Edimax pmn802.11b/g WLAN USB adapter with Wi-Fi Detector, 802.11b/g WLAN USB adapter with Wi-Fi Detector User Manual

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User’s Manual

Versio n: 1.1

(M ar 2006)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2004/2005 b y this comp an y. All righ ts reserved . No p art of th is
publ icat ion m ay b e reprodu ced , tran sm itt ed, tran scr ibed, stored in a ret rieval
system, or translated into any languag e or computer language, in any form or
by an y mean s, elec tron ic, mechan ical , mag n etic, op tic al, chem ical , m anual or
oth erwise, with ou t th e prior writ ten perm ission of th is com pan y

This com pan y m akes n o repres ent ation s or warran t ies, eit h er expres sed or
impl ied , with respec t t o the cont ents her eof and specif ical l y disclaim s an y
warran ties, mer ch ant abil ity or fitn ess f or any part icu l ar purp ose. An y sof tware
desc rib ed in th is manu al is s old or licen sed "as is" . Should th e prog rams
prove d efect ive f oll owin g their pur ch ase, th e bu yer (and n ot this comp an y, its
dist ribu tor , or it s deal er) assumes the en tir e cost of all n ecess ary ser vicing ,
repair , an d an y incid ental or c onseq uent ial damag es resul t ing from any d efect
in the software. Further, this company reserves the right to revise this
publication and to make changes from time to time in the contents hereof
without obligation to notify any person of such revision or changes.

All brand and product names mentioned i n this manual are tr ademarks and/or register ed
trademarks of their r espective holders.

Fe d e r al Co m munic ation Co mm is s ion

Interference Statement

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a
Class B d igital device, p u rsuan t to Par t 15 of FCC Rul es. These lim its are
desig n ed to pr ovide reason ab l e pr otect ion agains t harm ful in ter feren ce in a
residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio
freq u ency en ergy and , if not in stall ed and used in accor danc e with the
instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
However , t her e is n o guaran tee t hat in ter feren ce will not occur in a p art icul ar
inst all ation . If this equ ipmen t d oes cau se harm ful inter feren ce t o radio or
tel evision recep t ion, which can be d eter min ed by tur ning th e equ ipm ent of f
and on, th e user is enc ourag ed to t ry to corr ect th e in terf eren ce by one or
more of t h e foll owing measu res :

1. Reorient or r elocate the r ec eiv ing anten na.

2. Increase the separation betw een the equipment and r ec eiv er .

3. Conn ect th e equ ipm ent in to an out let on a circ uit d iff eren t from t h at t o whic h th e
receiver is connected .

4. Consult the deal er or an exper ienced radio tec hnician f or help.

FCC Caut ion

This eq u ipm ent mus t be inst all ed and op erat ed in accord an ce with provided
inst ru ction s and a minimu m 5 cm sp acing must b e provided b etween
comp ut er mount ed antenn a and person ’s b ody (excl ud ing extr emities of
hand s, wrist and feet ) du ring wirel ess m odes of op erat ion.

This d evice comp l ies with Par t 15 of the F CC Rules . Op erat ion is s ubj ect t o
the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful
int erfer enc e, and (2) th is device mu st accep t an y int erf eren ce rec eived,
inclu d ing in terf eren ce th at may cau se und esired op erat ion.

Any ch ang es or mod if icat ions not expr essl y app roved b y th e part y res pons ible
for com pl ian ce could void th e au thorit y t o oper ate equ ip ment.

Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Radiation Exposure Statement

This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure set forth for an
un cont roll ed environ men t. In ord er to avoid th e possib il ity of exceedin g th e
FCC rad io fr equ ency exposu re l imit s, hum an pr oximity t o th e ant enna s hall
not be les s than 20c m (8 in ches) dur ing nor mal oper ation .

R&TTE Compliance Stat ement

This eq u ipm ent comp lies with all the r equir emen ts of DIRECTI VE 1999/ 5/CE
OF THE E UROPE AN PARLI AME NT AND THE COU NC IL of Marc h 9, 1999 on
radio equipment and telecommunication terminal Equipment and the mutual
recognition of their conformity (R&TTE)
The R&T TE Direct iv e rep eal s an d repl aces in the d irec tive 98/13/ EEC
(Telecom mu nic ation s Term inal Equ ip ment and S atell ite E arth S tat ion
Equ ipmen t ) As of April 8, 2000.

Safety

This eq u ipm ent is des igned with the ut most care f or the s afet y of those wh o
install and use it. However, special attention must be paid to the dangers of
elect ric s hoc k and static el ect ricit y wh en workin g wit h el ect rical equ ip ment . All
gu idel ines of this and of th e compu t er manuf actu re mu st theref ore b e all owed
at al l times to en sure th e saf e use of th e equ ipm ent.

