Symbol Technologies WS 2000 manual 802.11a Support, 802.11b Support

802.11a Support

Chapter 2. Features

802.11a Support

802.11is a family of specifications for wireless local area networks (WLANs) developed by a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The four current specifications include: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. All four use the Ethernet protocol and carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) for path sharing, which allows a number of network users to pass packets on the network simultaneously.

The 802.11a specification applies to wireless systems, and is used in access hubs and other network components. 802.11a operates at radio frequencies between 5 GHz and 6 GHz, using a modulation scheme that provides for data speeds of 6, 9, 12, 18, 22, 24, 36, 48, and 54 Mbps.

The WS 2000 Wireless Switch fully supports the 802.11a specification for association with Symbol’s suite of compatible Access Ports and mobile units (MUs).

Specifically, the WS 2000 Wireless Switch supports the following features:

•Management frames: Part of a network packet, management frames provide hardware- and software-specific information shared between the WS 2000 Wireless Switch, Access Ports, and MUs to keep the network operating smoothly.

•Beacon and DTIM: A uniframe (single-direction) system packet broadcast by the WS 2000 Wireless Switch to keep the network synchronized. A beacon Includes the Net_ID (ESSID), the Access Port address, the broadcast destination addresses, a time stamp, a DTIM (Delivery Traffic Indicator Maps) and the TIM (Traffic Indicator Message)

•Roaming Updates: Provides information to the Access Ports when an MU roams from one Access Port to another

•Power Save Polling (PSP): Helps extend battery life by allowing the radio in an Access Port or MU to idle when not active.

•Voice Prioritization: The WS 2000 Wireless Switch uses a combination of data classifiers, classification groups, and network input and output policies to prioritize voice data.

•Rate Scaling: This feature seeks to connect MUs to the WS 2000 Wireless Switch (via Access Port) at the highest possible rate, automatically scaling to a lower rate when network traffic demands. As signal clarity increases, speed builds to an optimal rate.

•TX power setting: Optimizes the output power for any environment.

802.11b Support

802.11is a family of specifications for wireless local area networks (WLANs) developed by a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The four current specifications include: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g. All four use the Ethernet protocol and provide carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) for path sharing, which allows a number of network users to pass packets on the network simultaneously.

Copyright © 2004 Symbol Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved	11
WS 2000 Wireless Switch: 1.0 Date of last Revision: March 2004