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IEEE 802.11ac-2013

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(Redirected from Wi-Fi 5) Wireless networking standard in the 802.11 family
Wi-Fi generations
Generation IEEE
standard 		Adopted Maximum
link rate
(Mb/s) 		Radio
frequency
(GHz)
(Wi-Fi 0*) 802.11 1997 1–2 2.4
(Wi-Fi 1*) 802.11b 1999 1–11 2.4
(Wi-Fi 2*) 802.11a 1999 6–54 5
(Wi-Fi 3*) 802.11g 2003 2.4
Wi-Fi 4 802.11n 2009 6.5–600 2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac 2013 6.5–6933 5
Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax 2021 0.4–9608 2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 6E 2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 7 802.11be exp. 2024 0.4–23,059 2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 8 802.11bn exp. 2028 100,000 2.4, 5, 6
*Wi‑Fi 0, 1, 2, and 3 are named by retroactive inference.
They do not exist in the official nomenclature.

IEEE 802.11ac-2013 or 802.11ac is a wireless networking standard in the IEEE 802.11 set of protocols (which is part of the Wi-Fi networking family), providing high-throughput wireless local area networks (WLANs) on the 5 GHz band. The standard has been retroactively labelled as Wi-Fi 5 by Wi-Fi Alliance.

The specification has multi-station throughput of at least 1.1 gigabit per second (1.1 Gbit/s) and single-link throughput of at least 500 megabits per second (0.5 Gbit/s). This is accomplished by extending the air-interface concepts embraced by 802.11n: wider RF bandwidth (up to 160 MHz), more MIMO spatial streams (up to eight), downlink multi-user MIMO (up to four clients), and high-density modulation (up to 256-QAM).

The Wi-Fi Alliance separated the introduction of 802.11ac wireless products into two phases ("waves"), named "Wave 1" and "Wave 2". From mid-2013, the alliance started certifying Wave 1 802.11ac products shipped by manufacturers, based on the IEEE 802.11ac Draft 3.0 (the IEEE standard was not finalized until later that year). Subsequently in 2016, Wi-Fi Alliance introduced the Wave 2 certification, which includes additional features like MU-MIMO (downlink only), 160 MHz channel width support, support for more 5 GHz channels, and four spatial streams (with four antennas; compared to three in Wave 1 and 802.11n, and eight in IEEE's 802.11ax specification). It meant Wave 2 products would have higher bandwidth and capacity than Wave 1 products.

New technologies

New technologies introduced with 802.11ac include the following:

  • Extended channel binding
    • Optional 160 MHz and mandatory 80 MHz channel bandwidth for stations; cf. 40 MHz maximum in 802.11n.
  • More MIMO spatial streams
    • Support for up to eight spatial streams (vs. four in 802.11n)
  • Downlink multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO, allows up to four simultaneous downlink MU-MIMO clients)
    • Multiple STAs, each with one or more antennas, transmit or receive independent data streams simultaneously.
    • Downlink MU-MIMO (one transmitting device, multiple receiving devices) included as an optional mode.
  • Modulation
    • 256-QAM, rate 3/4 and 5/6, added as optional modes (vs. 64-QAM, rate 5/6 maximum in 802.11n).
    • Some vendors offer a non-standard 1024-QAM mode, providing 25% higher data rate compared to 256-QAM
  • Other elements/features
    • Beamforming with standardized sounding and feedback for compatibility between vendors (non-standard in 802.11n made it hard for beamforming to work effectively between different vendor products)
    • MAC modifications (mostly to support above changes)
    • Coexistence mechanisms for 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz channels, 11ac and 11a/n devices
    • Adds four new fields to the PPDU header identifying the frame as a very high throughput (VHT) frame as opposed to 802.11n's high throughput (HT) or earlier. The first three fields in the header are readable by legacy devices to allow coexistence
    • DFS was mandated between channels 52 and 144 for 5 GHz to reduce interference with weather radar systems using the same frequency band.

