Hybrid (wireless infrared/coaxial) Ethernet local area networks

A hybrid (wireless infrared/coaxial) Ethernet LAN is proposed that is fully compliant with its standard coaxial parent. The overall design approach is driven by stringent requirements in terms of complexity and amount of extra hardware components required. Some techniques are proposed that minimize the effect of optical dynamic range in the throughput performance of the network. The new components required by the hybrid LAN are presented and their basic functions are defined. It is seen that these new components impose some restrictions on the span of the network. A tentative delay budget calculation shows that the new components can be assigned relatively high delays giving some margin for cost/performance tradeoffs