The growth of Wireless LAN's

Until recently, wireless local-area network (LAN) products were used primarily in certain vertical markets—such as retail, education, and health care—where mobile users with a need for LAN access were satisfied with data-transfer rates of 2 megabits per second (Mbps) or less. Even though nearly all wireless LANs were extensions of wired LANs, the proprietary nature and slow speeds of wireless LANs forced organization to manage wireless LANs as sole entities. To make wireless LANs more “mainstream,” customers pressed vendors to build up a high-speed wireless LAN standard that would encourage interoperability, reduce prices, and offer the and width needed by today’s business applications. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ratify an addition to a previous standard. Called IEEE 802.11b, it defines the standard for wireless LAN products that run at an Ethernet-like data rate of 11 Mbps, a speed that makes wireless LAN technology viable in enterprises and other large organizations in the 1999. Interoperability of wireless LAN products from dissimilar vendors is ensured by an self-determining group called the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), which brands compliant products as “Wi-Fi.” Dozens or many of vendors market Wi-Fi products, and organizations of every size and type are considering, if not deploying, wireless LANs. Demand for wireless entrance to LANs is fueled by the development of mobile computing devices, such as laptops and personal digital assistants, and a desire by users for continual connections to the network not including having to “plug in.” There will be over a billion mobile devices by 2003, and the wireless LAN market is projected to grow to over US$2 billion by 2002.

Read More

Introduction to Nanobots

Robert A. Freitas Jr. visualizes a future "vasculoid" (vascular-like machine) that would replace human blood with some 500 trillion nanorobots distributed throughout the body’s vasculature as a coating. It could eradicate heart disease, stroke, and other vascular problems; remove parasites, bacteria, viruses, and metastasizing cancer cells to limit the spread of bloodborne disease; move lymphocytes faster to improve immune response; reduce susceptibility to chemical, biochemical, and parasitic poisons; improve physical endurance and stamina; and partially protect from various accidents and other physical harm. With the availablitity of mature molecular nanotechnology we could replace blood with a single complex robot. This robot would copy all necessary thermal and biochemical transport functions of the blood, including circulation of respiratory gases, glucose, hormones, cytokines, waste products, and all essential cellular components. The device would be traditional to ! the shape of existing blood vessels. Ideally, it would substitute natural blood so thoroughly that the rest of the body would remain, essentially unaffected. It is, in effect, a mechanically engineered redesign of the human circulatory system that attempts to put together itself as an intimate personal appliance with minimal adaptation on the part of the host human body. Molecular nanotechnology has been defined as the three-dimensional positional organize of molecular structure to create materials and devices to molecular precision. The human body is comprise of molecules, hence the ease of use of molecular nanotechnology will authorize dramatic progress in human medical services. Nanomedicine will employ molecular machine system to address medical problems, and will use molecular knowledge to maintain and look up human health at the molecular scale. Nanobots will have amazing and far-reaching insinuation for the medical profession, for the definition of disease, for the diag! n osis and treatment of medical conditions including aging, and eventually for the improvement and extension of natural human biological structure and function. "Nanomedicine is the protection and development of human health with molecular tools and molecular knowledge of the human body."

Read More