User's Manual

PHILIPS 802.11a/b MiniPCI Card WLAN

DRAFT

7 GLOSSARY

2.4 GHz ISM Radio Band

The Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio bands were originally reserved

internationally for non-communications uses of RF electromagnetic fields for

industrial, scientific and medical purposes. In recent years they have also been used

for license-free error-tolerant communications applications such as wireless LANs

and Bluetooth

Access Point

The major network interconnection point that serve to tie all the wireless network

access cards with the wired local area network or other access point in the

infrastructure network

Channel

One of multiple transmission paths within a single link between network points.

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

MAC Address

The MAC (Media Access Control) address is the computer's unique hardware number

that identifies it on the IP network.

Passphrase

A passphrase is a string of characters longer than the usual password (which is

typically from four to 16 characters long) that is used in creating a digital

signature (an

encoded signature that proves to someone that it was really you who sent a message)

or in an encryption or a decryption of a message.

PCI card/Slot

A card/slot that complies with the spec of PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)

which is an interconnection system between a microprocessor and attached devices in

which expansion slots are spaced closely for high speed operation.

Peer-to-Peer

A communications model in which each party has the same capabilities and either party

can initiate a communication session. Peer-to-peer is one of the

802.11b operating modes, often called 'AdHoc' mode. It is ad-hoc because it has

no central base station; an ad-hoc network will exist so long as any members of

that network remain on the air. In AdHoc mode, the system must be configured as a

specific IP address, and all IP addresses of each station must be in the same network

domain. This means all connected computers should have the same net-id and

subnet-id .

RSSI

Received Signal Strength Indication.