Wi-Fi Switch

[Charisma]

WHat's all about Wi-fi switch ?? i had just read an artical about those swtiches and i understand nothin' ... ? and i would like someone to tell me what is the use of it ,, why not using a normal switch and connect the APs to it?

[JimGeier]

Can you point us to the article that describes these switches? Are they placing WiFi cards in the switches, or do they claim to have enhancements for access points?

[AaronDow]

Here's a link:

http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,56166,00.html

As I understand it, the "switch" is in the wireless layer and uses an adaptive antenna array to direct the narrow, high-gain antenna lobe in the direction of the user that the current packet is intended for.

Very elegant solution that utilises the TDD properties of the WiFi protocol.

[Charisma]

AaronDow.. what u mean when u said that switch in the wireless layer ???

And the feature of this switch is clear , but how i can implement it ,, i think it would be noticable when it's implemented for the hotspot (public WLAN)

[AaronDow]

OK... whereas a "traditional" ethernet switch chooses which port to send each packet to, a wireless switch will send each packet in the direction of the destination user user. To implement this kind of technology I imagine it would have to be closely tied in with the adaptive antennas being used.

For a wireless switch to work in this manner you need an antenna that is capable of "beam steering", unfortunately I don't think it is possible to simply purchase a wireless switch "black box" and integrate into a standard wireless network - you will need an adaptive antenna.

[Charisma]

AaronDow and those adaptive anntena how big are they ? and how much they cost ,, cause i think if u 'll use it in a HOTSOPT it will be a problem if its expensive ...

There is a Quistion came to my mind ,, do this switch using this adaptive anntena will increase the speed of the connection ? and how far it will do ?? or it's just saving BW ?