802.11 wireless networks（3）

Dynamic Physical Medium  动态物理媒介

Once a wired network is put in place, it tends to be boring, which is to say, predictable. Once the cables have been put in place, they tend to do the same thing day in and day out. Provided the network has been designed according to the engineering rules laid out in the specification, the network should function as expected. Capacity can be added to a wired network easily by upgrading the switches in the wiring closet.

以前，有限网络建在某一个地方是有某种倾向的，也就是说，是可预言的。以前，电缆设在某个地方，往往都是日以继夜的干同样的事情。假若网络是根据工程学规则来进行设计，并有详细说明的话，那么网络应该会起到预料中的作用。有线网络通过布线柜交换机的叠加很容易扩大网络的容量。

In contrast, the physical medium on wireless LANs is much more dynamic. Radio waves bounce off objects, penetrate through walls, and can often behave somewhat unpredictably. Radio waves can suffer from a number of propagation problems that may interrupt the radio link, such as multipath interference and shadows. Without a reliable network medium, wireless networks must carefully validate received frames to guard against frame loss. Positive acknowledgment, the tactic used by 802.11, does an excellent job at assuring delivery at some cost to throughput.

与此相比，无线局域网中的物理媒介就具有更多的灵活性。无线电波从目标弹回，穿过墙体，行为多少有点不可预见性。无线电波可能会遭受一些传播问题，也许会打断无线电通信电路，例如多路冲突和阴影。没有可靠地网络媒介，无线网络必须仔细的确认接收到的帧以防止帧丢失。必须肯定的承认，使用802.11的策略是对于保证传输是积极地，但在吞吐量方面则付出了一些代价。

Radio links are subject to several additional constraints that fixed networks are not. Because radio spectrum is a relatively scarce resource, it is carefully regulated. Two ways exist to make radio networks go faster. Either more spectrum can be allocated, or the encoding on the link can be made more sensitive so that it packs more data in per unit of time. Additional spectrum allocations are relatively rare, especially for license-free networks. 802.11 networks have kept the bandwidth of a station's radio channel to approximately 30 MHz, while developing vastly improved encoding to improve the speed. Faster coding methods can increase the speed, but do have one potential drawback. Because the faster coding method depends on the receiver to pick out subtle signal differences, much greater signal-to-noise ratios are required. Higher data rates therefore require the station to be located closer to its access point. Table 1-2 shows the standardized physical layers in 802.11 and their respective speeds.

无线电通信线路容易受到若干附加限制，这是固定网络不存在的。因为无线电频谱比较缺乏来源，需要仔细地调节。有两种方式使无线电通信网传输的更快。要么使更多的频谱得到分配，要么通过链路中的编码更灵敏，在单位时间内包传输更多的数据。附加频谱的分配是比较少的，特别是免税认证的网络。当通过改良编码来提高速度的时候，802.11网络保持着大约30MHz频宽的信道。更快的编码这个方法能提高速度，但是也有一个潜在的不利因素。那就是更快编码方法取决于接收器对微妙信号差异的挑选，性噪比是一定会有的。高数据传输率因此要求车站更靠近于接收点。表1-2为802.11物理层标准和他们各自的速率。

Table 1-2. Comparison of 802.11 physical layers (PHYs)
IEEE standard	Speed	Frequency band	Notes
802.11	1 Mbps 2 Mbps	2.4 GHz	First PHY standard (1997). Featured both frequency-hopping and direct-sequence modulation techniques.
802.11a	Up to 54 Mbps	5 GHz	Second PHY standard (1999), but products not released until late 2000.
802.11b	5.5 Mbps 11 Mbps	2.4 GHz	Third PHY standard, but second wave of products. The most common 802.11 equipment as the first edition of this book was written, and the majority of the legacy installed base at the time the second edition was written.
802.11g	Up to 54 Mbps	2.4 GHz	Fourth PHY standard (2003). Applies the coding techniques of 802.11a for higher speed in the 2.4 GHz band, while retaining backwards compatibility with existing 802.11b networks. The most common technology included with laptops in 2005.