This event is planned for the end of March 2009.
It will be a revitalised format and an exciting new venue.
We are in the process of setting out the details of the two day programme which will cover the use of wireless communications in the health and transport sectors.
We will be working closly with UK Trade and Investment to promote emerging services and technology.
Please return to this site for the latest news of this event.
The Broadband Wireless Association is a non-profit organisation which aims to provide representation for the fixed wireless industry in regulator forums, and to manage workshops to generate harmonised responses to consultations.
In particular we are looking at the growing number of issues around the interfaces between wireless and wired networks to enable services to be provided seamlessly.
As wireless takes on an increasing amount of critical traffic we are looking at the concerns of the UK Government and the European Union regarding Critical Information Infrastructure Protection.
We are now seeking to recruit pioneer members to help shape the future and activities of the newly reformed BWA.
Stephen Lowe
Chair, BWA
Wireless Broadband Networks
How Does Wireless Broadband Work?
Essentially you need a piece of equipment (CPE – see definition later) in each building where you want to connect two LAN segments. For those situations, where a clear line of sight is not available, one or multiple hubs may be deployed – acting as repeaters and logical diverters of radio signals. The Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) in most implementations consists of two fundamental components: a Network Interface Unit (NIU) - an indoor unit providing circuit emulation and Ethernet data services – essentially a Transceiver and an antenna unit mounted on the top or side of the building. In some cases, the transceiver and antenna are integrated into one unit – e.g. in Nortel’s Reunion Broadband Wireless Access products. NIU is connected to the data network (typically a LAN) in the two buildings.
Where multiple services (voice and data are employed), there is another piece of equipment that is called Base station equipment – that provides multiplexing and channel separation.
In those cases where a clear line of site is not available between to points or where multiple locations need to be served, there is a Hub in the center as shown in the following schematic.
Differences in data transfer between components reveal some of the benefits of a wireless system as opposed to other technical alternatives like cable and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or traditional ISDN. Whereas cable and DSL utilize Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD), Wireless is able to support all applications while offering the entire bandwidth for balancing upstream and downstream packet traffic. Wireless does this by utilizing Time Division Multiplexing technology, recently advocated by the Universal Wireless Communication Consortium as the benchmark for Wireless Broadband technology. The difference is, is that FDD requires allocations of upstream and downstream traffic meaning they are asymmetric, and are unable to support bandwidth-hungry 2nd generation applications such as Video Conferencing, Multimedia Email, Interactive Gaming, Online Banking, and other applications on the horizon for business and residence alike.
