Wireless network interface controller: Difference between revisions

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[[File:DELL TrueMobile 350 Bluetooth card.jpg|thumb|A Bluetooth interface card]]

A '''wireless network interface controller''' ('''WNIC''') is a [[network interface controller]] which connects to a [[wireless network]], such as [[Wi-Fi]], [[Bluetooth]], or [[LTE (telecommunication)|LTE]] (4G) or [[5G]] rather than a wired network, such as an [[Ethernet]] network. It consists of a [[modem]], an automated [[radio transmitter]] and [[radio receiver|receiver]] which operate in the background, exchanging digital data in the form of [[data packet]]s with other wireless devices or [[wireless router]]s using [[radio wave]]s radiated by an [[antenna (radio)|antenna]], linking the devices together transparently in a [[computer network]]. A WNIC, just like [[other [[network interface controller]]s (NICs), works on the layers 1 and 2 of the [[OSI model]].

A wireless network interface controller may be implemented as an [[expansion card]] and connected using [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]] bus or [[PCIe]] bus, or connected via [[USB]], [[PC Card]], [[ExpressCard]], [[Mini PCIe]] or [[M.2]].

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The low cost and ubiquity of the [[Wi-Fi]] standard means that many newer mobile computers have a wireless network interface built into the [[motherboard]].

The term is usually applied to adapters using the [[Wi-Fi]] ([[IEEE 802.11]]) adaptersnetwork protocol; it may also apply to a NIC using protocols other than 802.11, such as one implementing [[Bluetooth]] connections.

== Modes of operation ==