Wireless Coverage; Mac Layer Bridging - Motorola AP-7131 Product Reference Manual

Access point
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AP-7131 Access Point Product Reference Guide
Management Access Options
AP-7131 MAC Address Assignment

1.2.1 Wireless Coverage

An access point establishes an average communication range with MUs called a Basic Service Set
(BSS) or cell. When in a particular cell, the MU associates and communicates with the access point
supporting the radio coverage area of that cell. Adding access points to a single LAN establishes
more cells to extend the range of the network. Configuring the same ESSID (Extended Service Set
Identifier) on all access points makes them part of the same Wireless LAN.
Access points with the same ESSID define a coverage area. A valid ESSID is an alphanumeric, case-
sensitive identifier up to 32 characters. An MU searches for an access point with a matching ESSID
and synchronizes (associates) to establish communications. This device association allows MUs
within the coverage area to move about or roam. As the MU roams from cell to cell, it associates with
a different access point. The roam occurs when the MU analyzes the reception quality at a location
and determines a different provides better signal strength and lower MU load distribution.
If the MU does not find an access point with a workable signal, it can perform a scan to find any AP.
As MUs switch APs, the AP updates its association statistics.
The user can configure the ESSID to correspond to up to 16 WLANs on each 802.11a/n or
802.11b/g/n radio. A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is a data-communications system that
flexibly extends the functionalities of a wired LAN. A WLAN does not require lining up devices for
line-of-sight transmission, and are thus, desirable. Within the WLAN, roaming users can be handed
off from one access point to another like a phone system. WLANs can therefore be configured around
the needs of specific groups of users, even when they are not in physical proximity.

1.2.2 MAC Layer Bridging

The access point provides MAC layer bridging between its interfaces. The access point monitors
traffic from its interfaces and, based on frame address, forwards the frames to the proper destination.
The access point tracks source and destination addresses to provide intelligent bridging as MUs roam
or network topologies change. The access point also handles broadcast and multicast messages and
responds to MU association requests.
The access point listens to all packets on its LAN and WAN interfaces and builds an address database
using MAC addresses. An address in the database includes the interface media that the device uses
to associate with the access point. The access point uses the database to forward packets from one

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