User's Manual

Glossary

AM broadcast radio frequency band is 0.55 -1.6 MHz, the FM broadcast radio frequency band is 88-108 MHz,

and microwave ovens typically operate at 2.45 GHz.

Range: The distance over which a given system can communicate.

RC4: An encryption algorithm designed at RSA Laboratories; specifically, a stream cipher of pseudo-random

bytes that is used in WEP encryption.

Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS): An authentication and accounting system that

verifies users' credentials and grants access to requested resources.

Roaming: Movement of a wireless node between two microcells. Roaming usually occurs in infrastructure

networks built around multiple access points.

Service Set Identifier (SSID): Used to identify clients on a wireless network.

Shared key: An encryption key known only to the receiver and sender of data.

Static IP Address: A permanent IP address that is assigned to a node in a TCP/IP network.

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP): A method (protocol) used with the IP (Internet Protocol) to send data

in the form of message units between network devices over a LAN or WAN. The IP carries the delivery of the

data (routing), and TCP keeps track of the individual units of data (called packets) that a message is divided

into for delivery over the network.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP): The basic communication language or set of

protocols for communications over a network (developed specifically for the Internet). TCP/IP defines a suite or

group of protocols and not only TCP and IP.

Transceiver: A commonly used term that describes a combination

transmitter and receiver. Both 802.11a and 802.11b devices would be

properly described as data transceivers.

UNII Bands: Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure. In contrast to the ISM bands, these are a group of

frequency bands set aside by the FCC for WLAN type communications only. Users must accept interference

from other legal WLAN users, but the other sources of interference problems are, or legally should be, missing.

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