Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)

A WPAN focuses on personal operating space (POS) around a person or object that typically extends a 10-meter radius. IEEE classifies 3 classes of WPANs based on data rate, battery drain, and QoS.

1. High-rate WPAN is defined in the IEEE 802.15.3 standard. It is suitable for multimedia apps that require high QoS.
2. Medium-rate WPAN is defined in the IEEE 802.15.1 (Bluetooth) standard. It handles tasks such as cell phones and PDAs communications. It supports QoS apps.
3. Low-rate WPAN (LR-WPAN) is defined in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. It is targeted for apps with lower power consumption and cost requirements not considered in other WPAN classes. It supports low data rate, usually in the order of a few kilobits.