Features

Mandatory

Optional

  • Borrowed from the 802.11n specification:
  • Newly introduced by the 802.11ac specification:
    • five to eight spatial streams
    • 160 MHz channel bandwidths (contiguous 80+80)
    • 80+80 MHz channel bonding (discontiguous 80+80)
    • MCS 8/9 (256-QAM)

New scenarios and configurations

The single-link and multi-station enhancements supported by 802.11ac enable several new WLAN usage scenarios, such as simultaneous streaming of HD video to multiple clients throughout the home, rapid synchronization and backup of large data files, wireless display, large campus/auditorium deployments, and manufacturing floor automation.

To fully utilize their WLAN capacities, 802.11ac access points and routers have sufficient throughput to require the inclusion of a USB 3.0 interface to provide various services such as video streaming, FTP servers, and personal cloud services. With storage locally attached through USB 2.0, filling the bandwidth made available by 802.11ac was not easily accomplished.

Example configurations

All rates assume 256-QAM, rate 5/6:

Scenario Typical client
form factor		 PHY link rate Aggregate
capacity
(speed)
One-antenna AP, one-antenna STA, 80 MHz Handheld 433 Mbit/s 433 Mbit/s
Two-antenna AP, two-antenna STA, 80 MHz Tablet, laptop 867 Mbit/s 867 Mbit/s
One-antenna AP, one-antenna STA, 160 MHz Handheld 867 Mbit/s 867 Mbit/s
Three-antenna AP, three-antenna STA, 80 MHz Laptop, PC 1.30 Gbit/s 1.30 Gbit/s
Two-antenna AP, two-antenna STA, 160 MHz Tablet, laptop 1.73 Gbit/s 1.73 Gbit/s
Four-antenna AP, four one-antenna STAs, 160 MHz
(MU-MIMO)		 Handheld 867 Mbit/s to each STA 3.39 Gbit/s
Eight-antenna AP, 160 MHz (MU-MIMO)
  • one four-antenna STA
  • one two-antenna STA
  • two one-antenna STAs
 Digital TV, Set-top Box,
Tablet, Laptop, PC, Handheld
  • 3.47 Gbit/s to four-antenna STA
  • 1.73 Gbit/s to two-antenna STA
  • 867 Mbit/s to each one-antenna STA
 6.93 Gbit/s
Eight-antenna AP, four 2-antenna STAs, 160 MHz
(MU-MIMO)		 Digital TV, tablet, laptop, PC 1.73 Gbit/s to each STA 6.93 Gbit/s

Wave 1 vs. Wave 2

Wave 2, referring to products introduced in 2016, offers a higher throughput than legacy Wave 1 products, those introduced starting in 2013. The maximum physical layer theoretical rate for Wave 1 is 1.3 Gbit/s, while Wave 2 can reach 2.34 Gbit/s. Wave 2 can therefore achieve 1 Gbit/s even if the real world throughput turns out to be only 50% of the theoretical rate. Wave 2 also supports a higher number of connected devices.

