savagedavid
15-11-2005, 22:59
In no particular order:
802.11 a/b/g - the ISO standards for wireless networking. 802 refers to networking .11 refers to wireless. a/b/g refers to speed and frequency: a = 5.8GHz 54/108 mbps; b = 2.4 GHz 11 mbps; g = 2.4 GHz 54 mbps
AP - access point - a wireless node that clients can connect to
CPE - Client Premises Equipment - Anything that is installed at the client side to connect to the AP. Generally a combination of a client bridge, enclosure and antenna (often built into a single unit)
DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - A way for computers to automatic seek out IP address settings from a DHCP server. This ensures that each computer on the network gets a unique, non-confliction address and automatically has the correct settings to connect to the network.
dB / dBm / dBi / dBd - Decibel measurement - generally used to define the gain of an antenna, the power output of a transmitter and the sensitivity of a receiver. Note that an antenna can not amplify a signal - it merely "focuses" the radio waves into a tighter beam. So higher gain = greater distance but narrower coverage.
DSSS / OFDM - Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum / Orthagonal Frequency Division Multiplexing - 2 different ways to modulate or "encode" the wireless signal for transmission
ISM - Wireless networking uses radio frequencies originally set aside for unlicensed "Industrial Scientific and Medical" (ISM) use. There are three of these bands, at 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz, and 5725-5850 MHz. Unlike all other parts of the radio spectrum, you do not need a license to operate a transmitter in the ISM bands (however in South Africa it is illegal to carry data signals across a public space). But you must be prepared to accept interference from other users of the bands.
LOS - Line Of Sight - to "see" the site you are connecting to. In order to have a good radio connection the space between you and your target AP needs to be free of major obstructions. Less obstruction = better signal strength.
POE - Power Over Ethernet - Refers to using the 4 spare wires in an ethernet cable to provide power to your unit.
PTP / PTMP - Point to Point / Point to MultiPoint - Different ways of connecting wireless neworks together. PTP is done using 2 wireless bridges and is used to transparently connect 2 networks. PTMP is when one or many bridges connect to an access point.
RF - Radio Frequency
SNR - Signal to Noise Ratio - The strength of your signal relative to the radio noise around it. The higher the SNR the better your signal quality will be.
SSID - Service Set IDentifier - the "name" of your wireless network, or how it is identified
TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol - the "language" of the internet. A high reliability protoocol developed for transmitting data accross unreliable networks.
VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol - a way to transmit voice (telephony) over a computer network. Services like Skype are based around VoIP system.
WDS - Wireless Distribution System, Allows you to connect two access points to each other and still act as an access point accepting client connections. Both AP's must be on the same channel and have the same wep/wpa keys setup but can have different ssid's.
WEP/WPA - Wireless Equivalency Privacy / Wifi Protected Access - 2 different forms of securing your wireless network. WPA is the newer more secure version
WLAN - Wireless Local Area Network - a bit of a misnomer now because many many WLAN's stretch over 10's of kilometres, but strictly speaking refers to carrying ethernet (or other networking layer 2 protocols) signals over the air.
WRAP board - Wireless Routing Application Platform - used by the more professional wireless guys, it is a circuit board that can take a number of mini-PCI or PCMCIA cards. It also has a CPOU, RAM and a compact flash slot onto which a linux based OS (usually Mikrotik or starOS is installed). see http://www.pcengines.ch
802.11 a/b/g - the ISO standards for wireless networking. 802 refers to networking .11 refers to wireless. a/b/g refers to speed and frequency: a = 5.8GHz 54/108 mbps; b = 2.4 GHz 11 mbps; g = 2.4 GHz 54 mbps
AP - access point - a wireless node that clients can connect to
CPE - Client Premises Equipment - Anything that is installed at the client side to connect to the AP. Generally a combination of a client bridge, enclosure and antenna (often built into a single unit)
DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - A way for computers to automatic seek out IP address settings from a DHCP server. This ensures that each computer on the network gets a unique, non-confliction address and automatically has the correct settings to connect to the network.
dB / dBm / dBi / dBd - Decibel measurement - generally used to define the gain of an antenna, the power output of a transmitter and the sensitivity of a receiver. Note that an antenna can not amplify a signal - it merely "focuses" the radio waves into a tighter beam. So higher gain = greater distance but narrower coverage.
DSSS / OFDM - Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum / Orthagonal Frequency Division Multiplexing - 2 different ways to modulate or "encode" the wireless signal for transmission
ISM - Wireless networking uses radio frequencies originally set aside for unlicensed "Industrial Scientific and Medical" (ISM) use. There are three of these bands, at 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz, and 5725-5850 MHz. Unlike all other parts of the radio spectrum, you do not need a license to operate a transmitter in the ISM bands (however in South Africa it is illegal to carry data signals across a public space). But you must be prepared to accept interference from other users of the bands.
LOS - Line Of Sight - to "see" the site you are connecting to. In order to have a good radio connection the space between you and your target AP needs to be free of major obstructions. Less obstruction = better signal strength.
POE - Power Over Ethernet - Refers to using the 4 spare wires in an ethernet cable to provide power to your unit.
PTP / PTMP - Point to Point / Point to MultiPoint - Different ways of connecting wireless neworks together. PTP is done using 2 wireless bridges and is used to transparently connect 2 networks. PTMP is when one or many bridges connect to an access point.
RF - Radio Frequency
SNR - Signal to Noise Ratio - The strength of your signal relative to the radio noise around it. The higher the SNR the better your signal quality will be.
SSID - Service Set IDentifier - the "name" of your wireless network, or how it is identified
TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol - the "language" of the internet. A high reliability protoocol developed for transmitting data accross unreliable networks.
VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol - a way to transmit voice (telephony) over a computer network. Services like Skype are based around VoIP system.
WDS - Wireless Distribution System, Allows you to connect two access points to each other and still act as an access point accepting client connections. Both AP's must be on the same channel and have the same wep/wpa keys setup but can have different ssid's.
WEP/WPA - Wireless Equivalency Privacy / Wifi Protected Access - 2 different forms of securing your wireless network. WPA is the newer more secure version
WLAN - Wireless Local Area Network - a bit of a misnomer now because many many WLAN's stretch over 10's of kilometres, but strictly speaking refers to carrying ethernet (or other networking layer 2 protocols) signals over the air.
WRAP board - Wireless Routing Application Platform - used by the more professional wireless guys, it is a circuit board that can take a number of mini-PCI or PCMCIA cards. It also has a CPOU, RAM and a compact flash slot onto which a linux based OS (usually Mikrotik or starOS is installed). see http://www.pcengines.ch