TP-Link Archer T1U Archer T1U V1 User Guide - Page 27

Archer T1U AC450 Wireless Nano USB Adapter User Guide Appendix B: Glossary  802.11ac - IEEE 802.11ac is a wireless computer networking standard of 802.11.This specification will enable multi-station WLAN throughput of at least 1 gigabit per second. This is accomplished by extending the air interface concepts embraced by 802.11n: wider RF bandwidth, more MIMO spatial streams, multi-user MIMO, and high-density modulation (up to 256 QAM).  802.11n - 802.11n builds upon previous 802.11 standards by adding MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output). MIMO uses multiple transmitter and receiver antennas to allow for increased data throughput via spatial multiplexing and increased range by exploiting the spatial diversity, perhaps through coding schemes like Alamouti coding. The Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC) was formed to help accelerate the IEEE 802.11n development process and promote a technology specification for interoperability of next-generation wireless local area networking (WLAN) products.  802.11a - Specification for wireless networking at 54 Mbps using OFDM modulation and operating in radio band at 5GHz.  Ad hoc Network - An ad hoc network is a group of computers, each with a Wireless Adapter, connected as an independent 802.11 wireless LAN. Ad hoc wireless computers operate on a peer-to-peer basis, communicating directly with each other without the use of an access point. Ad hoc mode is also referred to as an Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) or as peer-to-peer mode, and is useful at a departmental scale or SOHO operation.  Infrastructure Network - An infrastructure network is a group of computers or other devices, each with a Wireless Adapter, connected as an 802.11 wireless LAN. In infrastructure mode, the wireless devices communicate with each other and to a wired network by first going through an access point. An infrastructure wireless network connected to a wired network is referred to as a Basic Service Set (BSS). A set of two or more BSS in a single network is referred to as an Extended Service Set (ESS). Infrastructure mode is useful at a corporation scale, or when it is necessary to connect the wired and wireless networks.  SSID - A Service Set Identification is a thirty-two character (maximum) alphanumeric key identifying a wireless local area network. For the wireless devices in a network to communicate with each other, all devices must be configured with the same SSID. This is typically the configuration parameter for a wireless PC card. It corresponds to the ESSID in the wireless Access Point and to the wireless network name. See also Wireless Network Name and ESSID.  WEP - (Wired Equivalent Privacy) - A data privacy mechanism based on a 64-bit or 128-bit or 152-bit shared key algorithm, as described in the IEEE 802.11 standard. To gain access to a WEP network, you must know the key. The key is a string of characters that you create. When using WEP, you must determine the level of encryption. The type of encryption determines the key length. 128-bit encryption requires a longer key than 64-bit encryption. 18