Norman Abramson, Pioneer Behind Wireless Networks, Dies At 88

Norman Abramson, one of the pioneers behind wireless networks, has died at 88. The cause was skin cancer that had metastasized to his lungs, his son, Mark, said. The New York Times reports: Professor Abramson's project at the University of Hawaii was originally designed to transmit data to schools on the far-flung Hawaiian islands by means of a radio channel. But the solution he and his group devised in the late 1960s and early '70s would prove widely applicable; some of their technology is still in use in today's smartphones, satellites and home WiFi networks. The technology they created allowed many digital devices to send and receive data over that shared radio channel. It was a simple approach that did not require complex scheduling of when each packet of data would be sent. If a data packet was not received, it was simply sent again. The approach was a departure from telecommunications practices at the time, but it worked.

The wireless network in Hawaii, which began operating in 1971, was called ALOHAnet, embracing the Hawaiian salutation for greeting or parting. It was a smaller, wireless version of the better known ARPAnet, the precursor to the internet, which allowed researchers at universities to share a network and send messages over landlines. The ARPAnet was led by the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency, which also funded the ALOHAnet. "The early wireless work in Hawaii is vastly underappreciated," said Marc Weber, an internet historian at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. "Every modern form of wireless data networking, from WiFi to your cellphone, goes back to the ALOHAnet."

So, what was that technology *called*? [Solved]

[BAReFO0t]

Why are you beating around the bush like you're telling this to a bouncer ballet makeup gardener audience?

To save everyone the research: It was the ability to use a shared medium without complex protocols, by sending "packet received" replies, and rebroadcasting at a random time when no reply was received. Basically what gave us collisions and hubs, but also vastly cheaper networking hardware. The name was "ALOAH random access".

Re:So, what was that technology *called*? [Solved]

[im_thatoneguy]

And Wifi 6 only now finally moves to OFDMA for synchronized multiplexing. He lived long enough to see his work retired at long last.

Re:

[Ungrounded Lightning]

It was the ability to use a shared medium without complex protocols, by sending "packet received" replies, and rebroadcasting at a random time when no reply was received. Basically what gave us collisions and hubs, but also vastly cheaper networking hardware.

Also concepts that were incorporated in TCP/IP and Ethernet.

Ethernet in the shared-channel forms does the random-wait retry if it HEARS another device stomp a packet.

In the stack of TCP/IP (whether on ethernet or not)
- The underlying IP protocol

Farewell unknown mentor...

[dj.delorie]

One of my graduate projects was analyzing a modification to ALOHAnet. Weeks of simulation and twenty pages of calculus just to approximate the answer, it was one of the toughest - and most rewarding - questions I've ever sought to answer. So while I never knew him, his work still sparked a memorable time in my life.

CSMA/CA

[flatulus]

In the early 90's I worked at Apple and served on the IEEE 802.11 committee. I recall us discussing ALOHAnet and traditional Ethernet with regard to carrier sense multiple access and its application to wireless. ALOHAnet was very close to what we were doing with 802.11 at the time. In parallel with my time on the 802.11 committee, I developed a wireless LAN prototype (not for a product, but for a study of wireless LAN prior to having an actual product). I basically reinvented Apple's LocalTalk (but for

Ethernet also has its roots in AlohaNet

[Residentcur]

Bob Metcalfe, primary inventor of the original cable-based Ethernet, was involved in Alohanet, and realized that many of the shortfalls of the wireless system would not persist on a single coaxial cable. The connector in the back of your computer still follows many of the rules developed for Xerox's 2d generation commercial version of Ethernet.