CHAPTER FIVE - CONECTIVITY
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5. CONNECTIVITY
The PL3000’s capability of establishing communication over the different kinds
of radio links provides the foundation for data collecting and item identification
applications. Bluetooth is a default option on the PL3000. The original usage model
of the Bluetooth was to replace cables for connecting devices; however its profile-
centric approach to cable-replacement communication extends such as to LAN
access, and to LAN bridging. On the PL3000 the supported profiles are general
ones, that is, the profiles that typically all the Bluetooth devices support: GAP,
SDAP, and SSP, but there are also others. OBEX protocol with its API is included
in the system. In addition, Windows Embedded CE supports Audio/Video
streaming and the connectivity based on PAN profile, however a Bluetooth control
panel applet does not incorporate those features.
Nordic ID (NID) Wireless is a Wi-Fi option of carrying messages over wireless
link between the front-end and the back-end system. The NID Wireless is an
optional radio system on the PL3000. It incorporates both the WPA and the WPA2
authentication and encryption properties. According to the IEEE nomenclature, the
radio of the NID Wireless is an 802.11b/g. The authentication and key
management stack options of the NID Wireless impart the 802.1X power to
wireless LAN access, and it includes both the cipher suites specified by the
802.11i.
Second radio of the PL3000 being optional is for a GSM mobile network
access with its GPRS extension. This Nordic ID Mobile option is targeted at the
application environment where it is not reasonable to establish an infrastructure for
short range wireless connectivity, assuming that there is a cellular data network
available. The NID Mobile is also suitable for the cases in which the application
uses conventional text-based terminal protocols for user communication, meaning
that a terminal emulator program runs on the PL3000. (For more information on a
terminal emulation on the PL3000, please contact Nordic ID’s technical support.)
WIRELESS LAN
Two different WLAN subsystems (supplicants) are
built into the Windows CE image on your PL3000. Both
of them uses the same WLAN radio but the use of them
is mutually exclusive, meaning that among the first
steps you shall choose which one of the supplicants you are going to put to use.
There are a Windows CE built-in supplicant and a third-party supplicant to choose
from. To get a rough idea of what that means in practice you may read the
description of the ‘Wi-Fi’ applet (on page 42) in the section ‘Control Panel Applets’
that tells you the basic story in addition to the section ‘Choosing WLAN Supplicant’
on page 68. If the term ‘supplicant’ is unfamiliar to you, you may see the text box
below. The following text refers to the built-in supplicant as ‘WZC’ or as ‘Windows
Zero Configuration’, and to the third-party supplicant as ‘SDC Supplicant’.