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XBee® Wi-Fi RF Modules

XBee® Wi-Fi Standards

The XBee Wi-Fi module will operate in three of the available 802.11 standards.

802.11 b

The 802.11b standard was approved in July 1999 and can be considered the second

generation. 802.11b operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency ISM band. The data rate is from

1 to 11 Mbps.

802.11 g

The 802.11g standard was approved in 2003. It provides a maximum data rate of 54

Mbps. In addition, the standard is also fully backwards-compatible with existing 802.11b

wireless networks.

802.11 n

The 802.11n standard was approved in 2009. It provides for data rates up to 300Mbps.

The XBee® Wi-Fi module uses the single stream n mode with 20MHz bandwidth and is

capable of up to 72.2 Mbps over the air in n mode.

Encryption

Encryption is a method of scrambling a message that makes it unreadable to unwanted

parties, adding a degree of secure communications. There are different protocols for

providing encryption, and the XBee Wi-Fi module supports WPA, WPA2, and WEP.

Authentication

Authentication deals with proving the identity of the wireless device attempting to

associate with the network. There are different methods of doing this. The XBee Wi-Fi

module supports Open and Shared Key.

Open

Open Authentication is when the access point simply accepts the wireless devices

identity without verifying or proving it. The benefits to this is simplicity and

compatibility (all devices can do it).

Shared Key

Shared Key is when the wireless devices must present the proper key to get on the

network. Although Shared Key has more security than Open Authentication it should

not be considered secure. One of the benefits of Shared Key Authentication is simplicity.

Channels

The XBee® Wi-Fi modules operate in the 2412-2472 MHz range. The frequency range is

broken down into 13 channels. Data is transmitted on a channel by radio frequencies

over a certain frequency range. In order to avoid bad performance caused by the

overlapping (“collision”) of channel frequencies in a wireless LAN environment, it is very

important that the channels of neighboring access points are selected accordingly.

Digi XBee Manual

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