| Architecture Of Wireless Lan |
All components that can connect into a wireless medium in a network are
referred to as stations. All stations are equipped with wireless network
interface cards (WNICs). Wireless stations fall into one of two categories:
access points and clients.
- Access points (APs) are base stations for the wireless network. They
transmit and receive radio frequencies for wireless enabled devices to
communicate with.
- Wireless clients can be mobile devices such as laptops, personal digital
assistants, IP phones, or fixed devices such as desktops and workstations
that are equipped with a wireless network interface.
Basic service set
The basic service set (BSS) is a set of all stations that can communicate
with each other. There are two types of BSS: independent BSS and infrastructure
BSS. Every BSS has an identification (ID) called the BSSID, which is the MAC
address of the access point servicing the BSS.
- Independent basic service set
- An independent BSS is an ad-hoc network that contains no access points,
which means they can not connect to any other basic service set.
- Infrastructure basic service set
- An infrastructure BSS can communicate with other stations not in the
same basic service set by communicating through access points.
Extended service set
An extended service set (ESS) is a set of connected BSSes. Access points in
an ESS are connected by a distribution system. Each ESS has an ID called the
SSID which is a 32-byte (maximum) character string. For example, "linksys" is
the default SSID for Linksys routers.
|