EU Countries Intended for Use

The ETSI version of this device is intended for home and office use in Austria,
Belgium, Denmark , Finland, Fran c e, Ger m any, Gr eec e, Ir elan d, Italy,
Luxemb our g, the Neth erl and s, Port ugal , Sp ain, S weden, and the Unit ed
Kingdom.
The ETSI vers ion of th is device is al so au th or ized f or us e in EFTA memb er
stat es: Icel an d, Liec ht en stein, Norway, an d Switz erl and.

EU Countries Not intended for use

None.

CONTENTS

1 Introductio n .....................................................................................1

1.1 Features ...................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Specifications ............................................................................................. 1

1.3 Package Contents ........................................................................................ 2

2 The Outward Appearance of the Wi-Fi Detector ............................3

3 How to cha rge th e Wi -F i Detecto r ................................................... 4

4 How to us e th e Wi -F i Detec to r......................................................... 5

5 How to install the driver and utility ................................................7

6 How to configure the utility...........................................................12

6.1 Wireless Connection Status ........................................................................12

6.2 Genera l Connection Setting........................................................................14

6.3 WE P and WPA Encryption.........................................................................17

6.3.1 WEP Settin g ............................................................................................................17

6.3.2 WPA Setting ...........................................................................................................18

6.4 Advance d Settings......................................................................................20

6.5 Software AP Mode .....................................................................................21

6.5.1 AP C on ne c t i on St atus ..............................................................................................21

6.5.2 AP General Connection Setting................................................................................23

6.5.3 MAC Address Filter.................................................................................................25

7 Troubleshooting............................................................................. 27

1 Introduction

Thank you for purchasing t his 802.11b/g WLAN USB adapter w ith Wi-Fi Detector. This
convenient de vice instantly detects w ireless hotspots anywhere. The backlig ht LCM display
tells the user detailed informatio n about any detected hotspot. There’s no need to purchase
any battery because there is a rechargeable Li-Po lymer batt ery which recharges whenever
the detector is inserted into any USB port .

This Wi-Fi detector also allows the user to go online wirelessly and is designed to comply
wit h IEEE 802.11g Wireless LA N standard. It is suitable for any laptop or desktop c omputer.

This detector supports 64/128/ 256-bit WEP data encryption that protect s your wireless
network f rom eavesdropping. It also supports WPA (W i-Fi Protect ed Access) and WPA2 that
combin es I EEE 802.1x and TKIP (Temporal Key Integrit y Protocol) t echnologies. Clie nt
users are required to authorize before acces sing to APs or AP Routers, and the data
transmitted in the network is encrypted/decrypt ed by a dynamically changed secret key.
This adapter has built-in AES engine w hich ensure the highest degree of security and
authe ntic ity f or d igital infor matio n and it is the mos t adva nced sol utio n def ined by I EEE

802.11i for t he security in t he wireless network.

1.1 Features

• Complies wit h the IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g 2 . 4 GHz standards.

• LCM displays: SSID, Signal Strength, Network type (802.11b/g), Network Mode

(infrastructure, Adhoc), operating channel, number of AP’s detected, battery strength,
Link/Act indicator)

• Up to 54Mbps high data transfer r at e.

• Support 64/128/256-bit WEP, WPA (TKIP with IEEE 802.1x) and WPA2 (AES with IEEE

802.1x) functions for high le vel of security.

• Supports Soft ware AP functio n, which t ur ns the wireless station into a wireless AP.

• Complies with IEEE 802.11d country r oaming standard.

• Support the most popular operating system: Windows 98SE/M e/ 2000/ XP.

• Supports USB 2.0/1. 1 interf ace.

• Portable and mini-si ze design.

• Suitable for Any Notebook or Desktop PC.

1.2 Specifications

• Standard : IEEE 802.11g/b

• LCM Size: 96x32 with EL backlight

• Battery : 4.2V Rechargeable Li-Poly mer Battery

• Bus Type: USB 2.0 Type A

• Frequency Band: 2. 4000~ 2. 4835GHz (Industrial Scientific M edical Band)

• Modula t ion: O F DM with BPSK, QPSK, 16 Q AM, 6 4QAM (11g)

BPSK, Q PSK, CCK (11b)

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• Data Rate: 54/ 48/ 36/ 24/18/ 12/ 11/ 9/6/5.5/2/1Mbps auto fallback

• Security: 64/128/256-bit WEP Data Encryption, WPA (TKIP with IEEE 802.1x) and WPA2

(AES w it h IEEE 802.1x)

• Antenna: Internal Antenna

• Drivers: Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP/2003 Ser ver

• Transmit Power : 16dBm (Typical)

• Dimension: 14( H) x 28.5(W) x 91(D)

• Temperat ure: 32~ 140°F ( 0 ~ 60° C)

• Humidity: 0-85% ( NonConde nsing)

• Certif ic ation: FCC, CE

1.3 Package Contents

Before you begin the installation, pleas e check the items of your package. The package
should include the following items:

• One Wi- F i De tector

• One Quick Guide

• One CD (Driver/Utility/Manual)

If any of the above items i s mi ssing, conta ct your supplie r as soon as possible.

