IEEE Revises 802.11 Standard

IEEE announced the publication of IEEE 802.11-2012 standard, which defines the technology for wireless local area network (LAN) products.

IEEE 802.11-2012 is the fourth revision of the standard to be released since its initial publication in 1997. In addition to incorporating various technical updates and enhancements, IEEE 802.11-2012 consolidates 10 amendments to the base standard that were approved since IEEE 802.11's last full revision, in 2007.

IEEE 802.11n, for example, defined MAC and PHY modifications to enable much higher throughputs, with a maximum of 600Mb/s; other amendments that have been incorporated into IEEE 802.11-2012 addressed direct-link setup, “fast roam,”radio resource measurement, operation in the 3650-3700MHz band, vehicular environments, mesh networking, security, broadcast/multicast and unicast data delivery, interworking with external networks and network management.

“The new IEEE 802.11 release is the product of an evolutionary process that has played out over five years and drawn on the expertise and efforts of hundreds of participants worldwide. More than 300 voters from a sweeping cross-section of global industry contributed to the new standard, which has roughly doubled in size since its last published revision,” said Bruce Kraemer, chair of the IEEE 802.11 working group.

The new IEEE 802.11-2012 now supports devices and networks that are faster, secure, and also provide improved cellular network hand-off, says a release.

IEEE 802.11 standards, often referred to as Wi-Fi, already underpin wireless networking applications around the world, such as wireless access to the Internet from offices, homes, airports, hotels, restaurants, trains and aircraft around the world.

IEEE 802.11defines one MAC and several PHY specifications for wireless connectivity for fixed, portable and mobile stations.