Hardware Components; Radio; Radio Antenna; Leds - Cisco AIR-PCM352 - Aironet 350 Series 11Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card Adapter Installation And Configuration Manual

Chapter 1 Product Overview

Hardware Components

The client adapter has three major hardware components: a radio, a radio antenna, and two LEDs.

Radio

The Cisco Aironet 350 series PC and LM cards are IEEE 802.11b-compliant client adapters. They
contain a direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) radio that operates in the 2.4-GHz Industrial
Scientific Medical (ISM) license-free band. The 350 series 100-mW radio transmits data over a
half-duplex radio channel operating at up to 11 Mbps. These cards operate with other IEEE
802.11b-compliant client devices in ad hoc (or peer-to-peer) mode or with Cisco Aironet 340, 350, 1100,
and 1200 Series Access Points (with a 2.4-GHz radio) and other IEEE 80211b-compliant infrastructure
devices in infrastructure mode. They are approved for indoor and outdoor use.
DSSS technology distributes a radio signal over a wide range of frequencies and then returns the signal
to the original frequency range at the receiver. The benefit of this technology is its ability to protect the
data transmission from interference. For example, if a particular frequency encounters noise or
interference or both, enough redundancy is built into the signal on other frequencies that the client
adapter usually will still be successful in its transmission.

Radio Antenna

The type of antenna used depends on your client adapter:
•
•
External antennas used in combination with a power setting resulting in a radiated power level above
Note
100 mW equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) are not allowed for use within the European
community and other countries that have adopted the European R&TTE directive or the CEPT
recommendation Rec 70.03 or both. For more details on legal combinations of power levels and
antennas in those countries, refer to the
page C-5

LEDs

The client adapter has two LEDs that glow or blink to indicate the status of the adapter or to convey error
messages. Refer to the
OL-1375-04
PC cards have an integrated, permanently attached diversity antenna. The benefit of the diversity
antenna system is improved coverage. The system works by allowing the card to switch and sample
between its two antenna ports in order to select the optimum port for receiving data packets. As a
result, the card has a better chance of maintaining the radio frequency (RF) connection in areas of
interference. The antenna is housed within the section of the card that hangs out of the PC card slot
when the card is installed.
LM cards are shipped without an antenna; however, an antenna can be connected through the card's
external connector.
and the "Channels, Power Levels, and Antenna Gains" section on page
Chapter 9
Cisco Aironet 350 Series Wireless LAN Client Adapters Installation and Configuration Guide for Windows CE
"Declaration of Conformity for RF Exposure" section on
for an interpretation of the LED codes.
Hardware Components
D-1.
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