Radio Basics
15
AirConnect devices, like other Ethernet devices, have unique, hardware-encoded
Media Access Control
(MAC), or IEEE, addresses. MAC addresses determine the
device sending or receiving data. A MAC address is a 48-bit number written as six
hexadecimal bytes separated by colons. A typical MAC address might be:
00:A0:F8:24:9A:C8
The AP MAC address is printed on the bottom of the unit, as shown below.
Cellular Coverage
The AP establishes an average communication range with wireless clients called a
Home Service Area
(HSA),
or cell. When a wireless client is in a particular cell, the
wireless client associates and communicates with the AP in that cell. Each cell has
a
Home Service Area Identifier
(HSA_ID). Under the 802.11 standard, the MAC
address of an AP represents its HSA_ID. The wireless client recognizes the AP it
associates with using the HSA_ID. Adding APs to a LAN establishes more cells in
an environment, creating a wireless network using the same NET_ID. This type of
network is called a
Wireless LAN Service Area
(WSA), as shown below.
