A tutorial survey of topics in wireless networking: Part I

In this two part paper, we provide a survey of recent and emerging topics in wireless networking. We view the area of wireless networking as dealing with problems of resource allocation so that the various connections that utilise the network achieve their desired performance objectives. In the first part of the paper, we first survey the area by providing a taxonomy of wireless networks as they have been deployed. Then, we provide a quick tutorial on the main issues in the wireless ‘physical’ layer, which is concerned with transporting bits over the radio frequency spectrum. Then, we proceed to discuss some resource allocation formulations in CDMA (code division multiple access) cellular networks and OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) networks. In the second part of the paper, we first analyse random access wireless networks and pay special attention to 802·11 (Wi-Fi) networks. We then survey some topics in ad hoc multihop wireless networks, where we discuss arbitrary networks, as well as some theory of dense random networks. Finally, we provide an overview of the technical issues in the emerging area of wireless sensor networks.