Antennas And Emerging Wireless Networking Protocols

Types of Antennas

In the world of electronics and communication and antenna signal propagation, there are several antennas in respect to the transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals. These antennas form the basic part of the electronic communication architecture (Lo & Lee, 2013). The common type of antennas that makes this list are the Yagi antenna, the Horn antenna or the Cellular antennas.

The Yagi antennas are the most primitive forms of the antenna. These antennas are composed of a dipole and a reflector. These antennas are mainly used in television signal propagation (Agnihotri, Prabhu & Mishra, 2013). The Yagi antennas have a relatively high gain as compared to other omnidirectional antennas, which make them ideal for receiving signals of low strength. One of the main disadvantages of this type of antenna is that these antennas provide a high gain for which the bandwidth gets limited.

Another form of antenna that makes the list of the antenna is the Horn antenna. Horn antennas were developed to carry forward the implications of the waveguide. It is an extension of the waveguide in which the transmission of the electromagnetic waveforms are transmitted to the free space through the help of a waveguide (Huanhuan et. al., 2014). The basic advantages of using the horn antenna are that these antennas are very simple and therefore very easy to construct. The horn antenna delivers an ample amount of directivity and high gain. Some of the disadvantages of using the horn antenna are that these antennas radiate high energy in the form of spherical wave-fronts for which it fails to provide sharp or directive beam. The gain in case of horn antennas is also limited.

Cellular antenna is another notable form of antenna, which makes the antenna list. These antennas are often termed as the Microstrip patch antennas as these antennas use a microstrip feed line for transmission and reception of signals (Lee, Luk & Lai, 2017). Some of the key features of the microstrip patch antennas include their lightweight robustness and are also supports multi-frequency bands. Some of the drawbacks include low gain and low power handling capability.

Evaluating the above sub sections it can be several observation can be drawn. It is observed that every antenna used in the propagation of electromagnetic waves has some advantages and limitations. Based upon the advantages and limitations of the antennas discussed in the above sections, the antenna that is likely to dominate the future electronic market is the Cellular antennas because they are light in weight and are robust for which they are selected for satellite communication.

With the advancement in the field of electronics and communication, the wireless networking protocols are the iconic assets of the wireless technology. Some of the emerging wireless networking protocols include Li-Fi or Light Fidelity, RFID or Radiofrequency Identification and 5^th Generation or 5G technology (Bi, Zeng & Zhang, 2016).

Li-Fi or Light Fidelity is a wireless technology that uses light to send and receive signals seamlessly and wirelessly to different regions of the world. The strengths of the Li-Fi include its efficiency, availability and security (Sharma & Sanganal, 2014). Li-Fi uses light as a medium of transmission for which the infrastructure of this technology requires a minimum investment. The light transmitted from any source can be used as a medium of transmission. As light sources are available in almost every part of the world, Li-Fi services are present everywhere. The security in case of Li-Fi is high as data breach is limited in the absence of light. The weaknesses of Li-Fi include the unavailability of light. The interference of other light signals is also a considerable disadvantage.

Yagi Antenna

RFID or Radiofrequency Identification is another emerging wireless protocol that is primarily designed to identify and track objects with the assistance of radio frequencies. RFID technology comprises of the transmission and reception of signals in the form of RFID tags. These tags are categorised into three categories including the active, passive and semi-passive tags. There are several advantages and limitations of using RFID based technologies. Some of the advantages include the small size of the RFID tags (Honkanen, Junell & Lappetelainen, 2013). Due to the small size, the tags can be easily inserted into the targeted objects for detailed information. The security in usage of these tags is very high. These tags cannot be easily cloned and are capable of storing a large amount of information within the tags for which the security is increased.