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2 The Outward Appearance of the Wi-Fi Detector

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3 How to charge the Wi-Fi Detector

1. Remove the cap from the Wi-Fi Detector, slide the power switch to the “ON” position and

carefully insert the USB connector into any available USB port on your computer. You
will s ee t he rechar g ing sc ree n.

The batt er y st r ength ind icat or will b e animat ed w hile the Wi- Fi det ect or is being r echa rged.
The “Li nk/Ac t” ico n will b li nk whe n the Wi- F i det ect or is being used as a wir eles s USB

adapter t o surf the inter net.

2. Whe n the W i-Fi d et ect or is finis hed re c hargi ng it w ill a utomat ica lly s top charg i ng the

bat ter y. W hen it is fi nis hed r echar gi ng t he batt er y yo u will see “Charg e F inis h” disp la yed
on the L CM and t he ba tt er y str ength ind icat or will s to p bli nking.

3. If you slide the power swit ch to the “O FF” position when in recharging, t he Wi-Fi

det ect or will s to p re chargi ng the ba tt er y and yo u will s ee “ Sto p charg ing” disp lay ed o n
the LCM and t he bat te ry s trengt h indic at or w ill st op b linki ng.

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4 How to use the Wi-Fi Detector

1. Slide the pow er s wit ch to the “ON” p osit io n, and a w elcom e sc re en will gr eet the user.

2. Af ter the we lcome sc re en is d isplay ed the Wi- Fi de tec to r w ill auto mat ical ly ent er

scanning mode to det ect Wi-Fi signa ls.

In scanning mode the display will dis p lay t he tot al numbe r of bot h non-e ncry pte d and
encrypted Wi-Fi signals detec ted.

3. Once scanning mode is complete, t he detector will e nter it s st andard displa y mode.

The detector automat ically sort s the signals by the following criteria:
Non-encrypted AP’s accor ding to signal strengt h followed by encrypted AP’s accordi ng
to signal strength.

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3

4

5

6

1

7

8

5

The Icons on the LCM display are displayed as follows:

1. Operat ing Cha nnel: Indicates the curre nt operating channel of t he detected Wi-Fi
signal.

2. Number of AP’s Detected: t he left digit ind icates which detected W i-Fi signal is
currently displayed a nd the right digit indicates the tot al amount of W i-Fi signals
detected.

3. Encryption indicator: “WEP” for WEP encryption, “WPA” for WPA encryption, and
“WPA2” for WPA2 encryption, and “OPEN” indicates it is a non-encrypted signal.

4. “G” indicates the signal is a 802.11g w ireless signal. “B” indicates the signal is a

802.11b wireless s ignal.

5. Signal strength indicator w ith 5 bars indicating the signal strengt h.

6. “In” indicates the signal is an infrastruct ure mode signal, “Ad” indicates t he signal
is an Ad hoc mode signal.

7. Battery indicator with 3 bars indicating battery power. When the indicator is
empty, please recharge the detector by inserting it into a USB port.

8. SSID Indicator: Displays the SSID of the detected Wi-Fi signal, if the SSID is too
long t he SSID i ndic at or w ill sc roll t o dis play t he co mplet e SSI D.

4. If the user wishes to detect a signal with a dedicated SSID, the user simply has to hold
down the “scan” button for 4 seconds to enter “lock mode”. W hen the detector is in “lock
mode” an icon with a capitalized “L” appear s in the upper middle cor ner of t he display.

In “lock mode” the detector constantly refr eshes the signal str ength so the user can
move around to find where the detected sig nal strength is the strongest.

Just hold down the “scan” button for 4 seconds again to unlock the “lock mode”.

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5 How to install the driver and utility

Before you proceed wit h the instal lation, please notice followi ng descriptions.

Note1: Please do not install the USB adapter i nt o your computer before i nstal l i ng t he software

program from the CD .

Note2: The foll ow i ng install ation was operated i n Windows XP. (Procedure s are si mil ar f or

Window s 98SE/M e/ 2000/2003 Server.)

Note3: If you have installed the Wireless PC Card driver & utility before, please uninstall the

old version f i r st.

Please follow below instructio ns to install the USB adapter.

I. Install the Configuration Utility

A. Insert the Installation CD to your CD-ROM Drive. Execute the “setup” program.

7

B. If you want to install the software program in another location, click “Browse” and select

an alternative destination. Then, click “Next”.

C. Click “Continue A nyway” to finish the installatio n.

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II. Install the USB adapter

A. Plug the USB adapter into the USB port of your computer.

B. The “Fo und New Hardware Wizard” is display ed, select “ Install the softw are automatically

(Recommended)” and click “ Next”.

C. Click “Continue Anyway” and the system will sta rt to install t he USB adapt er.

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D. Click “Finish” to complete the installation.

