The IEEE and telecommunications industry standards for wireless data communications cover both the Data Link and Physical layers. Four common data communications standards that apply to wireless media are:
Standard IEEE 802.11 - Commonly referred to as Wi-Fi, is a Wireless LAN (WLAN) technology that uses a contention or non-deterministic system with a Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) media access process.
Standard IEEE 802.15 - Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) standard, commonly known as "Bluetooth", uses a device pairing process to communicate over distances from 1 to 100 meters.
Standard IEEE 802.16 - Commonly known as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), uses a point-to-multipoint topology to provide wireless broadband access.
Global System for Mobile Communications
Standard IEEE 802.16 - Commonly known as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), uses a point-to-multipoint topology to provide wireless broadband access.
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) - Includes Physical layer specifications that enable the implementation of the Layer 2 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) protocol to provide data transfer over mobile cellular telephony networks.
Other wireless technologies such as satellite communications provide data network connectivity for locations without another means of connection. Protocols including GPRS enable data to be transferred between earth stations and satellite links.