Data rates and speed

Modulation and coding schemes
MCS
index 		Spatial
Streams 		Modulation
type 		Coding
rate 		Data rate (Mbit/s)
20 MHz channels 40 MHz channels 80 MHz channels 160 MHz channels
800 ns GI 400 ns GI 800 ns GI 400 ns GI 800 ns GI 400 ns GI 800 ns GI 400 ns GI
0 1 BPSK 1/2 6.5 7.2 13.5 15 29.3 32.5 58.5 65
1 1 QPSK 1/2 13 14.4 27 30 58.5 65 117 130
2 1 QPSK 3/4 19.5 21.7 40.5 45 87.8 97.5 175.5 195
3 1 16-QAM 1/2 26 28.9 54 60 117 130 234 260
4 1 16-QAM 3/4 39 43.3 81 90 175.5 195 351 390
5 1 64-QAM 2/3 52 57.8 108 120 234 260 468 520
6 1 64-QAM 3/4 58.5 65 121.5 135 263.3 292.5 526.5 585
7 1 64-QAM 5/6 65 72.2 135 150 292.5 325 585 650
8 1 256-QAM 3/4 78 86.7 162 180 351 390 702 780
9 1 256-QAM 5/6 — — 180 200 390 433.3 780 866.7
0 2 BPSK 1/2 13 14.4 27 30 58.5 65 117 130
1 2 QPSK 1/2 26 28.9 54 60 117 130 234 260
2 2 QPSK 3/4 39 43.3 81 90 175.5 195 351 390
3 2 16-QAM 1/2 52 57.8 108 120 234 260 468 520
4 2 16-QAM 3/4 78 86.7 162 180 351 390 702 780
5 2 64-QAM 2/3 104 115.6 216 240 468 520 936 1040
6 2 64-QAM 3/4 117 130.3 243 270 526.5 585 1053 1170
7 2 64-QAM 5/6 130 144.4 270 300 585 650 1170 1300
8 2 256-QAM 3/4 156 173.3 324 360 702 780 1404 1560
9 2 256-QAM 5/6 — — 360 400 780 866.7 1560 1733.3
0 3 BPSK 1/2 19.5 21.7 40.5 45 87.8 97.5 175.5 195
1 3 QPSK 1/2 39 43.3 81 90 175.5 195 351 390
2 3 QPSK 3/4 58.5 65 121.5 135 263.3 292.5 526.5 585
3 3 16-QAM 1/2 78 86.7 162 180 351 390 702 780
4 3 16-QAM 3/4 117 130 243 270 526.5 585 1053 1170
5 3 64-QAM 2/3 156 173.3 324 360 702 780 1404 1560
6 3 64-QAM 3/4 175.5 195 364.5 405 — — 1579.5 1755
7 3 64-QAM 5/6 195 216.7 405 450 877.5 975 1755 1950
8 3 256-QAM 3/4 234 260 486 540 1053 1170 2106 2340
9 3 256-QAM 5/6 260 288.9 540 600 1170 1300 2340 2600
0 4 BPSK 1/2 26 28.8 54 60 117.2 130 234 260
1 4 QPSK 1/2 52 57.6 108 120 234 260 468 520
2 4 QPSK 3/4 78 86.8 162 180 351.2 390 702 780
3 4 16-QAM 1/2 104 115.6 216 240 468 520 936 1040
4 4 16-QAM 3/4 156 173.2 324 360 702 780 1404 1560
5 4 64-QAM 2/3 208 231.2 432 480 936 1040 1872 2080
6 4 64-QAM 3/4 234 260 486 540 1053.2 1170 2106 2340
7 4 64-QAM 5/6 260 288.8 540 600 1170 1300 2340 2600
8 4 256-QAM 3/4 312 346.8 648 720 1404 1560 2808 3120
9 4 256-QAM 5/6 — — 720 800 1560 1733.3 3120 3466.7

Several companies are currently offering 802.11ac chipsets with higher modulation rates: MCS-10 and MCS-11 (1024-QAM), supported by Quantenna and Broadcom. Although technically not part of 802.11ac, these new MCS indices became official in the 802.11ax standard, ratified in 2021.

160 MHz channels are unavailable in some countries due to regulatory issues that allocated some frequencies for other purposes.

Advertised speeds

802.11ac-class device wireless speeds are often advertised as AC followed by a number, that number being the highest link rates in Mbit/s of all the simultaneously-usable radios in the device added up. For example, an AC1900 access point might have 600 Mbit/s capability on its 2.4 GHz radio and 1300 Mbit/s capability on its 5 GHz radio. No single client device could connect and achieve 1900 Mbit/s of throughput, but separate devices each connecting to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios could achieve combined throughput approaching 1900 Mbit/s. Different possible stream configurations can add up to the same AC number.

