802.11ac is the fifth-generation 802.11 standard and is also known as Wi-Fi 5 (or WiFi 5). Through various technological innovations, 802.11ac achieves a qualitative leap in the wireless transmission rate — from 600 Mbit/s supported in 802.11n to 6.93 Gbit/s, bringing infinite possibilities for more application scenarios that depend on heavy-traffic wireless transmission. Currently, 802.11ac has been widely used in wireless network communication for enterprises and homes, which greatly changes the way we work and live.
How Does 802.11ac Emerge?
Since the IEEE launched the first-generation 802.11 standard in 1997, wireless access has gradually taken the leading position in Internet access. 802.11 standards have also evolved accordingly. The 802.11 standard evolution is closely related to various changes, such as the emergence of smart home terminals, the popularization of wireless office campus, and the application of wireless terminals in shopping malls, supermarkets, manufacturing, warehouses, and other scenarios. To adapt to new service scenarios and narrow the gap with wired network bandwidth, the IEEE officially launched the 802.11ac standard in 2013. Inheriting the 802.11n architecture, 802.11ac optimizes the channel bandwidth, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), and modulation mode and introduces new technologies, while remaining compatible with 802.11n. 802.11ac greatly increases the throughput from 600 Mbit/s to 6.93 Gbit/s, bringing infinite possibilities for more application scenarios that depend on heavy-traffic wireless communication.
802.11 standard evolution
What Are 802.11ac Wave 1 and 802.11ac Wave 2?
To quickly market 802.11ac for the rapidly increasing traffic requirements, the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) defined 802.11ac as two generations: Wave 1 and Wave 2, in 2013 and 2015, respectively. The following figure shows the differences between the two 802.11ac generations defined by the WFA and the IEEE 802.11ac standard.
Differences between the two 802.11ac generations defined by the WFA and the IEEE 802.11ac standard
For more information, see 802.11ac
