AirLive WN-300USB - Manual (Page 61)

WN-300USB v3 User’s Manual 54
3.3 Glossary
1. What is the IEEE 802.11g standard?
802.11g is the new IEEE standard for high-speed wireless LAN communications that provides
for up to 54 Mbps data rate in the 2.4 GHz band. 802.11g is quickly becoming the next
mainstream wireless LAN technology for the home, office and public networks.
802.11g defines the use of the same OFDM modulation technique specified in IEEE 802.11a
for the 5 GHz frequency band and applies it in the same 2.4 GHz frequency band as IEEE
802.11b. The 802.11g standard requires backward compatibility with 802.11b.
The standard specifically calls for:
A. A new physical layer for the 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) in the 2.4 GHz
frequency band, known as the extended rate PHY (ERP). The ERP adds OFDM as a
mandatory new coding scheme for 6, 12 and 24 Mbps (mandatory speeds), and 18, 36, 48
and 54 Mbps (optional speeds). The ERP includes the modulation schemes found in
802.11b including CCK for 11 and 5.5 Mbps and Barker code modulation for 2 and 1 Mbps.
B. A protection mechanism called RTS/CTS that governs how 802.11g devices and 802.11b
devices interoperate.
2. What is the IEEE 802.11b standard?
The IEEE 802.11b Wireless LAN standard subcommittee, which formulates the standard for
the industry. The objective is to enable wireless LAN hardware from different manufactures to
communicate.
3. What does IEEE 802.11 feature support?
The product supports the following IEEE 802.11 functions:
z CSMA/CA plus Acknowledge Protocol
z Multi-Channel Roaming
z Automatic Rate Selection
z
RTS/CTS Feature
z Fragmentation
z Power Management
4. What is Ad-hoc?
An Ad-hoc integrated wireless LAN is a group of computers, each has a Wireless LAN card,
Connected as an independent wireless LAN. Ad hoc wireless LAN is applicable at a
departmental scale for a branch or SOHO operation.
5. What is Infrastructure?
An integrated wireless and wireless and wired LAN is called an Infrastructure configuration.
Infrastructure is applicable to enterprise scale for wireless access to central database, or
wireless application for mobile workers.
6. What is BSS ID?
A specific Ad hoc LAN is called a Basic Service Set (BSS). Computers in a BSS must be