Wi-Fi WLAN
Wi-Fi (WLAN, IEEE 802.11)
Wi-Fi, or IEEE 802.11, is the standard for wireless LANs, or WLANs. The abbreviation Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity, and resembles the Hi-Fi acronym. It represents a whole collection of protocols within the same family of Ethernet and Token Ring.
It is specified by various IEEE 802.11 specifications.
IEEE 802.11 sends network packets from the sending host to one (Unicast) or more (Multicast/Broadcast) receiving hosts.
The 802.11 protocols specify a wireless shared network, which means that the maximum bandwidth is only available to one user at a time.
The basic 802.11 standards are:
Some additional 802.11 standards are:
Wi-Fi, or IEEE 802.11, is the standard for wireless LANs, or WLANs. The abbreviation Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity, and resembles the Hi-Fi acronym. It represents a whole collection of protocols within the same family of Ethernet and Token Ring.
It is specified by various IEEE 802.11 specifications.
IEEE 802.11 sends network packets from the sending host to one (Unicast) or more (Multicast/Broadcast) receiving hosts.
The 802.11 protocols specify a wireless shared network, which means that the maximum bandwidth is only available to one user at a time.
802.11 Standards
The basic 802.11 standards are:
- 802.11 (2MBit/s 2.4GHz) First generation of WLAN equipment; allows 1 and 2 Mbps.
- 802.11b (11MBit/s 2.4GHz) Second generation of WLAN equipment, and the first generation to receive widespread use; allows 1, 2, 5.5 and 11 Mbps.
- 802.11a (54MBit/s 5GHz)
- 802.11g (54MBit/s 2.4GHz)
- 802.11n Enhancements for Higher Throughput
Some additional 802.11 standards are:
- 802.11i (Security WPA1 and WPA2) No change to data rate. Improvement in security.
- 802.11h (Spectrum and Transmit Power Management)
- 802.11e (Quality of service, packet busting)
- 802.11d International (country-to-country) roaming extensions
- 802.11f Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP)
- 802.11j Extensions for Japan
none.