Subject: [NEXTEL-1] IEEE Plots Speedier WLAN

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 16:39:14 -0400

Working Group Seeks Speed Boost for 802.11 Networks

The High Throughput Study Group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers is working to boost the speeds of 802.11 networks, reports said. A
proposed standard, tentatively called 802.11n, to be completed in 2005 or 2006
would offer speeds up to 108 Megabits per second.

===============================================

IEEE Plots Speedier WLAN
04.10.03

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) is working on
a
revision to the 802.11 specification that will ramp up the speed of the wireless
LAN
networking standard to at least 108 Mbit/s, double the rate of today's 802.11a
standard.

The body working on the amendment to the standard is called the High Throughput
Study Group, Stuart Kerry, chairman of the 802.11 working group told Unstrung.
The
high-speed revision is expected to be designated as 802.11n, although it hasn't
officially been given that appellation yet.

Kerry doesn't expect the amendment to the standard to be completed until 2005 or

2006. However, when the standard is done and dusted, Kerry says it will offer
more
than just a performance hike over the data rates offered by existing 802.11b
(11-Mbit/s over 2.4GHz) and 802.11a (54-Mbit/s over 5GHz) standards.

This is because the study group is actually trying to increase the throughput of

802.11 -- the actual amount of data that is transferred over a wireless link in
a set
period of time --- rather than just upping the data transfer rates. Anybody that
uses
wireless LAN regularly knows that, although the data transfer rates of the
existing
standards look fine on paper, once a wireless link is established that
connection
can be subject to interference, lost packets, and all sorts of nastiness, so
actual
transfer rates tend to be much lower than advertised.

The High Throughput Group is trying to deal with some of these issues. "We're
talking true throughput here," says Kerry. "We've had proposals running at 108
Mbit/s
and on up to 320 Mbit/s."

The high throughput group is certainly not the only major tweak to the
specification
that the IEEE is planning. Kerry also gave a rundown of all the other amendments

and best-practice documents that the IEEE is working on in relation to the
802.11
standard. There's plenty of alphabet soup to go 'round!

Table 1: Current 802.11 Working Groups at the IEEE

802.11 Specification letter
suffix
What it does
e
Adds quality of service features, multimedia support
f
Defining how access points interact
g
Ups data transfer rates on 2.4GHz band to 54 Mbit/s
h
Adding dynamic frequency selection to 802.11a to
comply with European regulations
i
Security upgrade
j
A version of 802.11a for Japan that will run on the
authorized 4.9GHz-5GHz frequencies
k
Defines radio and network information to allow the
better management of wireless LANs, will also
enable new applications like location-based
services
l
Not being used, because it looks confusing
m
Maintenance, this working group will go back and
correct any errors in previous ammendents to the
specification
n
Not official yet but likely to be the designation of a
high-throughput variant of the standard.
o
Not being used, because it looks confusing

http://www.Unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=31082&site=unstrung

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