Certifications
CWAP Certified Wireless Analysis Professional
CWDP Certified Wireless Design Professional
CWNA Certified Wireless Network Administrator
CWNE Certified Wireless Network Expert
CWNT Certified Wireless Network Trainer
CWSP Certified Wireless Security Professional
CWTS Certified Wireless Technology Specialist
Organizations and Regulations
ACMA Australian Communications and Media Authority
ARIB Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (Japan)
ATU African Telecommunications Union
CEPT European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations
CITEL Inter-American Telecommunication Commission
CTIA Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association
ERC European Radiocommunications Committee
EWC Enhanced Wireless Consortium
FCC Federal Communications Commission
FIPS Federal Information Processing Standards
GLBA Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
IAB Internet Architecture Board
ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IESG Internet Engineering Steering Group
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IRTF Internet Research Task Force
ISO International Organization for Standardization
ISOC Internet Society
NEMA National Electrical Manufacturers Association
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
NTIA National Telecommunication and Information Agency
PCI Payment Card Industry
RCC Regional Commonwealth in the field of communications
SEEMesh Simple, Efficient, and Extensible Mesh
TGn Sync Task Group n Sync
WECA Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance
WIEN Wireless InterWorking with External Networks
Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi Alliance
WiMA Wi-Mesh Alliance
WWiSE World-Wide Spectrum Efficiency
Measurements
dB decibel
dBd decibel referenced to a dipole antenna
dBi decibel referenced to an isotropic radiator
dBm decibel referenced to 1 milliwatt
GHz gigahertz
Hz hertz
KHz kilohertz
mA milliampere
MHz megahertz
mW milliwatt
SNR signal-to-noise ratio
V volt
VDC voltage direct current
W watt
Technical Terms
AAA authentication, authorization, and accounting
AC access category (802.11)
alternating current (electricity)
ACK acknowledgment
AES Advanced Encryption Standard
AGL above ground level
AID association identifier
AIFS arbitration interframe space
AKM Authentication and Key Management
AM amplitude modulation
A-MPDU Aggregate MAC Protocol Data Unit
A-MSDU Aggregate MAC Service Data Unit
AP access point
APNs Apple Push Notification services
APSD automatic power save delivery
ARS adaptive rate selection
ARS automatic rate selection
AS authentication server
DBPSK Differential binary phase shift keying
DQPSK Differential quadrature phase shift keying
BPSK Binary phase shift keying
QPSK Quadrature phase shift keying
ASK amplitude-shift keying
ATEX Atmosphères Explosives
ATF airtime fairness
ATIM announcement traffic indication message
AVP attribute-value pair
BA Block acknowledgment
BER bit error rate
BPSK binary phase shift keying
BOM bill of materials
BSA basic service area
BSS basic service set
BSSID basic service set identifier
BT Bluetooth
BVI bridged virtual interface
BYOD bring your own device
CA certificate authority
CAD computer-aided design
CAM content-addressable memory
CAM Continuous Aware mode
CAPWAP Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points
CBN cloud-based networking
CCA clear channel assessment
CC-AP cooperative control access point
CCI co-channel interference
CCK Complementary Code Keying
CCMP Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol
CCX Cisco Compatible Extensions
CEN cloud-enabled network
CF CompactFlash (memory)
contention free (802.11)
CFP contention-free period
CID company issued device
CLI command-line interface
CoA Change of Authorization
CP contention period
CRC cyclic redundancy check
CSMA/CA Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance
CSMA/CD Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
CW contention window
CWG-RF Converged Wireless Group–RF Profile
DA destination address
DBPSK differential binary phase shift keying
DC direct current
DCF Distributed Coordination Function
DDF distributed data forwarding
DFS dynamic frequency selection
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DIFS Distributed Coordination Function interframe space
DoS denial of service
DPI deep packet inspection
DQPSK differential quadrature phase shift keying
DRS dynamic rate switching
DS distribution system
DSAS distributed spectrum analysis system
DSCP differentiated services code point
DSM distribution system medium
DSP digital signal processing
DSRC Dedicated Short Range Communications
DSS distribution system services
DSSS direct sequence spread spectrum
DTIM delivery traffic indication message
EAP Extensible Authentication Protocol
EDCA Enhanced Distributed Channel Access
EIFS extended interframe space
EIRP equivalent isotropically radiated power
EM electromagnetic
EQM equal modulation
ERP Extended Rate Physical
ERP-CCK Extended Rate Physical–Complementary Code Keying
ERP-DSSS Extended Rate Physical–Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
ERP-OFDM Extended Rate Physical–Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
ERP-PBCC Extended Rate Physical–Packet Binary Convolutional Code
ESA extended service area
ESS extended service set
ESSID extended service set identifier
EUI extended unique identifier
EWG enterprise wireless gateway
FA foreign agent
FAST Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunnel
FCS frame check sequence
FEC forward error correction
FHSS frequency hopping spread spectrum
FILS fast initial link setup
FM frequency modulation
FMC fixed mobile convergence
FSK frequency-shift keying
FSPL free space path loss
FSR fast secure roaming
FT fast BSS transition
FZ Fresnel zone
GCM Google Cloud Messaging
GCMP Galois/Counter Mode Protocol
GCR GroupCast with retries
GFSK Gaussian frequency shift keying
GI guard interval
GLK General Link
GMK Group Master Key
GCM Google Cloud Messaging
GPO group policy object
GRE Generic Routing Encapsulation
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
GTC Generic Token Card
GTK Group Temporal Key
GUI graphical user interface
HA home agent
HAT home agent table
HC hybrid coordinator
HCCA Hybrid Coordination Function Controlled Channel Access
HCF Hybrid Coordination Function
HR-DSSS High-Rate Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
HSRP Hot Standby Router Protocol
HT High Throughput
HT-GF-STF high-throughput Greenfield short training field
