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Infrastructure Network -
An infrastructure network is a group of computers or other
devices, each with a Wireless N USB Adapter, connected as an 802.11 wireless LAN.
In infrastructure mode, the wireless devices communicate with each other and to a
wired network by first going through an access point. An infrastructure wireless
network connected to a wired network is referred to as a Basic Service Set (BSS). A
set of two or more BSS in a single network is referred to as an Extended Service Set
(ESS). Infrastructure mode is useful at a corporation scale, or when it is necessary to
connect the wired and wireless networks.
Spread Spectrum -
Spread Spectrum technology is a wideband radio frequency
technique developed by the military for use in reliable, secure, mission-critical
communications systems. It is designed to trade off bandwidth efficiency for reliability,
integrity, and security. In other words, 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.
See also
Wireless Network Name and ESSID.
WEP
(
W
ired
E
quivalent
P
rivacy)
-
A data privacy mechanism based on a 64-bit or
128-bit or 152-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.
