Personal area network

Personal area network
Computer network types by geographical scope
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A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer devices, including telephones and personal digital assistants, in proximity to an individual's body. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters. PANs can be used for communication among the personal devices themselves (intrapersonal communication), or for connecting to a higher level network and the Internet (an uplink).

Personal area networks may be wired with computer buses such as USB and FireWire. A wireless personal area network (WPAN) can also be made possible with wireless network technologies such as IrDA, Bluetooth, Wireless USB, Z-Wave and ZigBee.

Contents

Technology

A Bluetooth PAN is also called a piconet, and is composed of up to 8 active devices in a master-slave relationship (a very large number of devices can be connected in "parked" mode). The first Bluetooth device in the piconet is the master, and all other devices are slaves that communicate with the master. A piconet typically has a range of 10 metres (33 ft), although ranges of up to 100 metres (330 ft) can be reached under ideal circumstances.

Recent innovations in Bluetooth antennas have allowed these devices to greatly exceed the range for which they were originally designed. At DEF CON 12, a group of hackers known as "Flexilis" successfully connected two Bluetooth devices more than half a mile (800 m) away. They used an antenna with a scope and Yagi antenna, all attached to a rifle stock. A cable attached the antenna to a Bluetooth card in a computer. They later named the antenna "The BlueSniper."[citation needed]

Skinplex, another PAN technology, transmits via the capacitive near field of human skin. Skinplex can detect and communicate up to 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) from a human body. It is already used for access control for door locks and jamming protection in convertible car roofs.

Wireless PAN

A wireless personal area network (WPAN) is a personal area network - a network for interconnecting devices centered around an individual person's workspace - in which the connections are wireless. Typically, a wireless personal area network uses some technology that permits communication within about 10 metres (33 ft) such as Bluetooth, which was used as the basis for a new standard, IEEE 802.15.

A WPAN could serve to interconnect all the ordinary computing and communicating devices that many people have on their desk or carry with them today - or it could serve a more specialized purpose such as allowing the surgeon and other team members to communicate during an operation.

A key concept in WPAN technology is known as "plugging in". In the ideal scenario, when any two WPAN-equipped devices come into close proximity (within several meters of each other) or within a few kilometers of a central server, they can communicate as if connected by a cable. Another important feature is the ability of each device to lock out other devices selectively, preventing needless interference or unauthorized access to information.

The technology for WPANs is in its infancy and is undergoing rapid development. Proposed operating frequencies are around 2.4 GHz in digital modes. The objective is to facilitate seamless operation among home or business devices and systems. Every device in a WPAN will be able to plug in to any other device in the same WPAN, provided they are within physical range of one another. In addition, WPANs worldwide will be interconnected. Thus, for example, an archeologist on site in Greece might use a PDA to directly access databases at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and to transmit findings to that database.

Connecting devices

Connecting devices allow hardware networking devices to communicate with each other. The three kinds of wireless technologies are Bluetooth, infrared, and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi).

Bluetooth

Bluetooth uses short-range radio waves over distances up to approximately 10 metres. For example, Bluetooth devices such as a keyboards, pointing devices, audio head sets, printers may connect to Personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, or computers wirelessly.

Infrared

Infrared communications (IR) or IrDA (Infrared Data Association) uses infrared light, which has a frequency below the human eye's sensitivity. It is used in cell phones and TV remote controls. Typical devices include printers, keyboards, and other serial data interfaces.[1]

WiFi

WiFi (wireless fidelity) uses radio waves for connection over distances up to around 91 metres, usually in a local area network (LAN) environment. Wifi can be used to connect local area networks, to connect cellphones to the Internet to download music and other multimedia, to allow PC multimedia content to be stream to the TV (Wireless Multimedia Adapter), and to connect video game consoles to their networks (Nintendo WiFi Connection).

See also

References

  1. ^ Charles D. Knutson with Jeffrey M. Brown, IrDA Principles and Protocols, 2004, ISBN 0-9753892-0-3

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Personal Area Network — Unter einem Personal Area Network (Abkürzung: PAN, engl. für etwa persönliches Netzwerk) versteht man ein Netz, das von Kleingeräten wie PDAs oder Mobiltelefonen ad hoc auf und abgebaut werden kann. PANs können daher mittels verschiedener… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Personal Area Network — A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer devices (including telephones and personal digital assistants) close to one person. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach… …   Wikipedia

  • personal area network — n. A device that enables to people to exchange data via a handshake. Example Citation: IBM recently showed a prototype of its personal area network, or PAN....The PAN device, about the size of a thick credit card so it can be carried in a pocket …   New words

  • Personal Area Network — PAN, acronyme de Personal Area Network, désigne un réseau restreint d équipements informatiques habituellement utilisés dans le cadre d une utilisation personnelle. Les bus utilisés les plus courants sont l USB, les technologies sans fil telles… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Wireless Personal Area Network — Das Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) ist ein Sonderfall des Personal Area Networks. Es bezeichnet Kurzstrecken Funktechnik, die zum Ziel hat, kurze, typische fliegend verlegte Kabelverbindungen zu vermeiden. Im Gegensatz zu WLANs überbrücken …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wireless Personal Area Network — Le réseau personnel sans fil (appelé également réseau individuel sans fil ou réseau domestique sans fil et noté WPAN pour Wireless Personal Area Network) concerne les réseaux sans fil d une faible portée : de l ordre de quelques dizaines… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Personal area network — …   Википедия

  • Private Area Network — Unter einem Personal Area Network (Abkürzung: PAN) versteht man ein Netz, das von Kleingeräten wie PDAs oder Mobiltelefonen ad hoc auf und abgebaut werden kann. PANs können daher mittels verschiedener drahtgebundener Übertragungstechniken wie USB …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Body Area Network — Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) ist ein spezialisiertes Netzwerkkonzept im Rahmen des Standards IEEE 802.15.4 (WPAN, Wireless Personal Area Network) für eine einzelne Person als Träger von Kommunikationsgeräten. Mit diesem Konzept wird eine… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Local Area Network — Ein Local Area Network (englische Aussprache [ləʊkl ˈɛəɹɪə ˈnɛtwɜːk], zu Deutsch lokales Netzwerk), kurz LAN, ist ein Rechnernetz, das die Ausdehnung von Personal Area Networks übertrifft, die Ausdehnung von Metropolitan Area Networks, Wide Area… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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