Appendix C: Glossary - PHICOMM FWN-650N User Manual

150Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter
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Appendix C: Glossary

WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network.
802.11: A family of specifications developed by the IEEE for WLAN technology.
802.11a: An extension to 802.11 WLAN standard that provides up to 54 Mbps transmission in
the 5 GHz UNI radio band.
802.11b: An extension to 802.11 WLAN standard that provides up to 11 Mbps transmission in
the 2.4 GHz ISM radio band. 802.11b uses DSSS modulation.
802.11g: An extension to 802.11 WLAN standard that provides up to 54 Mbps transmission in
the 2.4 GHz ISM radio band. 802.11b uses OFDM modulation and is backwards compatible with
802.11b.
802.11n: 802.11n builds upon previous 802.11 standards by adding MIMO (multiple-input
multiple-output). MIMO uses multiple transmitter and receiver antennas to allow for increased
data throughput via spatial multiplexing and increased range by exploiting the spatial diversity,
perhaps through coding schemes like Alamouti coding. The Enhanced Wireless Consortium
(EWC) was formed to help accelerate the IEEE 802.11n development process and promote a
technology specification for interoperability of next-generation wireless local area networking
(WLAN) products.
Ad-Hoc: A group of computers each with wireless adapters, connected as an independent
WLAN.
AES: Advanced Encryption Standard.
SSID: Service Set Identifier. A 32-character unique identifier attached to the header of packets
sent over a WLAN that acts as a password when a mobile device tries to connect to the BSS.
TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
TKIP: Temporal Key Integrity Protocol.
WEP: Wired Equivalent Privacy. A security protocol for WLANs defined in the IEEE 802.11
standard.
WPA: Wi-Fi Protected Access.
WPA2: Wi-Fi Protected Access 2. The next generation of Wi-Fi security, based on the 802.11i
standard.
WPA2-PSK: Wi-Fi Protected Access 2-Pre-shared Keys.
WPA-PSK: Wi-Fi Protected Access-Pre-shared Keys.
Appendix C: Glossary
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