September
2004, Issue 170
Uncomplicated
Wireless Networking
GETTING
SERIOUS
The
Wi-Fi application kit is not for the meek and mild.
If you’re new to wireless networking, be prepared to
do lots of reading as you experiment with your kit.
The
debugging capabilities of Dynamic C are, as my kids
would say, “off the chain.” However, if you can’t relate
what you see in the debugger session to the 802.11b
standard, you’re not going to be able to understand
what’s really going on with the wireless CompactFlash
card, and you most likely won’t be successful with your
own design. That’s why I decided to bite the bullet
and obtain the wireless sniffer. With it, I can tie
all of the wireless acronyms (AID, BSSID, SSID, etc.)
to a piece of real data inside a captured wireless 802.11b
frame.
After
becoming comfortable with 802.11b and the kit, I wanted
to explore the differences in wireless CompactFlash
cards. So, I browsed the list of compatible wireless
cards that comes with the kit and purchased a few of
them (see Photo 3). They all worked as designed with
no apparent differences in operation.
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(Click
here to enlarge)
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Photo
3—You can read about how things work until the cows
come home. However, sometimes it’s just better to
get your hands dirty and discover things yourself.
The Z-World folks (Ingo Cyliax included) tested
these cards, and I decided I would too. |
The
folks at Z-World are famous for producing products that
are running before you even open the box. The Wi-Fi
application kit is no exception. It proves that embedded
devices do not have to be complicated to be wireless.
