Wireless Access Point
608 Glossary of Terms
AES
(Advanced Encryption Standard) A data encryption scheme that uses three
different key sizes (128-bit, 192-bit, and 256-bit). AES was adopted by the U.S.
government in 2002 as the encryption standard for protecting sensitive but
unclassified electronic data.
authentication
The process that a station, device, or user employs to announce its identify to
the network which validates it. IEEE 802.11 specifies two forms of authentication,
open system and shared key.
bandwidth
Specifies the amount of the frequency spectrum that is usable for data transfer. In
other words, it identifies the maximum data rate a signal can attain on
the medium without encountering significant attenuation (loss of power).
beacon interval
When a device in a wireless network sends a beacon, it includes with it a beacon
interval, which specifies the period of time before it will send the beacon again.
The interval tells receiving devices on the network how long they can wait in low
power mode before waking up to handle the beacon. Network administrators can
adjust the beacon interval — usually measured in milliseconds (ms) or its
equivalent, kilo-microseconds (Kmsec).
bit rate
The transmission rate of binary symbols ('0' and '1'), equal to the total number of
bits transmitted in one second.
BSS
(Basic Service Set) When a WLAN is operating in infrastructure mode, each access
point and its connected devices are called the Basic Service Set.
BSSID
The unique identifier for an access point in a BSS network. See also, SSID.
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