802.11
IEEE original Wi-Fi standard. (1997)

802.11a
IEEE Wi-Fi standard. (1999)

802.11b
IEEE Wi-Fi standard. (1999)

802.11g
IEEE Wi-Fi standard. (2003)

802.11i
IEEE standard for WI-Fi security.

802.11n
IEEE Wi-Fi standard. (2008)

Access Point (AP)
Base stations for the WLAN to transmit and receive radio frequencies.

ACK
Acknowledgment. 

Ad-Hoc Mode
Peer-to-peer connectivity in a wireless LAN.

AES
Advanced Encryption Standard.

Analog modulation
The modulation is applied continuously in response to the analog information signal.

Antenna gain
The relative increase in radiation at the maximum point expressed as a value in dB above a standard.

ASK
Amplitude shift keying: carrier on = 1, carrier off = 0

Attenuation
The decrease in intensity of electromagnetic radiation due to absorption or scattering of photons.

Authentication server
Provide authentication services to users or other systems.

Band
RF spectrum range available for certain communication.

Bandwidth
The portion of the frequency spectrum required to transmit desired information.

BER
Bit Error Rate.

Bi-Phase Modulation
A modulation method using two opposite signal phases (0 and 180 degrees).

Bluetooth
A short range wireless communication technology as defined in IEEE 802.15.1.

BPSK
Binary Phase-Shift Keying.

BSS
Basic Service Set.

CAPWAP
Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Points.See Wireless Network Card.

CCK
Complementary Code Keying.

CCMP
Counter mode with Cipher-block chaining Message authentication code Protocol.

Cell
An Access Point RF coverage area.

Channel
A RF spectrum with certain bandwidth in a RF band to transmit information.

Channel bonding
Using two adjacent channels together as one to increase data rates.

CHAP
Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol.

Client adaptor
See Wireless Network Card.

Clients
Any mobile or fixed devices such as laptops, personal digital assistants, and desktops that are equipped with a wireless network interface.

CSMA/CA
Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance. CSMA/CA is the medium access method used by IEEE 802.11 WLANs.

DBPSK
Differential Binary Phase Shift Keying.

DCF
Distributed Coordination Function.

Dependent (thin) Access Point
A simple AP that relies on WLAN controller for RF management and configuration.

DES
Data Encryption Standard.

Digital modulation
An analog carrier signal is modulated by a digital bit stream of either equal length signals or varying length signals.

Diversity antenna system
Incorporates multiple antenna elements at the base station to improve reception.

DQPSK
Differential Quadrature Phase-Shift Keying.

DSSS
Direct-Sequencing Spread-Spectrum.

EAP
Extensible Authentication Protocol.

EBSS
Extended basic service set.

ECP
Encryption Control Protocol.

FHSS
Frequency-Hopping Spread-Spectrum.

FSK
Frequency Shift Keying.

GFSK
Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying.

Hidden node problem
A node is visible from a wireless hub, but not from other nodes communicating with said hub. This leads to difficulties in media access control.

HiperMAN
The ETSI defined broadband wireless standard that is compatible with WiMAX (IEEE 802.16).

Hotspot
The venues that offer Wi-Fi access.

IAS
Internet Authentication Service server, a RADIUS Server which performs connection authentication and accounting for remote access.

IBSS
Independent Basic Service Set.

IDEA
International Data Encryption Algorithm.

IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Independent (fat) Access Point
A standalone AP that provides configuration and management for clients.

Infrastructure Mode
A client setting providing connectivity to a central Access Point (AP).

Interference
Distortion of the wireless signal be other RF waves.

ISM
The industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands.

LCP
Link Control Protocol.

LWAPP
Light Weight Access Point Protocol.

MAC
Medium Access Control. In a WLAN network card, the MAC is radio controller protocol.

MD5
Message-Digest Algorithm 5.

MIMO
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output.

Modulation
The process of varying a periodic waveform.

Multipath
Multiple copies of the original transmitted signal due to reflections, scattering, etc.

Multipath distortion
When parts of the same radio wave arrive at a receiver at different times.

NAK
Negative Acknowledgment. 

NDIS
Network Driver Interface Specification.

OFDM
Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing.

OOK
On Off Keying.

PAM
Pulse Amplitude Modulation.

Path Loss
The reduction in signal strength as it travels through the air or other media.

PCF
Point Coordination Function.

PEAP
Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol.

PHY
Physical Layer in the OSI Network Model.

PKI
Public Key Infrastructure.

PLCP
Physical Layer Convergence Procedure.

PMD
Physical Medium Dependent.

Polling
A technique for enabling multiple transmitters to share a medium when transmitters take turns in a defined sequence.

PPM
Pulse Position Modulation.

PSK
Phase shift keying.

QAM
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation.

QPSK
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying.

RADIUS
Remote Authentication Dial In User Service.

RADIUS server
A server using RADIUS technology to provide authentication services.

Receive Sensitivity
The minimum signal strength required to pick up a signal.

RFID
Radio Frequency Identification.

Roaming
The movement of a mobile device from one wireless network location to another without interruption in service or loss in connectivity.

RSA Algorithm
Rivest-Shamir-Aldeman algorithm.

RSSI
Received Signal Strength Indicator.

RTS/CTS
Request-to-send/clear-to-send, or request-to-send (RTS) protocol.

Single Channel Access Point
A dependent thin AP.

SNR
Signal to Noise Ratio. The number of decibels difference between the signal strength and background noise.

Spatial Multiplexing
Transmit two or more separate data streams on different antennas at the same time in the same channel to increase data rate.

Spread Spectrum Transmission
A RF transmission technique that takes a narrow band signal and spreads it over a broader portion of the radio frequency band.

SSID
Service Set Identifier - wireless network name.

SWAP
Shared Wireless Access Protocol.

TKIP
Temporal Key Integrity Protocol.

TLS
Transport Level Security, a protocol for mutual authentication, integrity-protected negotiation and key exchange between two endpoints.

Transmit Power
The power usually expressed in mW or db that the wireless device transmits at.

UNII (U-NII)
Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure.

UWB
Ultra-Wide-Band.

War Chalking
To marking buildings or sidewalks with chalk to show others where it's possible to access an exposed company wireless network.

War Driving
The process of traveling around looking for wireless access point signals that can be used to get network access.

WECA
The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance.

WEP
Wired Equivalent Privacy. Encryption-based security using a pre-shared key.

WiFi (Wi-Fi)
Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) refers to WLAN standard based on IEEE 802.11 and its amendments.

Wi-Fi Alliance
Organization that certifies 802.11 products.

WiMAX
A wireless MAN technology defined in IEEE 802.16-2004 and 802.16-2005.

Wireless Network Card
A card that has drivers, tools and utilities to set specific parameters and sends and receives information over the air. These cards are easily installed and can be imbedded into client devices such as laptop computers.

WLAN (W-LAN)
Wireless Local Area Network (LAN).

WLAN Array
A device that connects wireless devices/users to another network. It usually contains a switch or a router, and a WLAN AP controller.

WLAN Controller
A device that manages thin AP, provides channel selection, roaming and other services.

WMAN
Wireless Metropolitan Area Network.

WML
wireless markup language (WML).

WPA
Wireless protected access.

WPA2
Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 as defined in IEEE 802.11i.

WPAN
Wireless Personal Area Network.

ZigBee
The technology used in the low data rate Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) as defined in IEEE 802.15.4.