III. Using the Configuration Ut ility

To setup the USB adapter, double-click the icon in the system tray.

For Windows XP, there is a “Windows Zero Co nfiguration Tool” by default f or you to setup
wireless clients. If you want to use the Utilit y of the USB adapter, please follow one of the
ways as below.

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First Way

A. Double-click the utility

icon in the system tray.

B. Click “Yes” to use the

utility of the USB adapter.

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Second Way

A. Do uble- cl ick t he ico n.

B. Click “Advance”.
C. Unc heck “Use Windows to

configure my wireless
network settings”.

6 How to configure the utility

The Configuratio n Utility is a powerf ul applicatio n that helps you configure the 802.11g
Wireless LAN USB adapter and monitor t he link status during the communicatio n process.

The Configuration Utility appears as an icon on the system tray of Windows while the
adapter is running. You ca n open it by double-c lick on the icon.

Right click the icon, there are some items for you to operate the config uration utility.

z Open Utility Window

Select “Open Utility Window” t o open the Co nfiguratio n Utility tool.

z Exit ZDW lan

Select “E xit Z DWla n” t o clos e the Co nfig urat io n Util ity to ol.

Before using the utility, you have to know some restrictions of the utility.

1. I f you want to connect to 11g (up to 54Mbps) network, please ensure to install the

adapter t o PC or laptop with USB 2.0 interfac e. This adapter runs at lower performance
while you connect it to the USB 1.1/1.0 por t of your comp uter instead.

2. This adapter will w or k in 11b mode when the network type is in Adhoc mode. It is

defines by Wi-Fi organizatio n. If you want to enable the data rate up to 54Mbps (11g),
please follow steps listed below .
A. Go to “Network Connections”.
B. Right Click t he “Wireless Network Connection” a nd select “Propert ies”.
C. Fr om the pop-up screen, click “Config ure”.
D. Enter i nto “Advanced” page of t he “Properties” screen.
E. Enable the sett ing of “IBSS_G _M ode” .

6.1 Wireless Connection Status

When you open the Configuration Utility, the system will scan all t he c hanne ls t o find all the
access points/s tations within the accessible r ange of your adapter and automatically
connect to the wireless device wit h the highes t sig nal strength. From the screen, you may
know all the infomration about the wireless co nnection.

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Parameter Description
Mode Stat ion – Set t he USB adapter a wireless client.

Access Point – Turns the USB adapter t o function as a wireless
AP. Please refer to Section 6.5 for the AP settings.

Network Adapter Display the product informatio n of the USB adapter.

Available Network Display all the SSID and Signal Strengt h of wireless stat ions

nearby. To re-survey t he available wireless devices please click
“Refresh”.

There are two ways t o automatica lly make the connectio n
between the USB adapter and the wireless stat ion on the list.

1. Do uble-c lic k t he wir eless sta tio n on t he list d irec tly .

2. Select the station you intend to connect and then click
“Connect this site“.

Current Networ k Information Display the information about the wireless network this adapter is

connecting to. The information incl udes Channel, Type, SSID, TX
Rate and Encrypt settings. Note: Please refer to Section 6.2 for
the description of each item.

More Sett ing For sett ing more f unctions including disable/ enable WEP and

Power Saving Mode, etc. Please refer to Section 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4.

Link Status Display the status of the wireless connectio n.

BSSID Displa y the MAC Add ress of t he netwo rk t he adapter is

connecting to.

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Parameter Description
Signal Strengt h This bar shows the signal strength le vel. The higher percentage

shown in the bar, the more radio signal been recei ved by the
adapter. This indic ator helps to find the proper posit ion of the
wireless st ation for quality network oper ation.

Link Quality This bar indicates the quality of the link. The higher the

percentage, the better the quality.

TX Frame It shows the number of data fr ames whic h are transmitted by t he

adapter successfully.

RX Frame It shows the number of data fr ames which are rec eived by the

adapter successfully.

6.2 General Connection Setting

Click “More Setting”, users are allowed to setup the wireless connection setting, Encryption
Setting of the USB adapter and other advanced funct ions.

Parameter Description
General Connectio n Setting

Channel Select the number of t he radio cha nnel used for the netw orki ng.

The channel setting of t he wireless stat ions within a network
should be the same.

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Parameter Description
Tx Rate There are severa l optio ns including

Auto/1/2/5. 5/11/6/ 9/12/18/24/ 36/48/54Mbps f or you to select .
When th e “A uto” is selec te d, t he dev ice w ill c hoose the most
suitable transmissio n rate automatically. The hig her data rat e you
designated in the network , the shorter distance is allowed
between the adapter and the wireless st ations.

When the adapter w orks in 11b mode, the ma ximum data rate is
11Mbps so that there are only “Auto/1/2/ 5.5/11M bps” options you
can select.

