User guide

AirMagnet Laptop Analyzer User Guide
Appendix B: Glossary 151
Band
Refers to the radio band which is a section of the spectrum of the 802.11 radio communication
frequencies in which 802.11 radio channels are allocated. AirMagnet Spectrum XT provides
four basic band segments (i.e., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz Lower, 5 GHz Middle, and 5 GHz Upper)
whose ranges are based upon a wireless network adapter’s capability and determined by the
regional settings burned into the adapter’s EEPROM.
Bandwidth
In computer networking, the term refers to the data rate supported by a network connection
or interface. It is the overall capacity of a connection. The greater the capacity, the greater the
performance, though the overall network performance may also be affected by factors such as
latency, usage, etc.
Broadcast
The process of sending the same data to all stations on the network. See multicast and unicast.
Channel
A radio frequency or band of frequencies assigned to a specific country or region of the world
by an international agreement. For instance, 802.11b is made up of 13 unlicensed channels
(i.e., Channels 1-13) in the 2.4 GHz band (i.e., from 2402 MHz to 2482 MHz in 5 MHz steps).
Channel Duty Cycle Graph
A graph that displays the current percentage of time that the average power in the channel is
greater than -20 dBm above the noise floor.
Channel Occupancy
The state of occupancy of all available channels. It provides a simple and straightforward way
for the user to know which channels are in use and which channels they should choose if they
want to select a channel for better signal quality.
Channel Power Graph
A graph that displays the maximum and/or average power level on a channel. AirMagnet
Spectrum XT shows two types of channel power: Envelop vs. Integrated. The former refers to
the maximum or peak energy level at a particular frequency. In this case, the height of the bar
chart represents the highest power level that has been reached at a particular frequency within
a channel; the latter refers to the total summation of power that has been observed over the
entire frequency range.
Color Scale
A setting in the Spectrum Density and Spectrogram graph that uses blue and red as two
border colors and fills a smooth gradient in between. It helps the user to visualize the changes
in power levels across the spectrum, with blue denoting the Minimum and red the Maximum.
See Spectrum Density and/or Spectrogram graph.
Color Scale Mode
A setting in the Spectrum Density graph which allows the user to choose the way the Color
Scale is configured. Choose Auto to let the application configure the Minimum Percentage
and Maximum Percentage; select Manual to set these two values manually.