Wireless LAN

Introduction

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) have defined a number of standards for LANs (Local Area Networks). The IEEE 802 standard describes the lower two layers in the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) 7-layer network model, and the IEEE 802.11 standard describes specialisations of this standard for a wireless network:

OSI 7-layer model IEEE 802 standard
7. Application layer
6. Presentation layer
5. Session layer
4. Transport layer
3. Network layer
2. Data Link layer 802.2 LLC (Logical Link Control) sublayer 802.1 Management 802 Overview and Architecture
802.11 MAC (Medium Access Control) sublayer
1. Physical layer 802.11 PHY (Physical) layer 802.11 PLCP (Physical Layer Convergence Protocol) sublayer
802.11 PMD (Physical Medium Dependent) sublayer