any country that recognizes the IMT-2000.
Hotspot (Wi-Fi)

A diagram showing a Wi-Fi network

A hotspot is a site that offers Internet access over a wireless local area
network through the use of a router connected to a link to anInternet
service provider. Hotspots typically use Wi-Fi technology for the wireless
network. Hotspots may be found in coffee shops and various other public
establishments throughout much of North America and Europe.

Wireless LAN
A wireless local area network (WLAN) links devices via a wireless
distribution method (typically spread-spectrum or OFDMradio), and usually
provides a connection through an access point to the wider internet. This
gives users the mobility to move around within a local coverage area and
still be connected to the network.
Wireless LANs have become popular in the home due to ease of
installation, and the increasing popularity of laptop computers. Public
businesses such as coffee shops and malls have begun to offer wireless
access to their customers; sometimes for free. Large wireless network
projects are being put up in many major cities: New York City, for instance,
has begun a pilot program to cover all five boroughs of the city with
wireless Internet access.[

Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless protocol for exchanging data over
short distances (using short length radio waves) from fixed and mobile
devices, creating personal area networks (PANs). It was originally
conceived as a wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables. It can connect
several devices, overcoming problems of synchronization.
Implementation
Bluetooth uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread
spectrum, which chops up the data being sent and transmits chunks of it
on up to 79 bands of 1 MHz width in the range 2402-2480 MHz. This is in
the globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz
short-range radio frequency band.
In its basic rate (BR) mode, the modulation is Gaussian frequency-shift
keying (GFSK). It can achieve a gross data rate of 1 Mbit/s. In extended
data rate (EDR) π/4-DQPSK and 8DPSK are used, giving 2, and 3 Mbit/s
respectively.
Bluetooth is a packet-based protocol with a master-slave structure. One
master may communicate with up to 7 slaves in a piconet; all devices
share the master's clock. Packet exchange is based on the basic clock,
defined by the master, which ticks at 312.5 µs intervals. Two clock ticks
make up a slot of 625 µs; two slots make up a slot pair of 1250 µs. In the
simple case of single-slot packets the master transmits in even slots and
receives in odd slots; the slave, conversely, receives in even slots and
trasnmits in odd slots. Packets may be 1, 3 or 5 slots long but in all cases
the master transmit will begin in even slots and the slave transmit in odd
slots.
Bluetooth provides a secure way to connect and exchange information
between devices such as faxes, mobile
phones, telephones, laptops, personal computers, printers, Global
Positioning System (GPS) receivers, digital cameras, and video game
consoles.
The Bluetooth specifications are developed and licensed by the Bluetooth
Special Interest Group (SIG). The Bluetooth SIG consists of companies in
the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, and consumer
electronics.[4]
To be marketed as a bluetooth device, it must be qualified to standards
defined by the SIG.

