Instead of using a cable to connect your laptop to a physical network or Internet access point, you can connect it with a wireless radio link – a radio frequency (RF) carrier.
A radio transmitter generates this carrier, which is just radio frequency electromagnetic energy that we radiate from one antenna and receive on another.
The only reason we generate it is to carry information, from your laptop to the network access point's receive antenna, and from the access point transmitter back to your laptop. The radio link works in both directions.
The laptop needs to have a wireless card installed. This has a radio transmitter, a radio receiver and a Modem. The wireless card transmits the RF carrier, and during transmission, it puts (modulates) the information onto the carrier.
The network/Internet access point also has a transmitter and a receiver. Some of the energy transmitted from the laptop’s wireless card antenna reaches the network access point receiver antenna.
So the network access point antenna receives a small amount of the transmitted energy (with the information modulated onto it) from the laptop wireless card transmitter. The Modem removes the original information from it (demodulates the carrier) and the computer
processes the information.
And it works the other way too, from the access point back to the laptop.
The laptop controls the flow of information to and from the wireless card’s Radio Modem. The Modem MODulates the RF carrier during transmission and DEModulates it during reception. This is where the name Modem came from.
You can get different types of cards; some communicate with Wireless Local Area Networks (eg. WiFi), when you’re within range (a few metres), or wider area cellular networks when you’re outside the range of an otherwise-accessible WiFi network. Some cards are fitted inside the laptop and others plug in externally.
Learn more about wireless Internet cards for laptops.
A radio transmitter generates this carrier, which is just radio frequency electromagnetic energy that we radiate from one antenna and receive on another.
The only reason we generate it is to carry information, from your laptop to the network access point's receive antenna, and from the access point transmitter back to your laptop. The radio link works in both directions.
The laptop needs to have a wireless card installed. This has a radio transmitter, a radio receiver and a Modem. The wireless card transmits the RF carrier, and during transmission, it puts (modulates) the information onto the carrier.
The network/Internet access point also has a transmitter and a receiver. Some of the energy transmitted from the laptop’s wireless card antenna reaches the network access point receiver antenna.
So the network access point antenna receives a small amount of the transmitted energy (with the information modulated onto it) from the laptop wireless card transmitter. The Modem removes the original information from it (demodulates the carrier) and the computer
processes the information.
And it works the other way too, from the access point back to the laptop.
The laptop controls the flow of information to and from the wireless card’s Radio Modem. The Modem MODulates the RF carrier during transmission and DEModulates it during reception. This is where the name Modem came from.
You can get different types of cards; some communicate with Wireless Local Area Networks (eg. WiFi), when you’re within range (a few metres), or wider area cellular networks when you’re outside the range of an otherwise-accessible WiFi network. Some cards are fitted inside the laptop and others plug in externally.
Learn more about wireless Internet cards for laptops.
