Input Without Wires

Input without Wires

On any given day, you encounter wireless technologies being used for a wide range of communications. Television remote controls, baby monitors, remote garage door openers, and cellular telephones, for example all use wireless technologies to communicate with other devices. Wireless technologies also allow input devices, such as the keyboard and mouse, to communicate with a computer.

A cordless keyboard and cordless mouse communicate with a computer using one of two wireless technologies: infrared or radio frequency technology. Infrared technology uses light waves to transmit signals to other infrared- enabled devices. Infrared- enabled devices, such as a notebook computer or PDA, have a small, red plastic- covered IrDA (Infrared Data Association) port that transmits and receives signals. Infrared technology, however, only can transmit signals approximately three feet, and the two IrDA ports must be in direct line with each other to communicate. Given the clutter on most people’s desks and the constant movement of a mouse, infrared technology is not the ideal solution for wireless input devices (Patsch 4-15).

With radio frequency (RF) technology, devices transmit signals at least six feet, without a clear line of sight. Even piles of paper, books, and other desktop items will not degrade the communications among the wireless keyboard and the mouse and the computer. Given these

advantages, most users prefer a cordless keyboard and mouse that use radio frequency technology instead of infrared (Wireless Input).

Connecting a cordless keyboard and mouse using RF technology requires two key