Wi-Fi Standard Evolution Highlighted

Hello,

Today I would like to share with you Wi-Fi standard evolution.

To understand Wi-Fi, you cannot bypass the Wi-Fi standard. As we all know, in the field of communication, devices at both ends can communicate only by using the same/compatible protocols and standards. To clarify the development context of Wi-Fi standards will help everyone better understand Wi-Fi.

In fact, Wi-Fi is just a certification name, and we can see it on Wi-Fi products. Its core standard is the IEEE 802.11 series of WLAN (Wireless Local Area Networks) standards.

Let’s talk about the landmark IEEE 802.11-1997, IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac protocols in the IEEE802.1 series of protocols, and see how the Wi-Fi rate has changed from the initial few megabits. The bit/s is upgraded to the current gigabit/s.

• IEEE 802.11-1997: Laying the foundation

In 1990, the IEEE 802 standardization committee established the IEEE 802.11 standard working group. In 1997, the IEEE 802.11-1997 standard was released. The physical layer works in the 2.4G frequency band. The total data transmission rate is designed to be 2Mbit/s. The WLAN communication protocol to the MAC layer lays the foundation for subsequent protocols.

• IEEE 802.11b: Working at 2.4GHz, the rate is increased to 11Mbit/s

In 1999, IEEE introduced the IEEE 802.11a and IEEE802.11b protocols.

IEEE802.11b has made technical improvements on the basis of IEEE 802.11-1997, and still works in the 2.4GHz frequency band, increasing the communication rate to 11Mbit/s. At that time, the 2.4GHz frequency band was available in most countries, and IEEE 802.11b was widely used.

In order to ensure good compatibility of WLAN products from different manufacturers, some WLAN equipment manufacturers jointly established an industrial alliance—Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), which was later renamed the well-known Wi-Fi Alliance. The Wi-Fi Alliance has established a test program to verify the compatibility of 802.11b products, called Wi-Fi certification. Products certified through this program can use the Wi-Fi certification mark. Later, the scope of Wi-Fi certification was gradually extended to the entire IEEE 802.11 series of standards.

Today, the IEEE 802.11 series of standards have become the most popular WLAN standard in the world, and Wi-Fi is widely used to replace the entire IEEE 802.11 series of standards. This is why we often mix Wi-Fi and WLAN.

• IEEE 802.11a: Working at 5GHz, introducing OFDM technology

IEEE 802.11a works in the 5GHz frequency band, and uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology at the physical layer, which can effectively reduce the impact of multipath attenuation and increase the utilization of spectrum, making IEEE 802.11a The rate is increased to 54Mbit/s.

However, due to the slow development of 5GHz components of IEEE802.11a, the higher cost, and the limited use of 5GHz channels, although IEEE802.11a has a higher rate, it has not been commercially available on a large scale.

• IEEE 802.11g: Use OFDM technology in the 2.4GHz frequency band

In 2001, the United States lifted the restriction that OFDM technology was not allowed to be used in the 2.4GHz frequency band. Therefore, in the IEEE 802.11g standard released in 2003, the 2.4GHz frequency band applied OFDM technology, which increased the rate of the 2.4GHz frequency band to 54Mbit/ s, and backward compatible with IEEE 802.11b. The introduction of IEEE 802.11g satisfies people's demand for bandwidth at that time and greatly promotes the development of WLAN.

• IEEE 802.11n: Working in dual frequency bands, introducing MIMO, channel bonding technology

The IEEE 802.11n protocol launched in 2009, Working in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, it has introduced MIMO and 40MHz bandwidth technologies to increase the rate of 2.4GHz and 5GHz to 600Mbit/s, and is backward compatible with IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, and IEEE 802.11g.

• IEEE 802.11ac: Working in the 5GHz frequency band, further improvement

After the introduction of the IEEE 802.11n protocol, the IEEE began to formulate the next-generation WLAN standard protocol-IEEE 802.11ac. The IEEE 802.11ac standard was officially released in 2013. It is based on IEEE 802.11n and has made technical improvements. Its working frequency band is 5GHz, and the theoretical rate can reach up to 6.933Gbit/s. It is backward compatible with IEEE802.11a and IEEE 802.11n.

• IEEE 802.11ax: the next-generation protocol under development

People's pursuit of high bandwidth has never stopped. The WLAN standard currently under development is IEEE802.11ax, which is expected to be officially released in 2019. IEEE802.11ax works in 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands and is backward compatible with 11a/b/g/n/ac. The 802.11ax device exhibited at the 2018 International Consumer Electronics Show has a maximum speed of 11 Gbit/s.

The following table shows the technical specifications of the IEEE 802.11 series of standards.

Huawei single-band ONT products support the IEEE 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz) protocol, and dual-band ONT products support the IEEE 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz) and IEEE 802.11 a/n/ac (5GHz) protocols.

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