IEEE 802.11: Standards and Amendments
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Standards and Amendments
| Protocol (802.11...) | Release Date | Frequency (GHz) | Bandwidth Min-Max (MHz) | Data Rate (Mbit/s) | Modulation | Other Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Completed | ||||||
| - | Jun 1997 | 2.4 | 22 | 1-2 | DSSS, FHSS | This was the 802.11 legacy. It was released in 1997 and clarified in 1999, but it is obsolete today. It specified two net bit rates of 1 or 2 Mbit/s, forward error correction code, 3 alternative physical layer technologies, diffuse infrared operating 1 Mbit/s, frequency-hopping spread spectrum operating at 1 or 2 Mbit/s, and direct-sequence spread spectrum operating at 1 or 2 Mbit/s. |
| a | Sep 1999 | 5, 3.7 | 20 | 1.5-54 | OFDM | This was originally described as clause 17 in the 1999 specification. Now the OFDM waveform at the 5.8 GHz is redefined in clause 18 of the 2012 specification and provides protocols with transmission and reception of data at rates up to 54 MBit/s. This protocol has seen significant use in corporate workspaces. The original amendment is no longer valid, but the term "802.11a" is still used by wireless access point manufacturers to describe system that use 5.8 GHz and function at 54 Mbit/s. Since the 2.4 GHz band is heavily used, it often is heavily crowded, but using the relatively unused 5 GHz band gives this protocol a major advantage. Unfortunately, the high carrier frequency (5 GHz) has a much smaller range due to its smaller wavelength. In practice, protocols such as 802.11b will feature less interference and better throughput. (Known as OFDM Waveform) |
| b | Sep 1999 | 2.4 | 22 | 1-11 | DSSS | This standard uses the same media access method defined in the original standard. The protocol is a direct extension of the modulation technique defined in the original standard. This dramatic increase in the throughput of the standard along with lower costs led to rapid acceptance of 802.11b as the definitive wireless LAN technology. This standard was first widely accepted before a, g, n, and ac. |
| c | October 1998 | This is an amendment to the IEEE 802.1D MAC bridging standard to incorporate bridging in wireless bridges or access points. The work is now part of IEEE 802.1D-2004. IEEE 802.1D adds requirement associated with bridging 802.11 wireless client devices. In particular it adds a sub clause under "2.5 Support of the Internal Sublayer Service" to cover bridge operations with 802.11 MACs. | ||||
| d | 2001 | International (country-to-country) roaming extensions. | ||||
| e | Enhancements like QoS including packet bursting. | |||||
| F | 2003 | Inter-Access Point Protocol (withdrawn February 2006) | ||||
| g | Jun 2003 | 2.4 | 20 | 6-54 | OFDM, DSSS, | This is the third modulation standard that was ratified in 2003. It utilizes the 2.4 GHz band just like 802.11b, but it uses the same OFDM based transmission scheme as 802.11a, It features a maximum bit rate of 54 Mbit/s or an average throughput of 22 Mbit/s. Unfortunately, this standard is fully backward compatible with 802.aab hardware and therefore is encumbered with legacy issues that reduce throughput when compared to 802.11a by 21%. |
| h | 2004 | Spectrum Managed 802.11a (5 GHz) for European compatibility | ||||
| i | 2004 | Enhanced security. | ||||
| j | 2004 | Extensions for Japan. | ||||
| - | 2007 | The task group TGma rolled up all of the amendments to the 1999 version of 802.11 and created this document which contained 802.11a, b, d, e, g, h, i, and j. This was originally called REVma or 802.11ma. | ||||
| k | 2008 | Radio resource measurement enhancements. | ||||
| n | Oct 2009 | 2.4, 5 | 20 | 7.2-72.2 | OFDM | This protocol is an amendment which improves previous standards by adding multiple-input multiple-output antennas (MIMO). This standard operates on both the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz bands, although support for 5 GHz is optional. |
| 40 | 15-150 | |||||
| p | July 2010 | Wireless Access for the Vehicular Environment (WAVE) such as ambulances and passenger cars. | ||||
| r | 2008 | Fast BSS transition (FT). | ||||
| s | July 2011 | Mesh Networking, Extended Service Set (ESS). | ||||
| T | Wireless Performance Prediction (WPP), test methods and metrics Recommendation (cancelled). | |||||
| u | Improvements related to HotSpots and 3rd party authorization of clients such as cellular network offload. | |||||
| v | February 2011 | Wireless network management. | ||||
| w | September 2009 | Protected Management Frames. | ||||
| y | 2008 | 2650-3700 MHz Operation in the U.S. | ||||
| z | September 2010 | Extensions to Direct Link Setup (DLS). | ||||
| - | 2012 | The task group TGmb rolled up all of the amendments since the 2007 roll up to create a new 802.11 standard. Originally known as REVmb or 802.11mb, this roll up features merged ten amendments (802.11k, r, y, n, w, p, z, v, u, and s). | ||||