Bluetooth protocol stack

"Bluetooth is defined as a layer protocol architecture consisting of core

protocols, cable replacement protocols, telephony control protocols, and
adopted protocols."[32] Mandatory protocols for all Bluetooth stacks are:
LMP, L2CAP and SDP. Additionally, these protocols are almost universally
supported: HCI and RFCOMM.
[edit]LMP (Link Management Protocol)
Used for control of the radio link between two devices. Implemented on the
controller.
[edit]L2CAP (Logical Link Control & Adaptation Protocol)
Used to multiplex multiple logical connections between two devices using
different higher level protocols. Provides segmentation and reassembly of
on-air packets.
In Basic mode, L2CAP provides packets with a payload configurable up to
64kB, with 672 bytes as the default MTU, and 48 bytes as the minimum
mandatory supported MTU.
In Retransmission & Flow Control modes, L2CAP can be configured for
reliable or isochronous data per channel by performing retransmissions
and CRC checks.
Bluetooth Core Specification Addendum 1 adds two additional L2CAP
modes to the core specification. These modes effectively deprecate
original Retransmission and Flow Control modes:
 Enhanced Retransmission Mode (ERTM): This mode is an
improved version of the original retransmission mode. This mode
provides a reliable L2CAP channel.
 Streaming Mode (SM): This is a very simple mode, with no
 retransmission or flow control. This mode provides an unreliable L2CAP
channel.
Reliability in any of these modes is optionally and/or additionally
guaranteed by the lower layer Bluetooth BDR/EDR air interface by
configuring the number of retransmissions and flush timeout (time after
which the radio will flush packets). In-order sequencing is guaranteed by
the lower layer.
Only L2CAP channels configured in ERTM or SM may be operated over
AMP logical links.
[edit]SDP (Service discovery protocol)
Allows a device to discover services support by other devices, and their
associated parameters. For example, when connecting a mobile phone to
a Bluetooth headset, SDP will be used for determining which Bluetooth
profiles are supported by the headset (Headset Profile, Hands Free
Profile, Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) etc.) and the protocol
multiplexer settings needed to connect to each of them. Each service is
identified by a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID), with official services
(Bluetooth profiles) assigned a short form UUID (16 bits rather than the full
128)
[edit]HCI (Host/Controller Interface)
Standardised communication between the host stack (e.g., a PC or mobile
phone OS) and the controller (the Bluetooth IC). This standard allows the
host stack or controller IC to be swapped with minimal adaptation.
There are several HCI transport layer standards, each using a different
hardware interface to transfer the same command, event and data
packets. The most commonly used areUSB (in PCs) and UART (in mobile
phones and PDAs).
In Bluetooth devices with simple functionality (e.g., headsets) the host
stack and controller can be implemented on the same microprocessor. In
this case the HCI is optional, although often implemented as an internal
software interface.
[edit]RFCOMM (Cable replacement protocol)
Radio frequency communications (RFCOMM) is the cable replacement
protocol used to create a virtual serial data stream. RFCOMM provides for
binary data transport and emulates EIA-232 (formerly RS-232) control
signals over the Bluetooth baseband layer.
RFCOMM provides a simple reliable data stream to the user, similar to
TCP. It is used directly by many telephony related profiles as a carrier for
AT commands, as well as being a transport layer for OBEX over Bluetooth.
Many Bluetooth applications use RFCOMM because of its widespread
support and publicly available API on most operating systems. Additionally,
applications that used a serial port to communicate can be quickly ported
to use RFCOMM.
[edit]BNEP (Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol)
BNEP is used for transferring another protocol stack's data via an L2CAP
channel. Its main purpose is the transmission of IP packets in the Personal
Area Networking Profile. BNEP performs a similar function to SNAP in
Wireless LAN.
[edit]AVCTP (Audio/Visual Control Transport Protocol)
Used by the remote control profile to transfer AV/C commands over an
L2CAP channel. The music control buttons on a stereo headset use this
protocol to control the music player
[edit]AVDTP (Audio/Visual Data Transport Protocol)
Used by the advanced audio distribution profile to stream music to stereo
headsets over an L2CAP channel. Intended to be used by video
distribution profile.
[edit]Telephone control protocol
Telephony control protocol-binary (TCS BIN) is the bit-oriented protocol
that defines the call control signaling for the establishment of voice and
data calls between Bluetooth devices. Additionally, "TCS BIN defines
mobility management procedures for handling groups of Bluetooth TCS
devices."
TCS-BIN is only used by the cordless telephony profile, which failed to
attract implementers. As such it is only of historical interest.
[edit]Adopted protocols
Adopted protocols are defined by other standards-making organizations
and incorporated into Bluetooth’s protocol stack, allowing Bluetooth to
create protocols only when necessary. The adopted protocols include:
Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
Internet standard protocol for transporting IP datagrams over a point-
 to-point link.

TCP/IP/UDP

Foundation Protocols for TCP/IP protocol suite

Object Exchange Protocol (OBEX)

Session-layer protocol for the exchange of objects, providing a

model for object and operation representation

Wireless Application Environment/Wireless Application

Protocol (WAE/WAP)

WAE specifies an application framework for wireless devices and

WAP is an open standard to provide mobile users access to
telephony and information services.[3