Dave’s Thoughts: Wires and Wireless Over the Ages: A Transformative Journey in Communications
Introduction
In the realm of communication technologies, there are two fundamental physical mediums: wired and wireless communications.
Wired connections, which rely on physical cables and infrastructure, have historically been the dominant medium. In contrast, wireless communications systems have often been seen as a secondary option. However, as technology evolves, the landscape of communications is undergoing a significant transformation.
The Historical Dominance of Wired Communication
For many years, wired communication has been the medium of choice for several key reasons:
- Speed: Wired connections have traditionally offered faster data rates compared to wireless. This speed has made them the preferred choice for data-intensive applications.
- Reliability: Wired connections historically have been more reliable. They are generally not susceptible to interference and other environmental factors that can disrupt wireless signals.
- Longevity: Wired infrastructure tends to have a longer lifespan, often remaining functional for years without significant degradation in performance.
Due to these advantages, financial institutions and other entities (government grants for example) have heavily favored wired solutions, often opting for fiber optics rather than relying on wireless signals transmitted from rooftops.
The Unique Advantage of Wireless
Despite the historical dominance of wired communication, wireless technology boasts a significant advantage: mobility. For applications that required mobility, wireless of course is the answer, but you paid a price. Your connection was typically slower and less reliable. If your application did not need to move – you always went with the wire.
But times they are a’ changing. Mobility is now a prized feature. Even for use cases that were traditionally stationary—such as desktop computers, security cameras—wireless connectivity (e.g., WLAN/WiFi) has become the norm. Today, it’s difficult to find a desktop or laptop PC with an Ethernet port unless you special order it.
And wireless systems are now more sophisticated and robust than ever before. Specifically, today’s wireless systems boast several key advancements:
- Signal Processing: Innovations in signal processing have enhanced the quality and stability of wireless connections.
- MIMO Technology: The utilization of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology leverages reflections that were once the bane of wireless signals, significantly improving performance.
- Cellular Systems: The very concept of cellular systems ensures multiple points of contact for mobile clients, enhancing connectivity.
Now for the first time, wireless connections are not only catching up to wired connections in terms of speed and reliability but are, in some cases, exceeding them. Emerging technologies have facilitated impressive data rates. There are WAN Backhaul Solutions using RF that can support throughput rates of 20 to 40 Gbps.
Free Space Optics connections are at 10 to 20 Gbps speeds and getting faster. Modern WiFi networks can now deliver up to 10 Gbps, shared among multiple clients.
These improvements, combined with the classic advantages of wireless—such as faster and easier deployment—make wireless a more attractive option than ever before.
The Future of Communication
What does the future hold? Wired technology is not disappearing—it remains a foundational medium for communication networks. In the past, if mobility wasn’t required (e.g., for network backbones), wired solutions were always used. However, today, wireless backbones are achieving similar speeds to CATx cables, making them a viable alternative.
Matching the performance of wired infrastructure with a cheaper, faster, and easier-to-deploy wireless backbone is no longer a distant goal—it is a reality.