Client Adapters
Parts of the client adapter

The client adapter is composed of three major parts, as shown in Figure . The three parts of a wireless client adapter are a radio, antenna, and LED. Each one is described below.

Radio
The radio transmits data over a half-duplex radio channel operating up to 54 Mbps depending on the wireless technology.

Antenna
The type of antenna used depends on the client adapter, as follows:

  • PC cards have an integrated, permanently attached diversity antenna. The benefit of the diversity antenna system is improved coverage. The system works by allowing the card to switch and sample between its two antenna ports in order to select the optimum port for receiving data packets. As a result, the card has a better chance of maintaining the radio frequency (RF) connection in areas of interference. The antenna is housed within the section of the card that hangs out of the PC card slot when the card is installed.
  • LM cards are shipped without an antenna, although an antenna can be connected through the external connector of the card. If a snap-on antenna is used it should be operated in diversity mode. Otherwise, the antenna mode used should correspond to the antenna port to which the antenna is connected.
  • PCI client adapters are shipped with a 2 dBi dipole antenna that attaches to the antenna connector on the adapter. However, other types of antennas may be used. PCI client adapters can be operated through the right antenna port only.

Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs)
The client adapter has two light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that glow or blink to indicate the status of the adapter or to convey error indications . The LEDs and their interpretation are described for the PC Card in Figure .

The green LED on the PC card is the status LED. It has several modes of operation:

  • Blinking once every half-second indicates that the card is operating in infrastructure mode and is scanning for an access point with which to associate.
  • Blinking on once every two seconds means that the card is in infrastructure mode and is associated to an access point.
  • A solid green light means that the card is operating in ad hoc mode and will not communicate with an AP.

The amber LED is the RF Traffic LED. It has two primary modes of operation:

  • Blinking amber LED light indicates RF traffic
  • A amber LED indicates that the card is resetting and is not in an operational mode. Typically this means that the driver has not been installed properly or has not loaded properly.

All possible ON/OFF combinations of the two LEDs are shown in the table in Figure .