Introduction:
Science gets transformed to technology, only when it reaches the hand of every common individual. So technology is just an effectively implemented form of science. India being a developing country has a wide range of people, right from multiple degree holders to illiterates. But regardless of whether the person is an illiterate or a degree holder, computer and internet really play a major role in his/her life. So computer literacy must be promoted among people, because right from the matter of booking a ticket in a railway station to making a bank transaction, everything has been computerised. So it’s highly mandatory that every person must have a basic knowledge about computers and must learn how to use the internet.
This paper emphasizes on the fact of providing wireless internet in the form of Wi-Fi to all the cities in the countries, as in the foreign countries. This scheme can be backed up by the government so that the public would get benefited and also the overall computer literacy rate of the country would go up there by making India a super power.
This paper also provides some information on the security features to be provided with the public Wi-Fi network, so that the public network is not misused. This paper has also a high scope for future research, thereby promoting research and development.
The Wi-Fi:
The term very quickly suggests ‘Wireless Fidelity’, which is rather an informal way of expanding. Actually it has got such meaning from the term Hi-Fi, used in audio recording. Literally the term Wi-Fi does not mean anything.
This image is the symbol of Wi-Fi. Any device which is compatible with Wi-Fi or in fact which could understand the signals in the frequency range of the Wi-Fi will have this symbol. This is actually based on the IEEE 802.11 standards and is certified. This certification warrants the inter-operability of these devices. Wi-Fi is supported by almost all the operating systems and certain laptops and desktops, which have Wi-Fi detectors in them. The WLAN (Wireless Lan) adapter can be either built in inside the system or can be connected externally through the USB ports. These wireless network catchers have become a common thing in the computer markets and are widely available. Even mobiles have the facility of accessing WLAN and they are no less than using the Wi-Fi network, when compared to computers. The image shows a key-chain model Wi-Fi detector, which can be attached into the USB port of any computer.
Wi-Fi allows local area networks (LANs) to be deployed without wires for client devices, typically reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion. Spaces where cables cannot be run, such as outdoor areas and historical buildings, can host wireless LANs.
Wireless network adapters are now built into most laptops. The price of chipsets for Wi-Fi continues to drop, making it an economical networking option included in even more devices. Wi-Fi has become widespread in corporate infrastructures.
Different competitive brands of access points and client network interfaces are inter-operable at a basic level of service. Products designated as "Wi-Fi Certified" by the Wi-Fi Alliance are backwards compatible. Wi-Fi is a global set of standards. Unlike mobile phones, a standard Wi-Fi device will work anywhere in the world, where as a GSM mobile phone usually operates under two frequencies usually 1800/900 Hz.
Wi-Fi is widely available in more than 220,000 public hotspots and tens of millions of homes and corporate and university campuses worldwide. In cities like San Francisco, Municipal Wi-Fi is being provided to all the people.
Establishment:
The process of providing Wireless Internet through the municipalities and corporations is a bit costlier job, but the outcome would be a better India. Government instead of hosting cable TV networks must put in some measures to establish such things which would definitely help someone and in the same way promoting the integrity of nation.
The first step is to enter into a contract with a private firm to host the wireless network. You may ask a question, like why not provide the people with wired broadband networks, which are much faster and congestion free than wireless networks. But there are several problems in bringing up a wired network, because when it comes to wired internet the first thing that would matter is the Telephone connection. It’s the time when everybody is shifting from land lines to mobiles, which are damn cheaper when compared to the former one. The next problem is that you can’t ask everybody to stick on to the same network provider providing the land line phones. The next major problem is the cost which the government must put in for wires and the way to install the wires, thereby causing damage to the roads, which would rather lead to much more confusions.
This image shows a municipal wireless antenna in San Francisco. In the same way it can also be implemented in India. First this can be experimented in the metropolitan cities of our country and later on, it can be taken to each and every nook and corner of our country. The normal lamp posts in the streets can be made use to host the Wi-Fi antennas.
Data transmission:
Wireless radio waves are used for the purpose of data transfer. Computer's Wireless Adapter translates the data into a radio signal and transmits it. A wireless router receives and decodes the signal. Router sends the information to the Internet using a physical, wired Ethernet connection. The process also works in reverse; router receives from Internet, translates into radio signal and sending it to computer’s Wireless Adapter. Radio waves are used for Wi-Fi, like cell phones transmit, receive and convert 1s and 0s into radio waves and vice versa. Wi-Fi also supports peer-peer (ad-hoc) networking.
The Wi-Fi also supports file sharing between individual users. Whenever one is connected to the network, he can share his files and folders with almost all the others connected to the same network, provided the Operating system used supports file sharing between two computers on a network. So people in a network can share their files personally by giving a secured access to their files.
Wi-Fi performance decreases roughly as distance increases at constant radiation levels. Due to rich requirements for wireless LAN applications, power consumption is fairly high compared to some other standards. Technologies such as Bluetooth, which are designed to support wireless PAN applications, provide a much shorter propagation range of less than 10m and so in general have lower power consumption. Other low-power technologies such as Zigbee have fairly long range, but much lower data rate. The high power consumption of Wi-Fi makes battery life a concern for mobile devices.
Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11 to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A typical Wi-Fi set-up includes one or more access points (APs) and one or more clients. An AP broadcasts its SSID (service set identifier, or "network name") via packets that are called beacons, which are usually broadcast every 100 ms. The beacons are transmitted at 1 Mbit/s, and are of relatively short duration and therefore do not have a significant effect on performance. Since 1 Mbit/s is the lowest rate of Wi-Fi it assures that the client that receives the beacon can communicate at least 1 Mbit/s. Based on the settings, the client may decide whether to connect to an AP. If two APs of the same SSID are in range of the client, the client firmware might use signal strength to decide with which of the two APs to make a connection.
The Wi-Fi standard leaves connection criteria and roaming totally open to the client. This is strength of Wi-Fi, but also means that one wireless adapter may perform substantially better than another. Since Wi-Fi transmits in the air, it has the same properties as a non-switched wired Ethernet network, and therefore collisions can occur. Unlike a wired Ethernet, and like most packet radios, Wi-Fi cannot detect collisions, and instead uses an acknowledgment packet for every data packet sent. If a sender receives no acknowledgement within a certain time, the sender retransmits the corresponding packet. Also, a medium reservation protocol can be used when excessive collisions are experienced or expected (request-to-send and clear-to-send used for collision avoidance or CA) in an attempt to avoid collisions.
A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wired networks (which use IEEE 802.3 or Ethernet). Wi-Fi networks operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz (802.11b/g/n) and 5 GHz (802.11a/n) radio bands, with an 11 Mbit/s (802.11b) or 54 Mbit/s (802.11a or g) data rate. They can provide real-world performance similar to that of the basic 10BASE-T wired Ethernet networks.
Security Features:
Whenever a new technology is being introduced to the people, not all will use it for the betterment and the development of themselves and the nation. So all security vulnerabilities must be fixed in a proper way. They should be in such a way that nobody misuses these facilities which are provided with an aim to build a stronger nation.
The common wireless networking standard WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) has proved to be easily breakable. By default, the Wi-Fi Access Points are set up in "open" (encryption-free) mode. Novice user’s benefit from a zero-configuration device that works out of the box, but this default is without any wireless security enabled, providing open wireless access to their LAN. To turn security on requires the user to configure the device, usually via software. Wi-Fi networks that are open (unencrypted) can be monitored and used to read and copy data (including personal information) transmitted over the network, unless another security method is used to secure the data, such as a VPN or a secure web page.
One primitively used security measure is by allowing only the computers with a pre registered Mac address of their WLAN card to connect to the network. But this has also become an easy hole to enter the network. Because if the hacker has an ability to change his Mac id, then he can easily spoof into the network. Also, some soft wares are available over the net to create a virtual desired mac id. The WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption system can be easily cracked by using softwares like airsnort or air crack.
The actual method which till date is more perfect is the WPA-2(Wireless Protected Access) encryption. By this method, the computers which provide a unique passphrase, which is secured by 32 bit encryption, can only join the network. This system has not been hacked much till date and is the only system used in new establishments.
Piggybacking is often unintentional. Most access points are configured without encryption by default, and operating systems configured to automatically connect to any available wireless network. A user who happens to start up a laptop in the vicinity of an access point may find the computer has joined the network without any visible indication. So unsecured Wi-Fi access points can lead to piggybacking.
The Action Plan:
The image shows a Wi-Fi antenna. As stated earlier, the government should enter into some MOU’s with the private companies. This system can be effectively used only if it is placed in a private-public sector. Wi-Fi antennas like the above has to be established in the centre of the towns. Then several access points are routers must be placed in each and every nook and corner of the town. The citizens can register their MAC address in the municipal or corporation with their ration cards as their id proof. Only one MAC id per ration card has to be registered.
It’s left to the government whether it’s going to be free or, on payment of a minimum amount. The soul reason for which this project should be implemented by the government is that, there are several people in our country who cannot burn their pockets for DSL internet connections. So for better beneficiary of the people, the government can produce the system in two means. The first one will be a pay and use system and the next one is the free system. Bandwidth allocations can be made accordingly. But the cost must be the cheapest internet ever; say like fifty rupees per month will suffice.
Proper security features like blocking unwanted sites must also be done, because this system can also be used in such a way that it becomes a threat to the society. But there are several measures to provide a proper secured access to the internet.
Advantages of social networking:
There are several good advantages of social networking. Only if people gel together and move closely, then the development of a democratic country like India is feasible. For example, Twitter a popular social networking site was the one which was the sole reason for bringing up a war in Iran for a good reason. But I am not here to say that a war must be started in India, but several good things can happen when people know each other. The new Wi-Fi network will serve all the people irrespective of cast colour and creed.
Technology for the future:
The next advancement in technology is the Wi-Max technology, also popularly called the next generation Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi system is specially designed for hosting Local Area Networks (LAN), where as the Wi-Max system is specially designed for Wide Area Networks (WAN). So an ultimate high speed wireless network is possible with this wireless technology. But the only disadvantage is the high cost of the networking components. It costs around 6 times the same amount to establish a Wi-Max connection when compared to that of Wi-Fi. So for further development of this idea, the establishment of Wi-Max can be considered when the cost of those peripherals comes down. Because India being a developing nation, cannot afford such things. But Wi-Fi is a bit affordable if the government of India acts accordingly.
Conclusion:
Thus a brief outline has been given in the blog in accordance to improve the computer literacy rate in my good nation. First things seem to vague. The same case happened when the project of taking electricity to the nook and corner of the country was proposed. But it’s a dream come true now. In the same way this must also come true one day. Because there are several people in my country, who cannot afford for an internet connection. This scheme must act as a light house for such people, so that they too develop themselves and contribute towards making my nation a better place to live in.
