In mobile or wireless communication, the air interface is the radio-based communication link between the mobile station and the active base station. In GSM/UMTS, the various UTRA standards are air interfaces, and are also (but not exclusively) referred to as "access modes".
In the OSI model, the air interface comprises layers 1 and 2 of the mobile communications system, establishing a point-to-point link between the mobile station and the base station.
Famous quotes containing the word air:
“Up from the South at break of day,
Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,
The affrighted air with a shudder bore,
Like a herald in haste, to the chieftain’s door,
The terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar,
Telling the battle was on once more,
And Sheridan twenty miles away.”
—Thomas Buchanan Read (1822–1872)