SSID The SSID (up to 32 printable ASCII characters) is the unique

name identified in a WLAN. The ID prevents the unintentional
merging of two c o-located WLANs.

You may specify a SSID for the adapter and then only the device
with the same SSID can interconnect to t he adapter.

Any If “Any“ check box is enabled, the adapter w ill sur vey a nd co nnect

to one of the available wireless stat ions without checking the
consistency of cha nnel and SSID with the wireless station.

Network Type Ad-Hoc – T his mode enables wireless netw ork adapter s

interconnecting w ithout through AP or Router. Select this mode if
there is no AP or Router in the network.

Infrastruct ure – This operatio n mode requires the presence of an

802.11 Access Point. All comm unication is done via the Access
Point or Router.

Change/Apply Click “ Cha nge“ w ill enab le yo u to s et up the par amet ers of

“G eneral Co n nectio n Se tt ing“. In the me a ntim e, t he butt o n will
change to “Apply“ for you to confirm your settings.

Encryption Setting In the block, users may enable/disable WEP and WPA encrypt ion

within the network. Please refer to Section 6.3 for more
description.

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Parameter Description
Authenticatio n Mode This set ting has to be consistent wit h the wireless networ ks that

the adapter intends to connect.
Open System – No authenticatio n is needed amo ng the wireless
network.

Shared Key – Only wireless statio ns us ing a shared key (WEP
Key identified) are allowed t o connect each other.

Auto – Auto switch the authenticatio n algorit hm depending on the
wireless networ ks that the adapter is connecting to.

WEP Encryption Key Setting Click t his button to setup the WEP key. Please refer to Section

6.3 for the details.

WPA Encryption Setting Click t his button to setup the WPA function. Please refer to

Section 6.3 for the details.

Profile
Profile Name You can save the network setting as a profile. To connect to the

network w ithout mak ing additional config uration, yo u can load t he
profile.

Load Load the setting values from the file in the “Profile Name“ list. The

new set t ings will b e act i vated immed iat ely.

Save Current Input a file name and click “Save Current“ to write the current

setting values to be a profile in the “Profile Name“ list.

Delete Delete the profile you select.

Other
Advanced Setting... For more advanced setting, please click it. To know more of the

setting, please refer to Section 6.4.

Information To view the version of the driver, firmware and the MAC Address

of the adapter, click the butt on.

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6.3 W EP and WPA En crypti on

WEP is an data encryption algorit hm, w hich protect s Wireless LAN data in the network
against eavesdroppi ng. WEP has been found that it has some security problems. T he
adapter supports W PA (Wi-Fi Protect ed Access) that combines IEEE 802. 1x and TKIP
(Temporal Key Integrity Prot ocol) technologies. Cl ient users are required to authorize befor e
accessing to Aps or AP Routers, and the data transmitt ed in the netw ork is
encrypted/decr ypted by a dynamically changed secr et key. This adapter is also built- in AES
engine which ensure the highest degree of security and authenticity for digital information
and it is the m ost a dvanced so l utio n defi ned by IEEE 802. 11i for the security in the wireless
network.

6.3.1 WEP Setting

Parameter Description
Key Length You may select the 64-bit, 128- bit or 256- bit to encrypt

tr ansmit te d dat a. Large r ke y length w ill pro vide hig her level o f
securit y, but t he thro ug hp ut w ill be low er .

Default Key ID Select one of the keys (1~4) as the encrypt ion key.

Key For mat Hexdecimal – Only “A-F“, “a-f“ and “0-9“ are allowed to be set as

WEP key.
ASCII – Numerical values, characters or signs are allowed to be
the WEP key. It is more recognizable for user.

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Parameter Description
Key1 ~ Key4 The keys are used t o encrypt data transmitted i n the wireless

netw ork . Fill t he te xt bo x by f ollow i ng the rule s belo w.
64-bit – Input 10-digit Hex values or 5- digit ASCII values as the
encryption keys. For exa mple: “0123456aef“ or “Guest“.

128-bit – Input 26-digit Hex val ues or 13-digit ASCII values as the
encryption keys. For example:
“012345678901234 56789abcdef “ or “administrator “.

256-bit – Input 58-digit Hex val ues or 29-digit ASCII values as the
encryption keys.

Cha nge/Ap ply Clcik “ Cha nge“ w ill enab le yo u to s et up the WEP ke y. In the

mea ntime, t he butt on will c ha nge to “Ap ply“ for yo u to conf irm
your settings.

6.3.2 WPA Setting

The adapter can automatically det ect t he WPA setting of the AP which t he adapter intends
to connect to. To connect to the AP, you should setup the same setting with the AP.

There are two kinds of WPA mode: WPA and WPA-PSK. WPA is designed for enterpr ise
which requires a RADIUS Server and Certificat e Server for t he aut hentication. WPA-PSK is
a special mode designed for home and small business users w ho do not have access to
network authenticatio n servers. I n this mode, t he user manually enters the start ing
password in their access point or gat eway, as well as in eac h wireless stations in the
network. W PA takes over automatically from that point, k eeping unauthorized users that
don't have the matching passwor d from joining the network, while encrypt ing the data
traveling betw een authorized devices.

