Symbol Technologies WS 2000 - Manual (Page 11)

802.11a Support
Chapter 2. Features
802.11a Support
802.11 is a family of specifications for wireless local area networks (WLANs) developed by
a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The four
current specifications include: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. All four use the
Ethernet protocol and carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA)
for path sharing, which allows a number of network users to pass packets on the network
simultaneously.
The 802.11a specification applies to wireless systems, and is used in access hubs and other
network components. 802.11a operates at radio frequencies between 5 GHz and 6 GHz,
using a modulation scheme that provides for data speeds of 6, 9, 12, 18, 22, 24, 36, 48, and
54 Mbps.
The WS 2000 Wireless Switch fully supports the 802.11a specification for association with
Symbol’s suite of compatible Access Ports and mobile units (MUs).
Specifically, the WS 2000 Wireless Switch supports the following features:
• Management frames: Part of a network packet, management frames provide hardware-
and software-specific information shared between the WS 2000 Wireless Switch,
Access Ports, and MUs to keep the network operating smoothly.
• Beacon and DTIM: A uniframe (single-direction) system packet broadcast by the WS
2000 Wireless Switch to keep the network synchronized. A beacon Includes the Net_ID
(ESSID), the Access Port address, the broadcast destination addresses, a time stamp, a
DTIM (Delivery Traffic Indicator Maps) and the TIM (Traffic Indicator Message)
• Roaming Updates: Provides information to the Access Ports when an MU roams from
one Access Port to another
• Power Save Polling (PSP): Helps extend battery life by allowing the radio in an Access
Port or MU to idle when not active.
• Voice Prioritization: The WS 2000 Wireless Switch uses a combination of data
classifiers, classification groups, and network input and output policies to prioritize
voice data.
• Rate Scaling: This feature seeks to connect MUs to the WS 2000 Wireless Switch (via
Access Port) at the highest possible rate, automatically scaling to a lower rate when
network traffic demands. As signal clarity increases, speed builds to an optimal rate.
• TX power setting: Optimizes the output power for any environment.
802.11b Support
802.11 is a family of specifications for wireless local area networks (WLANs) developed by
a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The four
current specifications include: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. All four use the
Ethernet protocol and provide carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance
(CSMA/CA) for path sharing, which allows a number of network users to pass packets on
the network simultaneously.
Copyright © 2004 Symbol Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved 11
WS 2000 Wireless Switch: 1.0 Date of last Revision: March 2004