Discussing Software Requirements to Setup a Wireless Network
In a wireless network, wireless adapters require two types of software utilities to work – Driver and Configuration. The Driver utility installs and runs applications in a wireless network; the Configuration utility creates detailed Connectivity profiles to save and manage your regularly accessed networks. Wireless devices use the same networking protocols as those used by wired devices, and operate on Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA). CSMA is a standard to define certain protocols that detect the collision of data packets in a network. A computer, which needs to transmit data, checks whether or not any other computer is transmitting data in a network. If the other computer is transmitting data, then the first computer waits, until the other computer finishes its task. This process is executed to avoid data collision in a network.
In a wireless network, computers use the Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) protocol. When the RTS/CTS protocol is enabled, a transmitting node checks whether or not the transmission medium is free to send data. For that, the transmitting node sends an RTS frame enquiring whether the transmission medium is free to send data or not. If the transmission medium is free, then the transmitting node receives a CTS frame. After that, the transmitting node sends data and waits for an acknowledgement (ACK) from the receiving node, before sending the next data.
This entire cycle of exchanging frames and ACKs takes place, until entire data, is delivered from the transmitting node to receiving node. After familiarizing different software requirements for setting a wireless network,