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Parameter Description
Connect Informatio n It is the setting for WPA mode.

Protocol This adapter supports t wo kind of protocol for authentication

including TLS and PEAP. TLS a nd PEAP requires a certif icate
which is provided by the Certificat e Server. PEAP re quires a set
of user name and password in addition. To get the certif icate and
the personal user name and password, please contact wit h your
administrat or.

TLS – Select a certificate from the “Certificat e“ list.
PEAP – Input the “User Name“ and “Passwor d“ and also select a

certificate from the “Certificate“ list.

User Name It is the sett ing for PEAP p rot ocol.

Passwor d It is the sett ing for PEAP p rot ocol.

Pre- shared Key It is the sett ing for W PA-PSK mode. I nput a 8 to 63 digits of ASCII

format t o be the password for the authenticatio n within the
network.

Cert ific at e All the availab le cer tif icat es f or TLS or PEAP w ill disp lay in the

list. Please select a proper certificate f or the wireless
authentication.

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Parameter Description
WEP Key If the AP uses WEP data encryption function, pleas e clcik “WEP

KEY SETTING“ to setup the WEP key.

WEP KEY SETTING Setup the four sets of WEP key by clicking the button.

Cha nge/Ap ply Clcik “ Cha nge“ w ill enab le yo u to s et up the WPA se tt i ng. I n the

mea ntime, t he butt on will c ha nge to “Ap ply“ for yo u to conf irm
your settings.

6.4 Advanced Settings

The “Advanced Sett ing” allows user to enable/disable country roaming and power
consumption mode, set up the fragmentation threshold a nd RTS/CTS threshold of t he
adapter.

Parameter Description
User Interf ace Select the display language of the utility. Two languages are

enabled: Englis h and Chinese.

Countr y Roami ng IEEE 802.11d ( Country Roaming) is a standard that e nable the

wireless devices w ork at the proper transmission power and radio
channel regulated by the country where the user is located.
World Mode – Enable the country r oaming function, t he adapter
will f ollow t he sett ing of the co nnect i ng AP a uto matic al ly.
User Select – Disable the country roami ng function, users can
select the country where they are located. The channel sett ing
differs from country user selected.

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Parameter Description
Po w e r Co ns u mp t i o n Se t t i ng Continuous Access Mode (C AM) – The adapter will alw ay s set

in active mode.

Maximum Power-Sav ing Mode – E nable the adapter in the
power saving mode when it is idle.

Fast Power-Saving M ode – Enable the adapter in the power
saving mode when it is idle, but some components of t he adapter
is st ill ali ve. In t his mode , t he pow er c onsumpt io n is lar ger tha n
“Max“ mode.

Fragementatio n Threshold The value defines the ma ximum size of packets, any packet size

larger than the value will be fragmented. If you have decreased
this value and experie nce high packet error rates, you can
increase it again, but it will lik ely d ecr ease over al l netw or k
perfor mance. Select a s etting within a range of 256 to 2346 byt es.
Minor change is recommended.

RTS / CTS Threshold Minimum packet size required f or an RTS/CTS (Request To

Send/Clear to Send). For packet s smaller than t his threshold, an
RTS/CTS is not sent and the packet is transmitted directly to the
WLAN. Select a sett ing within a range of 0 to 2347 bytes. Minor
change is recommended

6.5 Software AP Mode

This adapter can run as a wireless AP. The relative co nfigurations of t he AP inc ludi ng
channel, SSID, MAC Address Filter ing, WEP encryption and so on are descr ibed as follows.

6. 5 .1 A P Connect ion Sta tus

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Parameter Description
Mode Stat ion – Set t he USB adapter a wireless client.

Access Point – Turns the USB adapter t o function as a wireless
AP.

Network Adapter Display the product informatio n of the USB Adapter.

Connect Station List Display all the MAC Addr esses of t he wireless adapters which are

connecting to t he AP.

Current Network Setting Display the connection setting of the current network. It includes

Chan nel, SSID, WEP a nd TX Power Leve l.

More Sett ing For sett ing more f unctions including disable/ enable WEP, MAC

Address Filter and Bridge Adapter , etc . Please refer to Section

6.5.2.

TX Frame It shows the number of data fr ames whic h are transmitted by t he

AP successf ully.

RX Frame It shows the number of data fr ames which are rec eived by the AP

successfully.

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6.5.2 AP General Co nnecti o n Setti ng

Click “More Setting”, users are allowed to setup the AP connection setting, Encryption
Setting and other advanced functio ns.

Parameter Description
General Connectio n Setting

Channel Select the number of t he radio channel used by the AP. The

wireless adapter s which connects to the AP should set up the
same channel.

