The 560-page 802.11n amendment, "WLAN Enhancements for Higher Throughput", will enable rollout of significantly more scalable WLANs that deliver 10-fold-greater data rates than previously defined while ensuring co-existence with legacy systems and security implementations.
802.11n increases the data rate from the current 54 Mbit/s to a maximum of 600 Mbit/s. Devices on the market today can support up to 300 Mbit/s (802.11n draft 2.0) by using 2 Spatial Streams at 40 MHz, marketed as "Draft N" devices. The addition of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) to improve system performance, channel bonding to the physical layer, frame aggregation to the MAC layer, antenna diversity and spatial multiplexing builds upon he older 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g standards.
"This was an extraordinarily wide-ranging technical challenge that required the sustained effort and concentration of a terrific variety of participants. When we started in 2002, many of the technologies addressed in 802.11n were university research topics and had not been implemented," said Bruce Kraemer, Chair of the IEEE Wireless LAN Working Group.
"The performance improvements achieved via IEEE 802.11n stand to transform the WLAN user experience, and ratification of the amendment sets the stage for a new wave of application innovation and creation of new market opportunities."
Written by: James Delahunty @ 12 Sep 2009 20:56
