- A WLAN allows clients to connect to a network via radio frequency (RF) signals through the air rather than physical wires. This is in contrast to a wired network which uses physical transmission media like cables. - In a basic WLAN infrastructure, there is at least one access point (AP) that acts as the central server. The AP receives frames from the wired network and transmits them as radio signals to connected wireless clients. - Wireless clients find and connect to available networks by scanning for network access points and the SSIDs (network names) they broadcast. An AP regularly sends out beacon frames advertising its SSID, which clients can detect during a scan.