The SWAP specification for wireless voice and data networking within the home will enable a new class of mobile consumer devices that draw from the power and content of the Internet and the Home PC. If cable modems and xDSL represent the "last mile" access to the home, then HomeRF TM 's mission with SWAP could be called the "very last 150 feet" within and around the home. HomeRF TM has the broad backing of the major corporate stakeholders for networking within the home and is optimized specifically for the cost/performance point needed for consumers. The technology leverages the existing PC-industry infrastructure around the Internet, TCP/IP and Ethernet and adds a standard way to connect to the PSTN for voice telephony.

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A brief history of the development of WLAN standards and products is presented in the context of explaining how unlicensed spectrum regulations by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have affected the industry. In general, the FCC's initiative to create an "unlicensed commons" for various forms of wireless communication applications has been the key enabler of today's multi-billion dollar per year WLAN industry. In particular, certain regulatory decisions over the past 25 years regarding these bands have had profound, generally beneficial but sometimes unexpected influence on the WLAN industry. This paper will attempt to document these inflection points and their impacts on WLANs as well as provide some insight as to how future evolutions of the unlicensed spectrum regulations can best enable optimal usage of this valuable spectrum.

The thermal constriction resistance of a circular contact spot on a coated half-space is developed for both heat flux and temperature-specified boundary conditions on the contact. Solutions are obtained with the Hankel transform method for flux-specified contacts and with a novel technique of linear superposition for the mixed boundary value problem created by an isothermal contact. A comparison of the results obtained shows that the thermal constriction resistance, which is based on average contact temperature, is insensitive to the contact boundary condition for most practical purposes.