Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Wireless terminology

Telemetry: A space-to-ground data stream of measured values (including instrument science data, instrument engineering data, and spacecraft engineering data) that does not include command, tracking, computer memory transfer, audio, or video signals.

Wi-Fi: Short for wireless fidelity This is another name for IEEE 802.11b. It is a trade term promulgated by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA). "Wi-Fi" is used in place of 802.11b in the same way that "Ethernet" is used in place of IEEE 802.3. Products certified as Wi-Fi by WECA are interoperable with each other even if they are from different manufacturers. A user with a Wi-Fi product can use any brand of Access Point with any other brand of client hardware that is built to the Wi-Fi standard.

also:
A wireless data networking protocol generally used to connect PCs and laptops to a network. Also known as 802.11b and WLAN (Wireless LAN), it is the most common means of wireless networking and operates at 2.4 GHz.

NIC: Network Interface Card.

AP: Access Point, A device that transports data between a wireless network and a wired network (infrastructure).

Bluetooth: The code name for a new wireless technology developed by Ericsson Inc., Intel Corp., Nokia Corp. and Toshiba. The technology enables data connections between electronic devices such as desktop computers, wireless phones, electronic organizers and printers in the 2.4 GHz range. Bluetooth would replace cable or infrared connections for such devices.

VPN: Virtual private network, a private data network that makes use of the public telecommunication infrastructure, maintaining privacy through the use of a tunneling protocol and security procedures.

PDA: Personal Digital Assistant. A handheld computer that provides a calendar and organizer for personal information. A PDA normally contains at least one database with names and addresses, to-do lists and a notepad.

PAN: A personal area network, or PAN, is a networking scheme that enables computing devices such as PCs, laptop computers, handheld personal computers, printers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) to communicate with each other over short distances either with or without wires.

UWB: UWB stands for Ultra Wideband, a new kind of wireless broadband which emits radio waves over a broad spectrum, risking the disturbance of other data traffic.

MultiBand OFDM Alliance (MBOA)

QoS: Quality of service. Measure of performance for a transmission system that reflects its transmission quality and service availability.

ZigBee: ZigBee is a proprietary set of high level communication protocols designed to use small, low power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal area networking. The relationship between IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee is analogous to that existing between IEEE 802.11 and the Wi-Fi Alliance. The ZigBee 1.0 specifications were ratified on December 14, 2004, but are available only to members of the ZigBee Alliance. It is expected that the standard eventually will be open.

Edit-
GSM: Global System for Mobile Communication. Originally developed as a pan-European standard for digital mobile telephony, GSM has become the world's most widely used mobile system. It is used on the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz frequencies in Europe, Asia and Australia, and the MHz 1800 frequency in North America and Latin America

GPRS: General Packet Radio Service. A GSM data transmission technique that does not set up a continuous channel from a portable terminal for the transmission and reception of data, but transmits and receives data in packets. It makes very efficient use of available radio spectrum.

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