Wireless-G Range Expander
What is Spread Spectrum?
Spread Spectrum technology is a wideband radio frequency technique developed by the military for use in reliable, secure, mission-critical communications systems. It is designed to trade off bandwidth efficiency for reliability, integrity, and security. In other words, more bandwidth is consumed than in the case of narrowband transmission, but the trade-off produces a signal that is, in effect, louder and thus easier to detect, provided that the receiver knows the parameters of the spread-spectrum signal being broadcast. If a receiver is not tuned to the right frequency, a spread-spectrum signal looks like background noise. There are two main alternatives, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS).
What is DSSS? What is FHSS? And what are their differences?
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) uses a narrowband carrier that changes frequency in a pattern that is known to both transmitter and receiver. Properly synchronized, the net effect is to maintain a single logical channel. To an unintended receiver, FHSS appears to be short-duration impulse noise. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) generates a redundant bit pattern for each bit to be transmitted. This bit pattern is called a chip (or chipping code). The longer the chip, the greater the probability that the original data can be recovered. Even if one or more bits in the chip are damaged during transmission, statistical techniques embedded in the radio can recover the original data without the need for retransmission. To an unintended receiver, DSSS appears as low power wideband noise and is rejected (ignored) by most narrowband receivers.
Would the information be intercepted while transmitting on air?
Wireless networks feature two-fold protection. On the hardware side, as with Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum technology, it has the inherent security feature of scrambling. On the software side, the wireless series offers the encryption function (WEP) to enhance security and access control. Users can set it up depending upon their needs.
Can Linksys Wireless products support file and printer sharing?
Linksys Wireless products can work with Netware, Windows NT/2000, or other operating systems to support printer or file sharing.
What is WEP?
WEP is Wired Equivalent Privacy, a data privacy mechanism based on a 40-bit shared-key algorithm, as described in the IEEE 802.11 standard.
What is a MAC Address?
The Media Access Control (MAC) address is a unique number assigned by the manufacturer to any networking device, such as a network adapter, that allows the network to identify it at the hardware level. For all practical purposes, this number is usually permanent. Unlike IP addresses, which can change every time a computer logs on to the network, the MAC address of a device stays the same, making it a valuable identifier for the network.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting | 21 |