Prototype for Device Monitoring Through Wireless LAN

Wireless local area networking (WLAN) protocols are quickly becoming a standard solution for connecting many different types of devices together. The current local wireless protocols are 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, Bluetooth, HomeRF, and Ultrawideband. These protocols, developed within the last seven years, are making it easier to develop a local area network since the need for wires has been removed - a device no longer has to be fixed to a single location by a wire. The device can be moved at any time, and new devices can be introduced to a network with ease. The supporting company has developed an infrastructure called the Device-Centricservices (DCS) that provides a set of device monitoring applications including automated meter reads, product break-notifications, and maintenance support. This infrastructure currently contains a wired network connecting the supporting company's devices into the backbone of their customer's network, where data is transmitted over the Internet into a company database. This current implementation is not compatible with all of the currentdevices and it requires that the data be transmitted along the customer's network backbone.