The fusion of computers and communications has promised to herald the age of information super-highway over high speed communication networks where the ultimate goal is to enable a multitude of users at any place, access information from anywhere and at any time. This, in a nutshell, is the goal envisioned by the Personal Communication Services (PCS) and Xerox's ubiquitous computing. In view of the remarkable growth of the mobile communication users in the last few years, the radio frequency spectrum allocated by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to this service is still very limited and the usable bandwidth is by far much less than the expected demand, particularly in view of the emergence of the next generation wireless multimedia applications like video-on-demand, WWW browsing, traveler information systems etc. Proper management of available spectrum is necessary not only to accommodate these high bandwidth applications, but also to alleviate problems due to sudden explosion of traffic in so called hot cells. In this dissertation, we have developed simple load balancing techniques to cope with the problem of tele-traffic overloads in one or more hot cells in the system. The objective is to ease out the high channel demand in hot cells by borrowing channels from suitable cold cells and by proper assignment (or, re-assignment) of the channels among the users. We also investigate possible ways of improving system capacity by rescheduling bandwidth in case of wireless multimedia traffic. In our proposed scheme, traffic using multiple channels releases one or more channels to increase the carried traffic or throughput in the system. Two orthogonal QoS parameters, called carried traffic and bandwidth degradation, are identified and a cost function describing the total revenue earned by the system from a bandwidth degradation and call admission policy, is formulated. A channel sharing scheme is proposed for co-existing real-time and non-real-time traffic and analyzed using a Markov modulated Poisson process (MMPP) based queueing model. The location management problem in mobile computing deals with the problem of a combined management of location updates and paging in the network, both of which consume scarce network resources like bandwidth, CPU cycles etc. An easily implementable location update scheme is developed which considers per-user mobility pattern on top of the conventional location area based approach and computes an update strategy for each user by minimizing the average location management cost. The cost optimization problem is elegantly solved using a genetic algorithm.

With the rapid of growth of wireless connectivity more demand is placed on the need for innovative technologies capable of satisfying increasing user demand and network capacity. Adaptive antennas systems or most commonly known as Smart Antennas are expected to be implemented in the next generation of wireless systems. Their implementation avails in dynamic adaptation to spatial and temporal conditions affecting the quality of communication, while offering tremendous flexibility to wireless providers. However one of the major challenges facing Smart Antenna technology is the inherent complexity of the antenna structure, associated control algorithm and implemented RF components possibly contributing to the delay of commercial interest. This thesis will present various adaptive antenna configurations that utilize an embedded dielectric in order to achieve significant size reduction and mechanical rigidity while maintaining favorable electromagnetic performance. In order to constrict the lateral ground plane dimension, a cylindrical shaped hollow ground skirt was attached to the antenna structures effectively compromising between effective beam forming in the azimuth plane and physical size. The complexity of these antenna structures requires a more contemporary design approach which involved computer modeling using a commercial available Finite Element software package and optimization using a developed generic Genetic Algorithm based optimization program. A dielectric embedded 7-element monopole array antenna featuring switched parasitic elements is presented and optimized for maximum vertically polarized gain in the horizontal plane, producing an antenna structure with a radial length of less then 0.25λ and total height of 0.4&alamba which was shown to radiate a main lobe beamwidth of 80 degrees with an absolute gain of 4.8dBi at 2.45GHz. Further on a dielectric embedded 7-element monopole array antenna featuring parasitic elements terminated with finite set of terminating reactive loads is presented with a radial length of less then 0.25&alambda and total height of 0.4&alambda. The antenna structure and reactive load combination were optimized for maximum horizontal gain producing a principal main lobe with a measured gain of 5.1dBi and beamwidth of 110 degrees at 2.48GHz. Finally it was shown single and dual radiation lobes maybe produced when active monopoles elements are placed eccentric in a circular shaped dielectric material. A circular array of elements embedded in a dielectric material was realized with measured gains of single and dual beam radiation at 2.45GHz was shown to be 5.18dBi and 3.65Bi respectively with corresponding beamwidths of 78.5 degrees and 53 degrees.

Wireless communication systems are increasingly deployed by family, businesses, government and SOHO users because of the freedom wireless communications afford, simplicity of installation and ease of use. Along with its rapid development, the security problem in wireless communication network has attracted more and more attention. It has been estimated that the IEEE 80.211 standard is susceptible to attacks both on data content and user authentication, such as eavesdropping, spoofing and Denial of Service. These attacks are due to the standard's inherent flaws and space signal sharing caused by the omni-directional antenna it usually uses. In recent years, few studies have been undertaken which examine the use of the smart directional antenna to mitigate the security risks in mobile wireless computing networks. One of the major reasons is the antenna size, as portability is a key requirement. Due to the dielectric-material embedding and FDTD optimal design technology, a smart antenna with controllable directionality can now achieve an overall volume reduction of 80%. This has promise for application in the wireless security realm. This thesis provides a conventional background in wireless computing networks and security theory. In addition, security level definition, program in Matlab™ and corresponding experimental results are provided. To show the effectiveness of improving security in WLAN with the use of a smart directional antenna, this thesis proposes a model for predicting electromagnetic environments using a directional transmission antenna based on the Finite Element method. To validate the numerical results, a new experimental method (using Network Stumbler software) to measure the signal strength in different locations is introduced. Results from experiments using the two methods are consistent. The latter method gives the users the possibility of using a laptop (with an appropriate wireless card, software and roguing around) to detect the real-time signal strength in different locations instead of using expensive measure apparatus. Such an advantage can be valuable for the efficient implementation of indoor wireless networks for security purposes. Finally, it contributes a security solution using DE-ESMB and DE-ESPAR smart antennas in WLAN. Through these simulated and experimental results, one can conclude that the security performance in WLAN can be greatly improved by using smart directional antenna. There are five chapters in this thesis: Chapter 1 introduces the wireless communication network. Information about architecture, topology and popular wireless standards is presented in this chapter. Chapter 2 investigates the security problem in IEEE 802.11 Standards. Recent improvements in security, and their limitations, are also included. This problem is investigated by performing laboratory experiments, including a real attack on 802.11 Standards and packet capture experiments using AiroPeek NX software. Chapter 3 describes the useful parameters of smart directional antennas, and then presents the security level definition in WLAN. Simple software in Matlab™ to determine the security level according to the beamwidth of the adopted antenna is also introduced. Chapter 4 is the important part of this thesis. Simulation results of signal strength in different locations using FEMLAB™ are presented, which are consistent with the follow-up experimental results carried out in a typical office area. This chapter also describes the final security solution using the newly-designed DE-ESMB and DE-ESPAR directional antennas. Chapter 5 is a summary of the thesis. It presents the conclusions and suggests area of future research for improving the security level using smart antennas in WLAN.