14 CHAPTER 3: NETWORK CONFIGURATION AND PLANNING
Infrastructure Wireless LAN
The wireless PCI card can also provide access to a wired
LAN for wireless workstations. An integrated wired and
wireless LAN is called an infrastructure configuration. A
Basic Service Set (BSS) consists of a group of wireless PC
users, and an access point that is directly connected to the
wired LAN. Each wireless PC in this BSS can talk to any
computer in its wireless group via a radio link, or access
other computers or network resources in the wired LAN
infrastructure via the access point.
The infrastructure configuration not only extends the
accessibility of wireless PCs to the wired LAN, but also
doubles the effective wireless transmission range for
wireless PCs by passing their signal through one or more
access points.
A wireless infrastructure can be used for access to a central
database, or for connection between mobile workers, as
shown in the following figure.