Type 2.4 GHz band
Mbit/s		 2.4 GHz band config
 5 GHz band
Mbit/s		 5 GHz band config
AC450 - - 433 1 stream @ MCS 9
AC600 150 1 stream @ MCS 7 433 1 stream @ MCS 9
AC750 300 2 streams @ MCS 7 433 1 stream @ MCS 9
AC1000 300 2 streams @ MCS 7 650 2 streams @ MCS 7
AC1200 300 2 streams @ MCS 7 867 2 streams @ MCS 9
AC1300 400 2 streams @ 256-QAM 867 2 streams @ MCS 9
AC1300 - - 1,300 3 streams @ MCS 9
AC1350 450 3 streams @ MCS 7 867 2 streams @ MCS 9
AC1450 450 3 streams @ MCS 7 975 3 streams @ MCS 7
AC1600 300 2 streams @ MCS 7 1,300 3 streams @ MCS 9
AC1700 800 4 streams @ 256-QAM 867 2 streams @ MCS 9
AC1750 450 3 streams @ MCS 7 1,300 3 streams @ MCS 9
AC1900 600 3 streams @ 256-QAM 1,300 3 streams @ MCS 9
AC2100 800 4 streams @ 256-QAM 1,300 3 streams @ MCS 9
AC2200 450 3 streams @ MCS 7 1,733 4 streams @ MCS 9
AC2300 600 4 streams @ MCS 7 1,625 3 streams @ 1024-QAM
AC2400 600 4 streams @ MCS 7 1,733 4 streams @ MCS 9
AC2600 800 4 streams @ 256-QAM 1,733 4 streams @ MCS 9
AC2900 750 3 streams @ 1024-QAM 2,167 4 streams @ 1024-QAM
AC3000 450 3 streams @ MCS 7 1,300 + 1,300 3 streams @ MCS 9 x 2
AC3150 1000 4 streams @ 1024-QAM 2,167 4 streams @ 1024-QAM
AC3200 600 3 streams @ 256-QAM 1,300 + 1,300 3 streams @ MCS 9 x 2
AC5000 600 4 streams @ MCS 7 2,167 + 2,167 4 streams @ 1024-QAM x 2
AC5300 1000 4 streams @ 1024-QAM 2,167 + 2,167 4 streams @ 1024-QAM x 2

Products

Commercial routers and access points

Quantenna released the first 802.11ac chipset for retail Wi-Fi routers and consumer electronics on November 15, 2011. Redpine Signals released the first low power 802.11ac technology for smartphone application processors on December 14, 2011. On January 5, 2012, Broadcom announced its first 802.11ac Wi-Fi chips and partners and on April 27, 2012, Netgear announced the first Broadcom-enabled router. On May 14, 2012, Buffalo Technology released the world’s first 802.11ac products to market, releasing a wireless router and client bridge adapter. On December 6, 2012, Huawei announced commercial availability of the industry's first enterprise-level 802.11ac Access Point.

Motorola Solutions is selling 802.11ac access points including the AP 8232. In April 2014, Hewlett-Packard started selling the HP 560 access point in the controller-based WLAN enterprise market segment.

Commercial laptops

On June 7, 2012, it was reported that Asus had unveiled its ROG G75VX gaming notebook, which would be the first consumer-oriented notebook to be fully compliant with 802.11ac (albeit in its "draft 2.0" version).

Apple began implementing 802.11ac starting with the MacBook Air in June 2013, followed by the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro later that year.

As of December 2013, Hewlett-Packard incorporates 802.11ac compliance in laptop computers.

Commercial handsets (partial list)

Vendor Model Release Date Chipset Notes
HTC One (M7) March 22, 2013 BCM4335 First 802.11ac-enabled handset announced February 19, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 April 26, 2013 BCM4335
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 September 25, 2013 BCM4339 Subsequent Devices Include 802.11ac
LG LG Nexus 5 October 2013 BCM4339 BCM4339 is the updated version of the BCM4335
Nokia Lumia 1520 November 2013 WCN3680 First 802.11ac-enabled Windows Phone
Nokia Lumia Icon February 20, 2014 WCN3680 Lumia 930 is Europe version of the same phone, also with 802.11ac
HTC One (M8) March 25, 2014 WCN3680
Samsung Galaxy S5 April 11, 2014 BCM4354
LG G2 September 18, 2013 AWL9581
LG G3 May 23, 2014 BCM4339
Amazon.com Fire Phone July 25, 2014 WCN3680
Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime/SM-G906S June 18, 2014 QCA6174
Samsung Galaxy Alpha September 7, 2014 E702A7
Apple iPhone 6/Plus September 19, 2014 BCM4345 First 802.11ac-enabled iOS devices
Motorola Nexus 6 October 16, 2014 BCM4356
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 October 10, 2014 BCM4358
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 August 21, 2015 BCM4359

Commercial tablets

Vendor Model Release Date Chipset Notes
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 June 20, 2014 Avastar 88W8897 802.11ac-enabled touchscreen computing device
Apple iPad Air 2 October 24, 2014 Broadcom BCM4350 First 802.11ac-enabled iOS tablet device
Google Nexus 9 November 3, 2014 Nvidia Tegra K1 2x2 MIMO

