What is RTS Threshold?, What is DBI?

What is RTS Threshold?

(Request To Send) An RS-232 signal sent from the transmitting station to the receiving station requesting permission to transmit. RTS is a collision avoidance method used by all 802.11b wireless networking devices. In most cases you will not need to activate or administer RTS. Only if you find yourself in an Infrastructure environment where all nodes are in range of the Access Point but may be out of range of each other. It is recommended to leave this setting at its default value leaving this feature disabled.

What is Authentication Algorithm?

Authentication Algorithm is the means by which one station is authorized to communicate with another. In an Open System, any station can request authorization in accordance with the WECA standard. In a Shared key system, only stations that possess a secret encrypted key may participate in the network. This is a low level security key which allows the equipment with the shared key algorithm to see each other on the wireless lan.

What is DBI?

The ability of the antenna to shape the signal and focus it in a particular direction is called Antenna Gain, and is expressed in terms of how much stronger the signal in the desired direction is, compared to the worst possible antenna, which distributes the signal evenly in all directions (an Isotropic Radiator). To express the relationship to the Isotropic reference, this is abbreviated: "dBi". The typical omni-directional "stick" antenna is rated at 6-8 dBi, indicating that that by redirecting the signal that would have gone straight up or down to the horizontal level, 4 times as much signal is available horizontally. A parabolic reflector design can easily achieve 24 dBi.

What is WEP?

Short for Wired Equivalent Privacy, WEP is a security protocol for wireless local area networks (WLANs) defined in the 802.11b and 802.11a standards.

WEP is designed to provide the same level of security as that of a wired LAN. LANs are inherently more secure than WLANs because LANs are somewhat protected by the physicalities of their structure, having some or all part of the network inside a building that can be protected from unauthorized access. WLANs, which are over radio waves, do not have the same physical structure and therefore are more vulnerable to tampering.

WEP aims to provide security by encrypting data over radio waves so that it is protected as it is transmitted from one end point to another. The Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) feature uses the RC4 PRNG algorithm developed by RSA Data Security, Inc.

If your wireless access point supports MAC filtering, it is recommended that you use this feature in addition to WEP (MAC filtering is much more secure than encryption).