HT-LTF high-throughput long training field
HT-SIG high-throughput SIGNAL field
HT-STF high-throughput short training field
HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure
HWMP Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol
IAPP Inter-Access Point Protocol
IBSS independent basic service set
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol
ICV Integrity Check Value
IDS intrusion detection system
IE Information Element
IFS interframe space
IoT Internet of Things
IP Internet Protocol
IP Code Ingress Protection Code
IPsec Internet Protocol Security
IR intentional radiator
IS integration service
ISI intersymbol interference
ISM Industrial, Scientific, and Medical
ITS Intelligent Transportation Systems
IV initialization vector
L2TP Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
LAN local area network
LEAP Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol
LLDP Link Layer Discovery Protocol
LLC Logical Link Control
L-LTF legacy (non-HT) long training field
LOS line of sight
L-SIG legacy (non-HT) signal
L-STF legacy (non-HT) short training field
LWAPP Lightweight Access Point Protocol
M2M machine-to-machine
MAC media access control
MAHO Mobile Assisted Handover
MAN metropolitan area network
MAP mesh access point
MCA multiple-channel architecture
MCS modulation and coding scheme
MD5 Message Digest 5
MDI media dependent interface
MDM mobile device management
MFP management frame protection
MIB Management Information Base
MIC message integrity check
MIMO multiple-input, multiple-output
MMPDU Management MAC Protocol Data Unit
MP mesh point
MPDU MAC Protocol Data Unit
MPP mesh point portal
MPPE Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption
MRC maximal ratio combining
MSDU MAC Service Data Unit
MSSID Mesh Service Set Identifier
MTBA multiple traffic ID block acknowledgment
MTU maximum transmission unit
MU-MIMO multiuser MIMO
NAC network access control
NAT Network Address Translation
NAV network allocation vector
NDP null data packet
NEC National Electrical Code
NMS network management server
OAuth open standard for authorization
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
OKC opportunistic key caching
OS operating system
OSI model Open Systems Interconnection model
OUI Organizationally Unique Identifier
PAN personal area network
PAT Port Address Translation
PBCC Packet Binary Convolutional Code
PBX private branch exchange
PC point coordinator
PCF Point Coordination Function
PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect
PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PC Card)
PCO phased coexistence operation
PD powered device
PEAP Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol
PHY physical
PIFS Point Coordination Function interframe space
PLCP Physical Layer Convergence Procedure
PMD Physical Medium Dependent
PMK pairwise master key
PN pseudo-random number
PoE Power over Ethernet
POP Post Office Protocol
PPDU PLCP Protocol Data Unit
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
PPTP Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
PSE power-sourcing equipment
PSK phase-shift keying
PSK preshared key
PSMP Power Save Multi-Poll
PSPF Public Secure Packet Forwarding
PS-Poll Power Save Poll
PSTN public switched telephone network
PTK pairwise transient key
PtMP point-to-multipoint
PtP point-to-point
QAM quadrature amplitude modulation
QAP quality-of-service access point
QBSS quality-of-service basic service set
QoS quality of service
QSTA quality-of-service station
QPSK quadrature phase shift keying
RA receiver address
RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service
RBAC role-based access control
RF radio frequency
RFC request for comment
RFSM radio frequency spectrum management
RIFS reduced interframe space
RRM radio resource measurement
RSL received signal level
RSN robust security network
RSNA robust security network association
RSSI received signal strength indicator
RTLS real-time location system
RTS request to send
RTS/CTS request to send/clear to send
RX receive or receiver
SA source address
SaaS software as a service
S-APSD scheduled automatic power save delivery
SCA single-channel architecture
SCEP Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol
SD Secure Digital
SDR software defined radio
SIFS short interframe space
SISO single-input, single-output
SM spatial multiplexing
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
SNR signal-to-noise ratio
SOHO small office, home office
SOM system operating margin
SQ signal quality
SSID service set identifier
SSL Secure Sockets Layer
STA station
STBC space-time block coding
STP Spanning Tree Protocol
TA transmitter address
TBTT target beacon transmission time
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TDLS Tunneled Direct Link Setup
TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar
TIM traffic indication map
TKIP Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
TLS Transport Layer Security
TPC transmit power control
TS traffic stream
TSN transition security network
TTLS Tunneled Transport Layer Security
TX transmit or transmitter
TxBF transmit beamforming
TXOP transmit opportunity
U-APSD unscheduled automatic power save delivery
UEQM unequal modulation
U-NII Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure
UP user priority
USB Universal Serial Bus
VHT Very High Throughput
VLAN virtual local area network
VoIP Voice over IP
VoWiFi Voice over Wi-Fi
VoWIP Voice over Wireless IP
VRRP Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
VSWR voltage standing wave ratio
WAN wide area network
WAVE Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments
WDS wireless distribution system
WEP Wired Equivalent Privacy
WGB workgroup bridge
WIDS wireless instruction detection system
Wi-Fi Sometimes said to be an acronym for wireless fidelity, a term that has no formal definition; Wi-Fi is a general marketing term used to define 802.11 technologies.
WIGLE Wireless Geographic Logging Engine
WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
WIPS wireless intrusion prevention system
WISP wireless internet service provider
WLAN wireless local area network
WM wireless medium
WMAN wireless metropolitan area network
WMM Wi-Fi Multimedia
WMM-AC Wi-Fi Multimedia Access Control
WMM-PS Wi-Fi Multimedia Power Save
WNMS wireless network management system
WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access
WPAN wireless personal area network
WPP Wireless Performance Prediction
WWAN wireless wide area network
WZC Wireless Zero Configuration
XML Extensible Markup Language
XOR exclusive or