Chipsets

Vendor Part # Streams LDPC TxBF 256-QAM Applications
Broadcom BCM43602 3 Yes Yes Yes routers, laptops
Broadcom BCM4360 3 Yes Yes Yes routers, laptops
Broadcom BCM43569 2 Yes Yes Yes DTV
Broadcom BCM4352 Archived 2015-04-18 at the Wayback Machine 2 Yes Yes Yes tablets
Broadcom BCM4350 2 Yes Yes Yes tablets
Broadcom BCM4356 2 Yes Yes Yes handsets, tablets
Broadcom BCM4354 2 Yes Yes Yes handsets, tablets
Broadcom BCM4339 1 Yes Yes Yes handsets
Broadcom BCM4335 Archived 2012-07-28 at the Wayback Machine 1 Yes Yes Yes handsets
Broadcom BCM4359 2 Yes Yes Yes handsets
Broadcom BCM43455 1 Yes Yes Yes handsets
Marvell Avastar 88W8897 2 Yes Yes Yes tablets
Marvell Avastar 88W8864 3 Yes Yes Yes routers
Qualcomm WCN3680 1 Yes Yes Yes handsets
Qualcomm 2 Yes No Yes tablets
Qualcomm QCA9880 3 Yes No Yes home routers
Qualcomm 3 Yes Yes Yes enterprise routers
Qualcomm QCA9892 2 Yes Yes Yes tablets, PtP Links
Qualcomm 4 Yes Yes Yes enterprise access points
Qualcomm QCA9992 3 Yes Yes Yes enterprise access points
MediaTek MT7610 1 ? ? ? PC (PCIe or USB)
MediaTek MT7650 1 ? Yes Yes handsets
MediaTek MT7612E 2 Yes Yes Yes laptops (PCIe 2.0)
MediaTek 2 Yes Yes Yes laptops (USB 3.0)
Quantenna QAC2300 4 Yes Yes Yes routers
Redpine Signals RS9117 1 Yes ? Yes handsets
Redpine Signals RS9333 3 Yes ? Yes routers
Realtek RTL8811AU 1 ? ? ? adapter (USB 2.0)
Realtek RTL8812AU 2 ? ? ? adapter (USB 3.0)
Intel AC-3160 1 ? ? ? laptops
Intel AC-7260 2 ? ? ? laptops

Notes

  1. 802.11ac only specifies operation in the 5 GHz band. Operation in the 2.4 GHz band is specified by 802.11n.
  2. Wi-Fi 6E is the industry name that identifies Wi-Fi devices that operate in 6 GHz. Wi-Fi 6E offers the features and capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 extended into the 6 GHz band.
  3. ^ 802.11ac only specifies operation in the 5 GHz band. Operation in the 2.4 GHz band is specified by 802.11n.
  4. MCS 9 is not applicable to all channel width/spatial stream combinations.
  5. ^ With 802.11n, 600 Mbit/s in the 2.4 GHz band can be achieved by using four spatial streams at 150 Mbit/s each. As of December 2014, commercially available devices that achieve 600 Mbit/s in the 2.4 GHz band use 3 spatial streams at 200 Mbit/s each. This requires the use of 256-QAM modulation, which is not compliant with 802.11n and can be considered a proprietary extension.
  6. ^ With proprietary extension to 802.11n, using 40MHz channel in 2.4GHz, 400ns guard interval, 1024-QAM, and 4 spatial streams.
  7. As of December 2014, commercially available AC3200 devices use two separate radios with 1,300 Mbit/s each to achieve 2,600 Mbit/s total in the 5 GHz band.

