EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | James Johnson
Organization : | N/A
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
Section Comments
Section : | 6.7
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Comment : | The distance both types of signals can travel and still be capable of being recovered by the receiver depends on the medium the signal travels through and the strength of the signal (amount of energy originally transmitted) and the sensitivity of the receiver. In general the signals become weaker the farther they go. It is clear that each type of signals is affected greatly by the environment that is traversed between the transmitter and the receiver. Optical signals would be confined to a room if there are no transparent walls (windows) or open doors, whereas RF signals would not. The main advantage of IrDA, is that communications can be established without having to deploy wiring or cables. This advantage also applies for RF technologies such as Bluetooth. For optimal operation, IrDA requires an unobstructed Line of Sight (LoS) path from the transmitter to the receiver. A ceiling mounted access point generally provides such a path, with the access point typically connected to a wire or cable based LAN. [Statements submitted to NIST Technical Guidelines Development Committee]