Components of wireless routers

Wireless routers have become very important in this global village with the expansion of information and finding a best one is inevitable for the effective information distribution in business and domestic routines. Internet is the best way to approach data in this modern world. Wireless technology is an innovation which serves this mankind very well in providing an environmentally safe and smooth connection. These are the data access points actually. It’s an essential part of the WLAN (Wireless Local Access Network). These use their antennas wings to transmit the network to the surroundings.

Types:                                                                            

Classification of wireless routers is very important along with its types. The types of routers are distinguished on the basis of the standard provided by IEEE. For instance, consider the following case.

·         802.11 (b): The oldest generation routers with speed up to 11 Mbps.

·         802.11 (g): Their Max speed is 54 Mbps

·         802.11 (n): The latest generation of routers

Categories on the basis of frequency bands are as follows:

·         Single Band: All the standards are operated on 2.4GHz frequency

·         Dual Band: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands both are used for the IEEE standards

·         Tri Band: Includes an additional 5 GHz band

Components:

Characteristics of these routers are defined by following components:

·         Main Body: A router has a main body in which we have a board like a motherboard. Every component is attached to it.

·         SOC (System on Chip): They are basically small chips and can be referred to as the integrated circuits present on the board of a router. Integrated Circuit can be called as a mini computer system as its function is to integrate the entire computer data components into a single circuit. The internet service details are also integrated on these chips like memory 1MB, 2MB etc.

·         WNIC: WNIC stands for Wireless Network Interface Controller. It is a small card or Chip having the wireless internal antenna. Without this card, wireless communication is not possible. A typical router has one or more WNICs as a part of the IEEE 802.11 standard family. These standards are also integrated into the main SOC which is ultimately attached to the main board. They are distinct cards which are explicitly connected over buses on the board like mini PCI interface. Furthermore WNIC contains PHY-chips and according to the specification of IEEE, the number of PHY-chips for WNIC is varied.

·         Modem: These come with following modems:

•      DSL
•      DOCSIS (cable interface)
•           LTE
•       Fiber Optic    

·         Antennas: These are the external antennas which are directly connected with the medium through which the waves are transmitted. Routers have either single or multiple antennas attached. They are important as they transmit data to the surroundings. They can also be referred to as frequency holders.

Salient Features:

These have following salient features:

·         Long Range: The range is very long and one can be sitting at a relatively large distance from the router than from the normal routers. This is the most crucial feature for a router to be the best wireless router ever.

·         High Frequency: The frequency of the transmitting waves is high like antennas of 5 GHz (450 Mbits/s) and hence the routers have no abrupt connection. High frequency refers to high speed.

·         Fine SoC: “Systems on a chip” are Integrated Circuits and they consume very low power consumption.

·         Efficient WNIC: This card works very efficiently in these routers because it uses the antenna to communicate via microwave Radiation.

·         Single Band V Dual Bands: These have dual bands as it transmits 5GHz on priority in 802.11a and also 2.4GHz on some other standards of IEEE.

Conclusion:

The best wireless routers will have all the above characteristics. In short, the routers with high speed, high range good internet network, parental control and many frequency bands. Most routers have Linux operating systems as well. The latest wifi router is of IEEE 802.11n type and has all the above qualities.