ALFA WiFi USB Adapter User Guide
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more bandwidth is consumed than in the case of narrowband transmission, but the trade off
produces a signal that is, in effect, louder and thus easier to detect, provided that the receiver
knows the parameters of the spread-spectrum signal being broadcast. If a receiver is not tuned to
the right frequency, a spread-spectrum signal looks like background noise. There are two main
alternatives, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency Hopping Spread
Spectrum (FHSS).
SSID -
A
S
ervice
S
et
Id
entification is a thirty-two character (maximum) alphanumeric key
identifying a wireless local area network. For the wireless devices in a network to communicate
with each other, all devices must be configured with the same SSID. This is typically the
configuration parameter for a wireless PC card. It corresponds to the ESSID in the wireless
Access Point and to the wireless network name.
WEP
(
W
ired
E
quivalent
P
rivacy)
-
A data privacy mechanism based on a 64-bit or 128-bit shared
key algorithm, as described in the IEEE 802.11 standard.
Wi-Fi -
A trade name for the 802.11b wireless networking standard, given by the Wireless
Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA, see http://www.wi-fi.net), an industry standards group
promoting interoperability among 802.11b devices.
WLAN
(
W
ireless
L
ocal
A
rea
N
etwork) - A group of computers and associated devices
communicate with each other wirelessly, which network serving users are limited in a local area.
WPA
(
W
i-Fi
P
rotected
A
ccess)
-
A wireless security protocol use TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity
Protocol) encryption, which can be used in conjunction with a RADIUS server.
