Indoor wireless communications — An electromagnetic compatibility challenge

Societal reliance on a broadband communications infrastructure has grown massively over the last ten years. Di-alup technologies were the first to bring low-cost internet connectivity to the masses, and this has since evolved to provide broadband communications capability of varying degrees. Internet connectivity was once the purvey of hardwired `tethered´ devices (such as personal computers), but recent technological developments have led to a proliferation of wireless devices that have no comparable provision to connect over a wired medium. These devices - in particular the tablet and smartphone - must connect wirelessly, and so the provision of a reliable and high performance wireless telecommunications infrastructure is of paramount importance. The growth in application software for these devices require a range of communications capabilities, ranging from low bandwidth telemetry-type services through to high bandwidth communication applications such as video. Users demand reliable communications, and are not concerned with how the service is provided - only that it is! From a commercial perspective, wireless communication systems can be classified as either licensed which operate in dedicated spectrum (e.g. 3G and 4G systems) or unlicensed, which operate in special frequency bands (such as ISM) and are typified by IEEE802.11 and derivative systems.