Wireless - History

Wireless- History:

Wireless communication technologies have existed and been utilised for over a hundred years. Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian founder of wireless technologies, developed an interest in technology and communications as a child. He had read about and understood the work of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz and began to see the significance that wireless communication would have for the modern world. In 1894 Marconi began experimentations, and in 1899 sent a telegraphic message across the English Channel, without needing to use wires. This achievement “signalled a major advance and presented evidence that here [was]… a system of real practical value.� [Jensen, p. 34] Only three years later, Marconi’s wireless devices were able to send and receive a telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean. [Jensen, p. 43] The wireless technology that Marconi developed was a cross between traditional wired telegraphy and Hertzian waves, named after Heinrich Hertz who discovered them. Hertz’s sudden and premature death in 1894 signalled the start of Marconi’s intense trialing of wireless technologies. [Jensen, p. 10] In the years before Marconi, numerous people had experimented with wireless communication, many of them utilising antennas that were as long as, if not longer than, the distance across which they wanted a to send signal. [Brodsky, p. 3]

In the early years of Marconi’s wireless telegraphy, the main uses for it were for military purposes. The first war that Marconi’s wireless communications systems were used was the Boer War in 1899, and in 1912, a wireless device set sail with the Titanic. It was the best system in the world, and without it, the tragedy of the Titanic could have been worse, because it was the device that alerted other ships in the area of the sinking Titanic. [Jensen, p. 71] By the 1920s, wireless telegraphy had become a mass medium, [Flichy, p. 111] and its popularity soared with the public’s discovery that it could send personal messages across continents. With the introduction of broadcast radio, wireless technology became “commercially viable.� [Morrow, p. 2]

In the last thirty years wireless communication technologies have seen a revolution, as people rediscover the uses for it, and its advantages. In the 1980s, wireless technologies were analogue signals (1G), in the 1990s they changed to digital (2G), in the noughties they remained digital but became better quality and faster, and now the future is heading rapidly for 4G communications. [Lightman and Rojas, p. 3] In 1994, the Ericsson telecommunications company began devising and developing a technology that would connect portable devices whilst replacing cables. [Morrow, p. 10] They named this device ‘Bluetooth’ after King Harald I of Norway, who joined Denmark and Norway. Under the aims of the Ericsson company for Bluetooth, this “parallel[ed] the objective of Bluetooth technology, which aims to unite the computer and telecommunication industry.� [Ganguli, p. 5] After its initial development, Ericsson realised that the product had huge potential worldwide, and from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which now includes over 1000 companies from around the world. [Morrow, p. 10] The ‘on demand’ nature of today’s society has seen technologies like Bluetooth becoming an extremely popular alternative to wired communications and cables. [Bray and Sturman, p. 436]

Bibliography:

• Jensen, P. 1994. In Marconi’s Footsteps 1894 to 1920 Early Radio, New South Wales: Kangaroo Press Pty Ltd. ISBN 0864176074
• Brodsky, I. 1995. Wireless: The Revolution in Personal Telecommunications, Massachusetts: Artech House. ISBN 0890067171
• Flichy, P. 1995. Dynamics of Modern Communication, London: Sage Publications. ISBN 0803978502
• Bray, J and Sturman, C. 2001. Bluetooth Connect without Cables, New Jersey: Prentice- Hall, Inc. ISBN 0130898406
• Ganguli, M. 2002. Getting Started with Bluetooth, Ohio: Premier Press. ISBN 1931841837
• Lightman, A. and Rojas, W. 2002. Brave New Unwired World, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0471441104
• Morrow, R. 2002. Bluetooth Operation and Use, New York: The McGraw- Hill Companies. ISBN 007138779X

Bluetooth- Security

Erin Watson 19:09, 27 Oct 2004 (EST)