Wireless personal area networks: overview and applications

Wireless Personal Area Networks: An Overview and Description

Introduction Recent innovations in Internet and computer-based applications have provided consumers and businesses alike with some powerful new tools in communication. One of these innovations has been wireless personal area networks that allow for the networking of a number of personal computers without the need for cumbersome cabling or the constraints and expense typically associated with fiber optics. This paper reviews the evolution, concerns, and, likely future advances in wireless personal area networks (WPANs). There are competing implementations for WPANs, and this paper focuses on the specification with the greater market acceptance. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion. Review and Discussion Background. The personal computer ("PC") has experienced phenomenal growth since its introduction in the late 20th century. Initially it began as the name implied, "personal" meaning an individual, unconnected experience on the part of the user; however, as the PC proliferated, there was a demand to extend it from the single person mode to one in which locally attached users could interact. The next logical step was to extend connectivity to other users who were not locally attached. Concurrently, the Internet was rapidly expanding. This provided the foundation for a shared computing experience without regard to physical distance. However, the connection, once established, was not easy to use. A graphical user interface ("GUI") was commercially developed to provide users with an enriched computing experience (today, this software is known as a browser). In the succeeding years, Internet usage grew rapidly; the user population, though, found it inconvenient to access the Internet using "hard wire" connections. As a result, a growing market for convenient Internet connectivity was forming. Thereafter, PCs evolved from large desktops to compact laptops. Not surprisingly, mobile PC users wanted to be free from wired Internet connections. Another factor for replacement technology was the expense of retrofitting a room with hard wire access points. As with almost any other innovation, market need led to product evolution. If a wire connection was a nuisance, a wireless alternative would be found. Current Technology: The "state of the art" uses radio waves as the preferred method for user connectivity. There are competing implementation technologies for WPANs. They are the Bluetooth and the IEEE 802.11 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) specifications. The Bluetooth specification extends to a wider variety of devices including: cell phones, PDAs, and wireless headsets; however, the Bluetooth technology suffers from weaker signal strength. Bluetooth transmissions do not extend beyond 30 feet while the IEEE 802.11 series specifications can extend well over 300 feet. Home networks are typically implemented using the IEEE 802.11 based technology. Regardless of implementation the configuration topology is similar. There is an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") and an end-user's PC. Between these two points is a wireless mid-station. Wireless routers broadcast a signal which is received by the PC. The use of radio waves provides the user with unfettered mobility within the signal range. The approach is straightforward. Home users receive a signal from a local telephone or cable television company using a "hard wire" transport. That terminates with a "modem" (signal MOdulator/DEModulator). The modem is in turn connected to the router which in turn, broadcasts radio signals for end-user Internet connectivity. On the end-user's PC is a wireless card that receives and interprets the router's signal. Data is sent and received using electronic packets. These packets contain data and other information necessary for the safe exchange with the intended PC / router combination. The mobility afforded by WPANs led wide acceptance in the marketplace. Infonetics estimates that the IP router and switch market will continue growing through 2010 with more than $12 billion in revenue projected compared to more than $10 billion projected for 2007 (Gerwig 2). Of this total, wireless technology is a sizable and fast growing segment. Like most technology, cost decreases while the performance increases. This benefits the consumer which then resulted in explosive growth in the number of WPANs; however, as the number of installed WPANs increased, so did the threat to the data (Gerwig 3). Concerns: Malevolence and predation on the Intranet is widely reported and rising. The greatest threat is that of identity theft. Confidential information is stored on PCs. Bank accounts, credit card purchases, even simple e-mail address books all are hacker targets. One benefit of a hard wire personal area network was that it limited (not obviated) the exposure to risk. However, because wireless networks broadcast their data; it is possible to intercept and interpret these signals unless precautions are taken. The biggest threat is called "war driving." It is the act of locating and exploiting unprotected WPANs while driving. To do war driving, you need a vehicle, a computer (which can be a laptop), a wireless Ethernet card set to work in promiscuous mode, and some kind of an antenna which can be mounted on top of or positioned inside the car (emphasis added) (War driving 1). In fact, in August 2007, London police arrested a man for 'stealing' Wi-Fi. The man who used his laptop to access someone else's wireless Internet connection is arrested as part of a campaign against Wi-Fi thieves. His actions could potentially breach the Computer Misuse Act and the Communications Act, according to a Metropolitan Police Service (Sayer 2). It is also now reported that a computer virus could be spread through the use of a WPAN. The target of opportunity would be unsecured wireless routers (MacMillan 3). It is becoming increasingly apparent that increased security is the next requirement in the evolution of WPANs. Fortunately, manufacturers have implemented a variety of security related improvements. Security Considerations. Essentially, security is provided in two separate modes in wireless personal area networks: (a) encryption and (b) stealth. Most wireless routers provide several methods of encrypting data. The most common remains Wired Equivalency Privacy ("WEP") (Wired Equivalency Privacy 1). According to this source, this technique uses a 40bit encryption with additional industry standard check-sum techniques (Wired Equivalency Privacy 1). Likewise, the so-called "stealth mode transmission" is used to improve security. While a router must broadcast its signal, it does not have to broadcast its identification. The router awaits a password encoded signal from the PC before initiating an encrypted data exchange. This is achieved by defining a password used by all WPAN devices. An additional level of stealth can be achieved when the router is told to listen only to PCs that have been preauthorized to "talk" with it (Mitchell 2). In addition, access control tables can be limit access to PCs having a specific Media Access Control ("MAC") address (Mitchell 3). It should be noted, though, that any other device, even if it sends the PC a correct encrypted password, will be ignored if the MAC address is not entered into that router's control table. These are just some examples of the effective steps that can be taken to ensure controlled, authorized, authenticated data transmission occur on the WPAN (Mitchell 3-4). Future Trends: For now, the industry is focused on approved specifications. IEEE 802.11 specifications improved from "b", to "g," and are now at the "n" specification. These increased throughput and signal distance. Encryption "keys" will be lengthened. The longer the key, the harder it is to "crack" (decoding the packet). "Two factor" authentication may be employed. For instance, a user ID and a fingerprint reader could be incorporated into the PC's WPAN authentication process. Perhaps the greatest future advances for WPANs will come in the area of expanded capabilities. The Bluetooth technology was intended to bring all consumer-oriented wireless technology onto a common platform. That has been achieved to a limited degree. While the concept is sound, today's implementation is weak. The technology needs improvement and that is just what progress customarily delivers! Conclusion The research showed that the current status of the wireless personal area network environment is healthy and growing stronger. Great sums of money are being invested to further enhance product differentiation. The presence of highly enforced industry standards provides assurance that the future will continue to be consumer-friendly. It is the end user community that truly drives advancement. They provide the vast sums of revenue that the manufacturers seek. In the final analysis, though, innovations such as WPANs must be viewed as interim technology that represents a stepping-stone on the way to ubiquitous computing where computers simply disappear and become integrated into all aspects of daily life.