It’s a Wi-Fi World - A Primer for the Fleet Manager
Understanding wireless network technology in the market today.

Wi-Fi is a generic term that refers to a system using radio frequencies to connect computers, phones and other enabled devices wirelessly. Homes, businesses and whole cities are increasingly embracing Wi-Fi for all the advantages it offers. For something you can`t see or touch, Wi-Fi is transforming global culture in some pretty dramatic ways.

Many of us started on the Internet at home or work with a piece of equipment that now seems like a relic, a good old-fashioned modem connected to a computer that dials up your Internet service provider. Modems soon became faster. Eventually, lightening-fast broadband access via DSL, cable or satellite technology became available, and only now do we realized how painfully slow previous data transmissions systems were. Further advances were on the horizon, however, and this is where Wi-Fi comes in.

Fast as it is, broadband access still requires a wall jack to plug in your computer in order to transmit data, but with Wi-Fi, data travels via radio waves. You still need to connect your wireless router to a modem with a cable, but you can move your computer or other Wi-Fi enabled device from place to place. Any user within range of an access point (typically 100-200 ft.) can connect to the Internet. Wi-Fi enabled devices include laptops, mobile phones, MP3 players, video games and other portable devices. Wi-Fi is supported by most newer computer operating systems, and if all you want to do is email, surf the web, download MP3s or connect with your printer, a home set-up can be quite inexpensive to implement. Home systems support the download of small files and do not have large bandwidths.

There are many advantages to Wi-Fi, and people are increasingly setting up this technology in their homes and businesses. Wi-Fi eliminates network cabling and wiring, reducing infrastructure costs and giving people additional mobility while facilitating access to information. Spaces where running cables are impractical or impossible, such as parks and heritage buildings, can implement Wi-Fi networks.

Wi-Fi Hotspots
Several years ago, wireless networks began moving beyond the home and a few progressive offices. If you have visited a hotel, airport, library, coffee shop, hospital or university recently, you were probably in midst of wireless Local Area Network (LAN) or "hotspot.” A hotspot is an area blanketed in wireless access.
Such networks can be available to anyone free of charge, or they can be closed, requiring a password and subscription. In the interests of attracting customers, facilities from malls to convention centers, vacation resorts, campgrounds and marinas have created Wi-Fi hotspots. Without the need for network cables,
professionals are no longer chained to their desks, and users can enjoy the freedom and mobility hotspots offer for work or pleasure. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, by 2007 there were 530,000 hotspots in the United States with the potential for growth up to 2,000,000.¹

Wi-Fi Across a City
An increasing number of cites are implementing municipal-wide Wi-Fi networks.² Statistics provided by MuniWireless.com indicates that by March 2007, 81 cities in the US had installed citywide or region-wide municipal Wi-Fi networks, and 164 more were building networks. Some municipalities have implemented Wi-Fi networks to attract business and close the technological divide between those who can afford Internet access and those who can`t, making digital information more accessible for everyone regardless of social-economic circumstances. Such cities offer Wi-Fi access for free or for a substantially lower price than other Internet providers.

Other cities have implemented Wi-Fi networks specifically for municipal use, improving employee productivity and efficiency, especially in the area of public safety. If one considers the range of services cities provides, and the number of departments involved, one can quickly recognize the benefits of a city-wide wireless network.

Network Architecture
Implementing a city-wide wireless network is easier and more cost-effective than implementing a traditional Ethernet system, which requires cabling between and through buildings, walls and ceilings. Wi-Fi makes much more sense. However, city Wi-Fi networks do have a different architecture than home, business or hotspot Wi-Fi networks. Such networks have a "hub and spoke” configuration, "where one radio hub sends
and receives data for several users (or spokes).”³ The wireless router is physically connected to the internet through a cable, and data from multiple users is transmitted through that cable (see Fig. 1).⁴

Although the "hub and spoke” system works well for a small area, for an entire city, it isn`t practical. Single routers can fail, and the cabling required to hook every router to the Internet may be prohibitively expensive and excessively time consuming to implement. For this reason, municipal Wi-Fi networks utilize a mesh system; however, mesh systems aren`t cheap either, costing cities anywhere from hundreds of thousand to millions of dollars.

David Ross, author of How Wireless Mesh Networks Work, defines a mesh as a series of radio transmitters in which each transmitter is able to communicate with at least two others, creating a cloud of radio signals through a city (see Fig. 2).⁵ Signals travel from router to router through this wireless network. When your computer detects the network and you sign on, the mesh determines the best path for your data to follow;
it plans the route that will make the fewest hops before reaching a wired connection, and your data travels over the Internet until it reaches its final destination.⁶ In a wireless mesh network, the network connection is spread out over hundreds, perhaps even thousands of transmitters.⁷ There are several types of mesh systems available. For more details, refer to Ross` article.

Wi-Fi in Transit or School Bus Yards
We have reviewed the development and impact of wireless network technology on homes, businesses and cities in North America, and its inherent benefits. We have also reviewed several types of wireless network architectures. But what impact does Wi-Fi have on mobile environments and the fleet manager who contends with them?

Wireless networks potentially offer fleet managers the exact same benefits enjoyed by professionals in any field – increased mobility, efficiency