The 5^th Generation technology or 5G technology is the most recent and advanced mode of network connectivity that is soon expected to undertake the cellular world. This next generation network provides the users with high speed connectivity and faster reliable connections. The network is a blend of cutting edge technology and advanced research (Andrews et. al., 2014). The advantages of 5G networks include the efficiency of the network, its bidirectional bandwidth, massive machine communication and effective monitoring. The disadvantages of the network include security and issues where the data within the system can be easily breached by a third party which is involved in the transmission.

Analysing both of the research works and of findings of the topic of Software Defined wireless Network or SDN, critical analysis of the topic along with the critical evaluation of the topic has been performed. Stressing on the derivations from both of the research works the following conclusions can be drawn.

According to the first article as required in the third requisition section of the question, opportunities that the SDN or Software Defined Network can provide to the mobile networks and the wireless services are identified. A high level architecture of the regarding the advantages of Software Defined Network has been proposed in this peer reviewed journal (Bernardos et. al., 2014). This paper has clearly defined the key functions that should be backed by the SDN architecture and then declaration about the requirement of interfaces in various cases have been made. Some of the descriptions about the interactions through Software Defined networks have also been stated. In addition to that the article has also reviewed the presently processing standardization efforts that would be beneficial keeping in mind the requirement of the future. Overall, ample initiatives have been taken towards the successful evaluation of the SDN procedures and contrivances in the domain of wireless technology.

With respect to the first journal that has been critically evaluated in the above section of this report, the second article as mentioned in the task document has reviewed the numerous Software Defined Network based 4^th Generation solutions for resolving the various problems regarding the Long Term Evolution network plane and the controlling the plane complexities. The journal has not only classified the various SDN solutions in Long Term Evolution but also has briefed the problems and challenges of various solutions. In addition to that, different types of SDN parameters has also been discussed in the journal. The article states that to cope with the rise in new connections, high traffic requirements, a high requirement of data and low latency rates, it is essential to engage the 5^th generation networks (Rangisetti & Tamma, 2017). To design the infrastructure for 5G networks, the article has devised out a plan for meeting up the requirements including the SDN based solutions. The various challenges in the making of Evolved Packet Core or EPC have also  been discussed in this article.

From the observations made from the above two articles, it is evident that Software Defined Networks serves an integral part in the telecommunication industry.

References

Agnihotri, A., Prabhu, A., & Mishra, D. (2013). Improvement in Radiation Pattern Of Yagi-Uda Antenna. International Journal Of Engineering And Science, 2(12), 26-35.

Andrews, J. G., Buzzi, S., Choi, W., Hanly, S. V., Lozano, A., Soong, A. C., & Zhang, J. C. (2014). What will 5G be?. IEEE Journal on selected areas in communications, 32(6), 1065-1082.

Bernardos, C. J., Oliva, A. d. l., Serrano, P., Banchs, A., Contreras, L. M., Jin, H., & Zuniga, J. C. (2014). An architecture for software-defined wireless networking. IEEE Wireless Communications, 21(3), 52-61. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2014.6845049

Bi, S., Zeng, Y., & Zhang, R. (2016). Wireless powered communication networks: An overview. IEEE Wireless Communications, 23(2), 10-18.

Honkanen, M., Junell, J., & Lappetelainen, A. (2013). U.S. Patent No. 8,519,847. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Huanhuan, G. U., Houssam, K. A. N. J., DeVries, C., & Warden, J. (2014). U.S. Patent Application No. 13/871,054.

Lee, K. F., Luk, K. M., & Lai, H. W. (2017). Microstrip patch antennas. World Scientific.

Lo, Y. T., & Lee, S. W. (2013). Antenna Handbook: theory, applications, and design. Springer Science & Business Media.

Rangisetti, A. K., & Tamma, B. R. (2017). Software Defined Wireless Networks: A Survey of Issues and Solutions. Wireless Personal Communications, 97(4), 6019-6053. doi: 10.1007/s11277-017-4825-8

Sharma, R. R., & Sanganal, A. (2014). Li-Fi Technology: Transmission of data through light. International Journal of Computer Technology and Applications, 5(1), 150.