Comparison

802.11 network standards
Frequency
range,
or type 		PHY Protocol Release
date 		Freq­uency Bandwidth Stream
data rate 		Max.
MIMO streams 		Modulation Approx. range
In­door Out­door
(GHz) (MHz) (Mbit/s)
1–7 GHz DSSS, FHSS 802.11-1997 June 1997 2.4 22 1, 2 — DSSS, FHSS 20 m (66 ft) 100 m (330 ft)
HR/DSSS 802.11b September 1999 2.4 22 1, 2, 5.5, 11 — CCK, DSSS 35 m (115 ft) 140 m (460 ft)
OFDM 802.11a September 1999 5 5, 10, 20 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54
(for 20 MHz bandwidth,
divide by 2 and 4 for 10 and 5 MHz) 		— OFDM 35 m (115 ft) 120 m (390 ft)
802.11j November 2004 4.9, 5.0
 ? ?
802.11y November 2008 3.7 ? 5,000 m (16,000 ft)
802.11p July 2010 5.9 200 m 1,000 m (3,300 ft)
802.11bd December 2022 5.9, 60 500 m 1,000 m (3,300 ft)
ERP-OFDM 802.11g June 2003 2.4 38 m (125 ft) 140 m (460 ft)
HT-OFDM 802.11n
(Wi-Fi 4) 		October 2009 2.4, 5 20 Up to 288.8 4 MIMO-OFDM
(64-QAM) 		70 m (230 ft) 250 m (820 ft)
40 Up to 600
VHT-OFDM 802.11ac
(Wi-Fi 5) 		December 2013 5 20 Up to 693 8 DL
MU-MIMO OFDM
(256-QAM) 		35 m (115 ft) ?
40 Up to 1600
80 Up to 3467
160 Up to 6933
HE-OFDMA 802.11ax
(Wi-Fi 6,
Wi-Fi 6E) 		May 2021 2.4, 5, 6 20 Up to 1147 8 UL/DL
MU-MIMO OFDMA
(1024-QAM) 		30 m (98 ft) 120 m (390 ft)
40 Up to 2294
80 Up to 5.5 Gbit/s
80+80 Up to 11.0 Gbit/s
EHT-OFDMA 802.11be
(Wi-Fi 7) 		Sep 2024
(est.) 		2.4, 5, 6 80 Up to 11.5 Gbit/s 16 UL/DL
MU-MIMO OFDMA
(4096-QAM) 		30 m (98 ft) 120 m (390 ft)
160
(80+80) 		Up to 23 Gbit/s
240
(160+80) 		Up to 35 Gbit/s
320
(160+160) 		Up to 46.1 Gbit/s
UHR 802.11bn
(Wi-Fi 8) 		May 2028
(est.) 		2.4, 5, 6,
42, 60, 71 		320 Up to
100000
(100 Gbit/s) 		16 Multi-link
MU-MIMO OFDM
(8192-QAM) 		? ?
WUR 802.11ba October 2021 2.4, 5 4, 20 0.0625, 0.25
(62.5 kbit/s, 250 kbit/s) 		— OOK (multi-carrier OOK) ? ?
mmWave
(WiGig) 		DMG 802.11ad December 2012 60 2160
(2.16 GHz) 		Up to 8085
(8 Gbit/s) 		— OFDM, single carrier, low-power single carrier 3.3 m (11 ft) ?
802.11aj April 2018 60 1080 Up to 3754
(3.75 Gbit/s) 		— single carrier, low-power single carrier ? ?
CMMG 802.11aj April 2018 45 540,
1080 		Up to 15015
(15 Gbit/s) 		4 OFDM, single carrier ? ?
EDMG 802.11ay July 2021 60 Up to 8640
(8.64 GHz) 		Up to 303336
(303 Gbit/s) 		8 OFDM, single carrier 10 m (33 ft) 100 m (328 ft)
Sub 1 GHz (IoT) TVHT 802.11af February 2014 0.054–
0.79 		6, 7, 8 Up to 568.9 4 MIMO-OFDM ? ?
S1G 802.11ah May 2017 0.7, 0.8,
0.9 		1–16 Up to 8.67
(@2 MHz) 		4 ? ?
Light
(Li-Fi) 		LC
(VLC/OWC) 		802.11bb December 2023
(est.) 		800–1000 nm 20 Up to 9.6 Gbit/s — O-OFDM ? ?
IR
(IrDA) 		802.11-1997 June 1997 850–900 nm ? 1, 2 — PPM ? ?
802.11 Standard rollups
  802.11-2007 (802.11ma) March 2007 2.4, 5 Up to 54 DSSS, OFDM
802.11-2012 (802.11mb) March 2012 2.4, 5 Up to 150 DSSS, OFDM
802.11-2016 (802.11mc) December 2016 2.4, 5, 60 Up to 866.7 or 6757 DSSS, OFDM
802.11-2020 (802.11md) December 2020 2.4, 5, 60 Up to 866.7 or 6757 DSSS, OFDM
802.11me September 2024
(est.) 		2.4, 5, 6, 60 Up to 9608 or 303336 DSSS, OFDM
  1. ^ This is obsolete, and support for this might be subject to removal in a future revision of the standard
  2. For Japanese regulation.
  3. ^ IEEE 802.11y-2008 extended operation of 802.11a to the licensed 3.7 GHz band. Increased power limits allow a range up to 5,000 m. As of 2009, it is only being licensed in the United States by the FCC.
  4. ^ Based on short guard interval; standard guard interval is ~10% slower. Rates vary widely based on distance, obstructions, and interference.
  5. ^ For single-user cases only, based on default guard interval which is 0.8 microseconds. Since multi-user via OFDMA has become available for 802.11ax, these may decrease. Also, these theoretical values depend on the link distance, whether the link is line-of-sight or not, interferences and the multi-path components in the environment.
  6. ^ The default guard interval is 0.8 microseconds. However, 802.11ax extended the maximum available guard interval to 3.2 microseconds, in order to support Outdoor communications, where the maximum possible propagation delay is larger compared to Indoor environments.
  7. Wake-up Radio (WUR) Operation.
  8. ^ For Chinese regulation.

