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Reference Terminology
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 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 manufacturers to
communicate.
3. What does IEEE 802.11 feature support?
The product supports the following IEEE 802.11 functions:
CSMA/CA plus Acknowledge Protocol
Multi-Channel Roaming
Automatic Rate Selection
RTS/CTS Feature
Fragmentation
Power Management
4. What is infrastructure?
An integrated 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.
5. What is BSSID?
A specific ad hoc LAN is called a Basic Service Set (BSS). Computers in a BSS must be
configured with the same BSSID.
6. What is WEP?
WEP is Wired Equivalent Privacy, a data privacy mechanism based on a 40-bit shared key
algorithm as described in the IEEE 802.11 standard.
