Native Wi-Fi WLAN (Windows CE 5.0)

Send Feedback

Windows CE includes support for Native Wi-Fi wireless local area networks (WLANs). Native 802.11 specifies a wireless LAN framework that provides an improved 802.11 user experience, and lower 802.11 device and infrastructure deployments costs. Native 802.11 provides enhanced wireless networking options such as security power management, roaming, load balancing, Quality of Service (QoS), and location awareness.

Native 802.11 is a unified infrastructure, and allows you to configure a wireless network adapter into either a station (STA) or an access point (AP) through a user interface. By supporting Native 802.11 miniport driver interfaces, a network adapter can take advantage of all the Native 802.11 services. These include cooperative roaming, location awareness, and power management. Native 802.11 allows you to configure a single network adapter for use both in infrastructure networks, where an AP functions as a bridge between wired and wireless LANs, as well as in ad hoc networks.

Windows CE supports the following scenarios for the use of Native Wi-Fi:

  • Native Wi-Fi access point
  • Native Wi-Fi station

In This Section

Send Feedback on this topic to the authors

Feedback FAQs

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.