There are many terms that are incomprehensible to ordinary users, which is why it is worth understanding each of them. You may be interested in the question of what is WiFi Direct. This technology was announced a long time ago, it was intended to simplify the establishment of a connection between a pair of separate Wi-Fi devices. In a sense, this is Bluetooth based on Wi-Fi. It differs from the first in greater speed and distances, and from the second in ease of setup and security. And everything seems fine, but it's worth really looking into this.
A bit of history
To understand what WiFi Direct is, you need to look into the past. To organize wireless communication of consumer devices, Bluetooth was directly used, which is quite simple, has a short range, low cost and quite reasonable energy requirements. In our time, when smartphones have almost caught up with computers in terms of performance, we want something more. And here it is worth noting that there is Wi-Fi, which works faster, its rangemore, but there is an important nuance.
The original idea was that Wi-Fi can work in two modes: direct, when several devices organize a simple peer-to-peer network, and infrastructure, involving the use of an access point, which is a kind of traffic arbitrator. The second option developed and moved forward over time, and the first one just got stuck in the nineties: now it is not supported by all household devices, it is characterized by low speed, as well as insecurity. That is, it is dangerous, inconvenient and completely inapplicable, so modern Wi-Fi simply cannot do without an access point.
How are things now?
Home Wi-Fi manufacturers are so eager to simplify the lives of modern users that at the moment there are almost no settings for home access points, and many of them work directly out of the box on defaults. Many users simply do not know how to enable WiFi. It is this factor that has allowed the emergence of a huge number of free Wi-Fi from the best Internet providers. This was the reason for such a strong popularization of Wi-Fi, but at the same time it gave rise to many myths about the insecurity of such connections. All of the above has led vendors to change their priorities in favor of a simple and secure wireless network. This is where the question arises of what WiFi Direct is.
Features
This connection method has numerousvirtues:
- a secure direct connection between devices, similar to Bluetooth, that is, you just need to select the appropriate item from the list, without thinking about PSK and SSID;
- the speed of such networks is much faster than traditional Bluetooth;
- significantly greater distance between devices is allowed;
- High reliability and security guaranteed by WPA2 always on and cannot be disabled.
Implementation
So, what is WiFi Direct, it becomes clear, it remains to deal with issues related to the intricacies of providing such access. The adoption of a new amendment to the 802.11 standard will take several years. The decision was made to contrive within the specifications and standards currently available.
In every Wi-Fi device, there is actually a software access point that can announce itself, as well as the capabilities of the device, and supports WPS. Depending on what type of gadget you have in front of you, some additional functions may be implemented, for example, routing or traffic switching.
Due to the implementation of SoftAP, it is possible to connect ordinary gadgets that can work with WPA2 to a device that has WiFi Direct support. A device with an advanced module is able to be connected to Wi-Di and Wi-Fi at the same time, which ensures tethering.
What does it do?
The result of all these developments is the ability for the user to connect directly toprinter and print photos from your camera, or you can simply send them to a digital photo frame. The guest will be able to stream video directly to your TV, without the need to waste time connecting a local network and so on. This will all happen quickly and easily. There are already Samsung WiFi Direct chipsets, as well as products from other manufacturers.
Specifications
So, if we talk about what WiFi Direct is, then at the hardware level it does not differ much from a regular Wi-Fi module. It turns out that the technical characteristics of the new solution practically coincide with modern wireless networks. New gadgets will be compatible with existing Wi-Fi devices. Most of the new chips are expected to operate at 2.4 GHz, so they should interoperate with early versions of the 802.11 standard without any problems, and in some cases, compatibility with 802.11n is expected. The modules will operate at five megahertz, allowing them to connect to newer networks. From the information provided, it can be understood that most of the chips are capable of supporting both frequencies.
WiFi Direct isn't always a one-on-one connection
The fact that a given standard is designed to connect two devices together does not always mean that the possibilities will be limited only to this. You can create a connection between entire groups of devices, for example, working on WiFi Direct Windows 7. Such configurations are supposed to be used for multiplayergames. In this case, players will not need access to the Internet or any mobile or other coverage. Even in desert conditions, they can form a small wireless network if the devices are placed within range of each other. Not all network participants must support this standard. Only one WiFi Direct chip is able to take on the task of coordinating traffic passing between devices with Wi-Fi modules.
It is worth noting that sometimes creating groups is impossible, because some gadgets were originally created only for one-on-one connection. This does not contradict the specifications of the standard, since the ability to connect to multiple users is an option. For each specific device, there is a description that says about this parameter.
