RF Signal Concepts
A major difference between wireless and wired networks is that wireless LANs use radio waves
to transport information through the air. This introduces several new concepts, especially dealing
with RF signals. When you are deploying wireless LANs, you must understand the attributes
associated with RF signals in order to configure access points, avoid RF interference, and
troubleshoot problems as they arise.
The key RF signal attributes that you need to understand are as follows:
■ Modulation
■ RF signal characteristics
■ Gain
■ Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
■ Spread spectrum
■ Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)
■ FCC rules
■ RF interference
■ Multipath
The sections that follow describe each of these in more detail.