Basic Rate Select the basic data transmission speed s upports by the AP.

When the AP works in 11b mode, the ma ximum data rate is
11Mbps so that there are tw o options incl uding “1, 2 Mbps“ and
“1, 2, 5.5, 11Mbps” you can select.

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Parameter Description
Tx Rate There are severa l optio ns including

Auto/1/2/5. 5/11/6/ 9/12/18/24/ 36/48/54Mbps f or you to select .
When th e “A uto” is selec te d, t he dev ice w ill c hoose the most
suitable transmissio n rate automatically. The hig her data rat e you
designated in the network , the shorter distance is allowed
between the adapter and the wireless st ations.

When the adapter w orks in 11b mode, the ma ximum data rate is
11Mbps so that there are only “Auto/1/2/ 5.5/11M bps” options you
can select.

SSID The SSID (up to 32 printable ASCII characters) is the unique

name identified in a WLAN. The ID prevents the unintentional
merging of two c o-located WLANs.

The default SSID of the AP is WLAN_AP. Wireless adapter s
connect to the AP should set up the same SSID as the AP.

Hide SSI D If “Hide SSI D“ c heck bo x is e nabl ed, the AP w ill not appear in the

site survey list of any wireless adapter s. It means Only the
wireless adapter s set the same SSID can connect to the AP. It
aviods the AP being connected by unauthorize d users.

Tx Power There are four levels for you to setup the transmission power of

the AP. The higher transmission power, the larger tr ansmiss ion
distance and wireless coverage.

Change/Apply Clc i k “ Cha ng e “ w ill e nable y o u to se tup the pa ramet er s of

“G eneral Co n nectio n Se tt ing“. In the me a ntim e, t he butt o n will
change to “Apply“ for you to confirm your settings.

WEP Enable or disable WEP encryption f unction. If the WEP function is

enabled, only wireless adapter s with the same default key and
WEP key setting can connect t o the AP.

Setting Click “Setting“ to setup the WEP key. Please refer to Section 6.3

for more description.

Authenticatio n Mode O pen System – No aut henticatio n is needed for connecting to the

AP.

Shared Key – Only wireless adapters using a shared key ( W EP Key
identified) are allowed to connecting to the AP.

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Parameter Description
Fragement The val ue defines the maximum size of packet s, any packet size

larger than the value will be fragmented. If you have decreased
this value and experie nce high packet error rates, you can
increase it again, but it will lik ely d ecr ease over al l netw or k
perfor mance. Select a s etting within a range of 256 to 2346 byt es.
Minor change is recommended.

RTS / CTS Minimum packet size required f or an RTS/CTS (Request To

Send/Clear to Send). For packet s smaller than t his threshold, an
RTS/CTS is not sent and the packet is transmitted directly to the
WLAN. Select a sett ing within a range of 0 to 2347 bytes. Minor
change is recommended.

Prea mble The prea mble de fi nes t he le ngt h of t he CRC bl ock f or

communication amo ng the wireless network s. There are two
modes including Long and Short . High network traff ic areas
should use the shorter pr eamble type.

MAC Address Filter This AP can protect from the unauthorized users by M AC Address

filtering. Please ref er to Section 6.5.3.

Bridge Adapter Wireless adapter s connect to the AP can access to the wired

network through the bridge adapter . Y ou can select an Ethernet
adapter in the list be the bridge between the wireless a nd wired
networks.

6.5.3 MA C A ddress Filte r

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Parameter Description
Filter Type Disab le – Disable the MAC Address f ilter function.

Accept – Only the wireless adapters w ith the MAC Address setup
in the table can connect to t he AP.
Reject – The wireless adapters with the MAC Address setup in
the ta ble w ill be r ejec ted to c onnect to the AP.

Filter MAC Address MAC Address is a unique identificatio n for hardware devices in

the network. I t is a 12-digit hexadeci mal values.

There are fifty set s of MAC Add res s can set up i n the t able. Fill t he
MAC Addresses of w ireless adapters you want to accept or reject
to access the AP in this table.

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7 Troubleshooting

This chapter provides solutio ns to problems usually encountered d uring the installat ion and
operation of the adapter.

1. What is the IEEE 802.11g standard?

802.11g is the new IEEE sta ndar d for high-speed w ireless LAN communicatio ns that
provides for up to 54 M bps data rate in the 2.4 GHz band. 802.11g is quickly becomi ng
the next mainstream wireless LA N technology for t he home, of fice and public networks.

802.11g defines t he use of the same OFDM modulation technique specified i n IEEE

802.11a for the 5 GHz frequency band and applies it i n the same 2.4 GHz freq uency
band as IEEE 802. 11b. T he 802.11g standard req uires backward compatibility w ith

802.11b.

