User's Manual

Glossary

include cordless earphones and similar devices. It uses the 2.4 GHz ISM band, and “co-exists” with 802.11b.

Here the term, “co-exist” means that not all researchers agree on the amount of mutual interference generated

when both systems operate in the same location.

Broadcast SSID: Used to allow an access point to respond to clients on a wireless network by sending probes.

Data Rate (Information Rate): Not all bits carry user information. Each group (packet) of bits contains

headers, trailers, echo control, destination information, and other data required by the transmission protocol. It

is important to understand the difference between bit rate and data rate, since the overhead information may

consume more than 40% of the total transmission. This difference is common to many such data systems,

including Ethernet.

Device-to-Device Mode: A wireless network structure that allows wireless clients to communicate with each

other without using an access point.

Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency-Hop Spread Spectrum (FHSS): Two

incompatible technologies used in radio transmission.

Dynamic IP Address: An IP address that is automatically assigned to a client station in a TCP/IP network,

typically by a DHCP server. Network devices that serve multiple users, such as servers and printers, are

usually assigned static IP addresses.

Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP): An IETF standard that establishes an authentication protocol for

network access. Many authentication methods, including passwords, certificates, and smart cards, work within

this framework.

EAP-FAST: EAP-FAST, like EAP-TTLS and PEAP, uses tunneling to protect traffic. The main difference is that

EAP-FAST does not use certificates to authenticate.

EAP-TLS: A type of authentication method using the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) and a security

protocol called the Transport Layer Security (TLS). EAP-TLS uses certificates which use passwords. EAP-TLS

authentication supports dynamic WEP key management.

EAP-TTLS: A type of authentication method using the Extensible

Authentication Protocol (EAP) and Tunneled Transport Layer Security

(TTLS).

EAP-TTLS uses a combination of certificates and another method, such as passwords. It is more

secure than MD5 authentication, which uses passwords, and less secure than EAP-TLS authentication, which

exclusively uses certificates. EAP-TTLS authentication supports dynamic WEP key management.

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