See also

References

  1. "MCS table (updated with 80211ax data rates)". semfionetworks.com.
  2. "Understanding Wi-Fi 4/5/6/6E/7". wiisfi.com.
  3. Reshef, Ehud; Cordeiro, Carlos (2023). "Future Directions for Wi-Fi 8 and Beyond". IEEE Communications Magazine. 60 (10). IEEE. doi:10.1109/MCOM.003.2200037. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
  4. "What is Wi-Fi 8?". everythingrf.com. March 25, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  5. Giordano, Lorenzo; Geraci, Giovanni; Carrascosa, Marc; Bellalta, Boris (November 21, 2023). "What Will Wi-Fi 8 Be? A Primer on IEEE 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability". arXiv:2303.10442.
  6. Kastrenakes, Jacob (2018-10-03). "Wi-Fi Now Has Version Numbers, and Wi-Fi 6 Comes Out Next Year". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  7. Phillips, Gavin (18 January 2021). "The Most Common Wi-Fi Standards and Types, Explained". MUO - Make Use Of. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  8. "Wi-Fi Generation Numbering". ElectronicsNotes. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  9. "Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6".
  10. Shankland, Stephen (2018-10-03). "Here Come Wi-Fi 4, 5 and 6 in Plan to Simplify 802.11 Networking Names – The Wi-Fi Alliance Wants to Make Wireless Networks Easier to Understand and Recognize". CNET. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  11. Van Nee, Richard (2011). "Breaking the Gigabit-per-second barrier with 802.11ac". IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine.
  12. Kassner, Michael (2013-06-18). "Cheat Sheet: What You Need to Know about 802.11ac". TechRepublic. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
  13. ^ "802.11ac: A Survival Guide". Chimera.labs.oreilly.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-03. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  14. "802.11AC WAVE 2 A XIRRUS WHITE PAPER" (PDF).
  15. "802.11ac Wi-Fi Part 2: Wave 1 and Wave 2 Products".
  16. "802.11ac: The Fifth Generation of Wi-Fi Technical White Paper" (PDF). Cisco. March 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-04-18. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  17. "Wi-Fi Alliance launches 802.11ac Wave 2 certification". RCR Wireless. 29 June 2016.
  18. ^ "6 things you need to know about 802.11ac Wave 2". techrepublic.com. 2016-07-13. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  19. Bejarano, Oscar; Knightly, Edward; Park, Minyoung (2013-10-08). "IEEE 802.11ac: from channelization to multi-user MIMO". IEEE Communications Magazine. 51 (10): 84–90. doi:10.1109/MCOM.2013.6619570. S2CID 317094.
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External links

IEEE standards
Current
802 series
802
802.1
802.3
(Ethernet)
802.11
(Wi-Fi)
802.15
Proposed
Superseded
See also
IEEE Standards Association
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