Chapter 1: The Fundamentals of the Wireless Internet

Borko Furht and Mohammad Ilyas

Abstract

This chapter presents a comprehensive introduction to the field of wireless systems and their applications. We begin with the fundamental principles of wireless communications, including modulation techniques, wireless system topologies, and performance elements. Next, we present three generations of wireless systems based on access techniques, and we introduce the basic principles of frequency division multiple access, time division multiple access, and code division multiple access techniques. We discuss various wireless Internet networks and architectures, including wireless personal area networks, local area networks, and wide area networks. We present common wireless devices and their features, as well as wireless standards such as Wireless Application Protocol. A survey of present and future wireless applications is given, from messaging applications to M-commerce, entertainment, and mobile Web services. We discuss briefly the future trends in wireless technologies and systems.