Trends in local wireless networks

Pahlavan (1985) published an article entitled "Wireless office information networks". That article examined spread spectrum, standard radio and infrared (IR) technologies for intra-office wireless networking. In May of that year the FCC released the ISM (industrial, scientific, and medical) bands for spread spectrum local communications. Although ISM bands are not restricted to any specific application, wireless local area networks (LANs) were one of the most prominent applications that were envisioned by the rule makers in the FCC. Since 1985, many small start-up companies, as well as small groups in larger companies, have started to develop wireless LANs. The present paper provides a sequel to Pahlavan by providing an overview of the past and present of the wireless LAN industry, as well as a perspective of the future directions that encompass a vision for a ubiquitous local wireless computing environment that leads to a fusion of communications and computation.>