The standard specifica lly calls for :

A. A new physical layer f or the 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) in the 2.4 G Hz

frequency band, know n as the exte nded rate PHY (ERP). The ERP adds OFDM as
a mandatory new coding scheme for 6, 12 and 24 Mbps (mandatory speeds) , and
18, 36, 48 and 54 Mbps (optional speeds). The ERP includes t he modulation
schemes found in 802.11b includi ng CCK for 11 and 5.5 Mbps and Barker code
modulation for 2 and 1 Mbps.

B. A prot ection mechanism called RTS/CTS t hat governs how 802.11g devices and

802.11b devices interoper ate.

2. What is the IEEE 802.11b standard？

The IEEE 802.11b Wireless LA N standard subcommittee, which formulates the
standard for t he industry. The objecti ve is to enable w ireless LAN hardwar e from
different manufactures to communicate.

3. What does IEEE 802. 11 featur e support？

The product supports the following IEEE 802.11 f unctions:

z CSMA/CA plus Acknowledge Protoc ol
z Multi-C ha n nel Roam i ng
z Automatic Rate Selection
z RTS/CTS Feature
z Fragmentation
z Power Management

4. What is Ad-hoc？

An Ad- hoc integrated w ireless LAN is a group of computers, each has a Wireless LAN
adapter, Connected as an indepe ndent wireless LA N. Ad hoc wir eless LAN is
applicable at a depart mental scale for a branch or SOHO operation.

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5. What is Infrastr ucture？

An integr ated wireless a nd wireless and wired LAN is called an Infrast ructure
configuration. Infrastructure is applicable to enterprise scale for wireless access to
central database, or wireless applicatio n for mobile workers.

6. What is BSS ID？

A specif ic Ad hoc LA N is call ed a Bas ic Serv ice Set (BSS) . Comp uter s in a BSS must
be configured with the same BSS ID.

7. What is WEP？

WEP is Wired Equivalent Privacy, a data pr ivacy mechanism based on a 40 bit shared
key algorithm, as descr ibed in the IEEE 802 .11 st andard.

8. What is TKIP?

TKIP is a quick-fix method to quickly overcom e the inherent weaknesses in WEP
security, especially t he reuse of encryption keys. TKI P is invo lved in the IEEE 802.11i
WLAN security st andard, and the spec ificatio n might be officially released by early

2003.

9. What is AES?

AES (Ad vanced E ncrypt io n Sta ndard), a chip-b ased s ec urity, has bee n devel oped to
ensure the highest degree of security and authenticity for digital inform atio n, wherever
and however communicated or st ored, while making more eff icient use of hardware
and/or softw are than pre vious encryption sta ndards. It is also included in IEEE 802. 11 i
standard. Compare with AES, TKI P is a temporary prot ocol for replacing WEP security
until ma nufacturers imple me nt AES at t he hardw ar e level.

10. Can Wireles s products suppor t printer sharing？

Wireless products perf orm the same function as LAN products. Therefore, W ireless
products can work with Netware, Windows 2000, or other LAN operati ng systems to
support printer or file shari ng.

11. Would the infor mation be intercept ed whi le transmitt ing on air？

WLAN features two-fold protection in security. On the hardware side, as with Direct
Sequence Spread Spectr um technology, it has the inherent secur ity feat ure of
scrambling. On the software side, WLAN series offer the encryption function (WEP) to
enhance security and Access Control. Users can set it up depending upon their needs.

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12. What is DSSS？What is FHSS？ And what are their diff erences？

Frequency-hoppi ng spread-spectr um (FHSS) uses a narrowba nd carrier that changes
frequency in a patter n that is know n to both transmitter and receiver. Proper ly
synchroni zed, the net effect is to maintain a single logical channel. To a n unintended
receiver, FHSS appears t o be short-duration impulse noise. Direct-seq uence spread­spectrum (DSSS) generat es a redundant bit patt ern for each bit to be transmitted. This
bit patt ern is called a chip (or chipping code). The longer the chip is, the greater the
probability t hat the original data can be recovered. Even if one or more bits in the chip
are damaged during transmiss ion, stat istical techniques embedded in the radio ca n
recover the original data w ithout-the need for r etransmission. To an unintended
receiver, DSSS appears as low power wideband noise and is rejected (ignored) by
most narrowband receiver s.

13. What is Spread Spectrum？

Spread Spectrum technology is a w ideband radio frequency techniq ue developed by
the military for use in reliable, secure, mission-critical communication systems. It is
designed to trade off bandwidth efficiency for reliability, integrity, and security. In other
words, more bandwidt h is consumed than in the case of narrowband transmission, but
the trade off produces a signal that is, in effect , louder and thus easier t o detect,
provided that the receiver knows the paramet ers of the spread- spectrum signal being
broadcast. If a receiver is not tuned to the rig ht frequency, a spread –spect rum signal
looks like background noise. There are two main alternatives, Direct Sequence Spread
Spect rum (DSSS) a nd Freq uency Hoppi ng Spread Spectr um (FHSS).

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