What is Near-me Area Network (NAN)?

What is Near-me Area Network (NAN)?

NAN networks are built on existing physical network infrastructure. To put it simply, in a local area network (LAN), all connected devices are in the same network segment, but in the case of a NAN, connected devices may be in use. use different network infrastructures.

For example, consider two smartphone users who are geographically close together, but use network services from different mobile service providers. With the advancement of technology along with the addition of mobile internet and global positioning system (GPS), Near-me Area Network can play its role. It focuses on two-way communication between users.

Even when different smartphones use the Internet connection from different Internet service providers (ISPs) or mobile service providers, the NAN works well as a communication based network. on location. The Near-me Area Network (NAN) is like a wireless local area network (WLAN) but of devices from different network infrastructure.

Types of networks Near-me Area Network (NAN)

There are 2 types of NAN networks:

1. Closed NAN network

Formed between mobile devices using the same service provider network, the network works without the need for a global positioning system (GPS). But service providers will use location databases for this purpose, where they can provide location by monitoring signals from cell towers and cell phones.

2. Global NAN network

This network is made up of devices with a GPS system and an Internet connection. The position is tracked by the global positioning system and updated to a central server on the Internet.

The following figure illustrates the architecture of the NAN network:

What is Near-me Area Network (NAN)? Picture 1

NAN applications

1. Apple devices support Handshake application that allows sharing contact information with people close to each other without manually entering.

2. Eagle Fire is one of the NAN applications. Yahoo uses it to know a user's location and this tracking can be used by any app.

3. WhosHere is a NAN app that helps find like-minded people, providing a different way of communicating between like-minded people.

4. Loopt allows users to find your friends in any location. For example, you are in a new place and Loopt will help find out if any of your friends are in that place.

5. An example of another NAN system is WhozThat, which allows users to find information about people around them.

Challenges of NAN application

1. Must define exactly one place and one location in that location.
2. The availability of NAN-enabled mobile devices needs to be further expanded.

Advantages and disadvantages of NAN

Key advantages of NANs include the ability to quickly, easily communicate between neighborhoods, by providing two-way communication.

The main downsides of NANs include the availability of the NAN and the ubiquitous deployment of the global positioning system may not work perfectly.

Marvin Fry

Update 21 August 2020