| aa | June 2012 | Robust streaming of Audio Video Transport Streams. | ||||
| ac | Dec 2013 | 5 | 20 | 7.2-96.3 | OFDM | This protocol builds on 802.11n. It changes 802.11n to include wider channels (80 or 160 MHz versus 40 MHz) in the 5 GHz band, more spatial streams (8 versus 4), higher order modulation (up to 256-QAM versus 64-QAM), and addition of Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). AS of October 2013, high-end implementations support 80 MHz channels, three spatial streams, and 256-QAM, yielding a data rate of up to 433.3 MBit/s per spatial stream, 1300 MBit/s total, in 80 MHz channels in the 5 Ghz band. Additionally vendors have announced plans to release "Wave 2" devices that support 160 MHz channels, four spatial streams, and MU-MIMO in 2014 and 2015. |
| 40 | 15-200 | |||||
| 80 | 32.5-433.3 | |||||
| 160 | 65-866.7 | |||||
| ad | Dec 2012 | 60 | 2160 | up to 6912 | OFDN | This protocol is an amendment that defines a new physical layer for 802.11 networks to operate in the 60 Ghz millimeter wave spectrum. These products are brought to market under the WiGig brand name. Transmission rate of this protocol is 7 Gbit/s. |
| ae | March 2012 | Prioritization of Management Frames. | ||||
| af | OFDM | This protocol is referred to as "White-Fi" and "Super Wi-Fi," and it is an amendment to allow WLAN operation in TV white space spectrum in VHF and UHF bands between 54 and 790 MHz. It uses cognitive radio technology to transmit on unused TV channels, with the standard taking measures to limit interference for primary users, such as analog TV, digital TV, and wireless microphones. Access points and stations determine their position using GPS and check the Internet to query a geolocation database (GDB) provided by a regional regulatory agency to discover what frequency channels are available for use at a given time and position. The physical layer is based on 802.11ac, but the propagation path loss as well the attenuation by materials are lower in the UHF and VHF bands than in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. The frequency bands are 6 to 8 MHz wide, depending on the regulatory domain. MIMO operation is possible with up to four streams used for either space-time block code (STBC) or multi-use (MU) operation. The achievable data rate per spatial stream is 26.7 Mbit/s for 6 and 7 MHz channels and 35.6 Mbit/s for 8 MHz channels. With four spatial streams and four bonded channels, the maximum data rate is 426.7 Mbit/s for 6 and 7 MHz channels and 568.9 Mbit/s for 8 MHz channels. | ||||
| In Progress | ||||||
| mc | December 2015 | Roll-up of 802.11-2012 + aa, ac, ad, ae, and af to be published as 802.11-2015. | ||||
| ah | March 2016 | 0.9 | This protocol is a new WLAN system operating at sub 1 GHz license-exempt bands that will be approved for operating March 2016. Due to improved propagation characteristics for low frequency signals, this protocol has improved transmission range compared with conventional 802.11 WLANs operating at 2.4 or 5 GHz. | |||
| ai | November 2015 | This is a standard that adds new mechanisms for a faster initial link setup time. | ||||
| aj | June 2016 | 45, 60 | This is a rebranding of 802.11ad for use in the 45 GHz unlicensed spectrum available in some regions of the word such as China. | |||
| ak | May 2016 | General Links | ||||
| aq | July 2016 | This protocol is an amendment to the 802.11 standard that will enable pre-association discovery of serves. It should extend some of the mechanisms in the 802.11u that enabled device discovery to further discover the services running on a device or provided by a network. | ||||
| ax | May 2018 | 2.4, 5 | This is the successor to 802.11ac that will increase the efficiency of WLAN networks. This project has the goal of providing 4x the throughput for 802.11ac. | |||
Both the terms "standard" and "amendment" are used when referring to the different variants of IEEE standards. As far as the IEEE Standards Association is concerned, there is only one current standard which is denoted by IEEE 802.11 followed by the date that it was published. IEEE 802.11-2012 is the only version currently in publication. The standard is updated by means of amendments. Amendments are created by task groups (TG). Both the task group and their finished document are denoted by 802.11 followed by a non-capitalized letter. For example IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11b. Updating 802.11 is the responsibility of task group m. In order to create a new version, TGm combines the previous version of the standard and all published amendments. TGm also provides clarification and interpretation to industry on published documents. New versions of the IEEE 802.11 were published in 1999, 2007, and 2012. The next is expected in 2015.