are usually the cause of dead spots. See also coverage area.
802.11
A category of WLAN standards defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE).
802.11a
An IEEE standard for WLANs that operate at 5 GHz, with data rates up to 54 Mbps.
802.11b
An IEEE standard for WLANs that operate at 2.4 GHz, with data rates up to 11 Mbps.
802.11g
AnIEEEstandardforWLANsthatoperatesat2.4GHz,withdatarateof300Mbps.Thenew
standardalsoraisestheencryptionbartoWPA2.The40HToptioncanbeaddedtoincreasethe
datarate.
Encryption
Translates data into a secret code to achieve data security. To read an encrypted file, you must
have a secret key or password for decryption. Unencrypted data is referred to as plain text;
encrypted data is referred to as cipher text
ESSID
TheuniqueidentifierforanESS.AllAccessPointsandtheirassociatedwirelessstationsinthe
samegroupmusthavethesameESSID.
Footprint
Geographicalareaswhereanentityislicensedtobroadcastitssignal.
Gateway
Acomputersystemorotherdevicethatactsasa
translatorbetweentwosystemsthatuse
differentcommunicationprotocols,dataformattingstructures,languages,and/orarchitecture.
HT mode
Inthe802.11nsystem,twonewformats,calledHighThroughput(HT),aredefinedforthe
PhysicalLayer,MixedMode,andGreenField.Ifasystemruns40HT,twoadjacent20MHz
channelsareused.Thelarger40MHzbandwidthcanprovidebettertransmitqualityandspeed.
Keys
Likepasswords,keys
open(decrypt)andclose(encrypt)messages.Whilemanyencryption
algorithmsarecommonlyknownandpublic,thekeymustbekeptsecret.
Local‐AreaNetwork(LAN)
Asmalldatanetworkcoveringalimitedarea,suchasabuildingorgroupofbuildings.MostLANs
connectworkstationsorpersonalcomputers.LANslet
manyuserssharedevicessuchasprinters
aswellasdata.LANsalsofacilitatecommunicationthroughe‐mailorchatsessions.
MediaAccessControl(MAC)Address
Addressassociatedwitheveryhardwaredeviceonthenetwork.Every802.11wirelessdevicehas
itsownspecificMACaddress.Thisuniqueidentifierishard‐coded
intothedeviceandcanbe
usedtoprovidesecurityforWLANs.WhenanetworkusesaMACtable,onlythe802.11radios