List of Wi-Fi Protocols
From TechInfoDepot
Jump to navigationJump to searchFor more information about standard-compliant (IEEE 802.11) Wi-Fi protocols, see IEEE 802.11 on Wikipedia.
Standard and non-standard (proprietary) Wi-Fi protocols and extensions:
- WaveLAN on Wikipedia, or Classic WaveLAN - (before 1997)
- NCR / AT&T / Lucent proprietary, 900MHz / 2.4GHz ISM
- Aironet ARLAN on Wikipedia - (before 1997) Aironet proprietary
- HiperLAN on Wikipedia - 1996 - unsuccessful wlan standard
- IEEE 802.11 (1997) - IEEE 802.11 (legacy mode) on Wikipedia:
- 2.4GHz 1, 2Mbps only, DSSS / FHSS, aka IEEE 802.11-1997 or IEEE 802.11-1999
- Whitecap - Cirrus Logic / ShareWave proprietary extension to 802.11, QOS oriented
- 802.11a (1999) - 5GHz, 54Mbps, OFDM
- 802.11b (1999) - 2.4GHz, 1, 2, 5.5, 11Mbps, DSSS, CCK
- 802.11b+ - Texas Instruments proprietary extension to 802.11b. 22Mbps.
- Also known as Packet Binary Convolutional Code (PBCC) technology, PBCC-22, b+ [1]
- HiperLAN/2 on Wikipedia - 2000 - unsuccessful wlan standard. PHY similar to 802.11a,
- different MAC (dynamic TDMA similar to modern LTE standard)
- HiSWANa - 2000 (High Speed Wireless Access Network type a) - HiperLAN/2 variant
- HomeRF on Wikipedia 1.0 - 1.6Mbps FHSS 2.4GHz (Proxim/Intel). 802.11 competitor, defunct.
- HomeRF 2.0 - 10Mbps FHSS 2.4GHz (Proxim/Intel). 802.11 competitor, defunct.
- Whitecap2 - Cirrus Logic / ShareWave proprietary extension to 802.11b, QOS oriented [2]
- Super G (wireless networking) on Wikipedia - Atheros proprietary, 108Mbps achieved by bonding two 54Mbps 802.11g channels.
- Also marketed as: 108G Technology, 108Mbps 802.11g, and Xtreme G, Turbo G. A similar concept became part of 802.11n (HT 40MHz).
- Super AG - Atheros, similar to Super G, also for 5Ghz band.
- 125 High Speed Mode on Wikipedia - Broadcom proprietary, 802.11g extension.
- Also known as: 125HSM, Afterburner, 125Mbps 802.11g, SpeedBooster, Turbo G, G Plus, MAXg.
- Xpress technology on Wikipedia - Broadcom proprietary. Frame bursting in 802.11g.
- A similar concept became part of 802.11n (WME).
- G++ Technology - Texas Instruments proprietary 802.11g extension, 125MBps, packet bursting etc.
- Also marketed as: g+ SuperSpeed [3]
- Nitro (wireless networking) on Wikipedia - Conexant / Intersil proprietary extension to 802.11g.
- Nitro MX Xtreme - Conexant / Intersil proprietary extension to 802.11g.
- Frame bursting, etc. 140Mbps, also marketed as: DirectLink
- True MIMO - Airgo Networks proprietary MIMO extension to 802.11g. A similar concept became part of 802.11n.
- Also marketed as: SRX (Speed and Range eXpansion). Not compatible with pre-n / draft-n / final 802.11n standard.
- WAPI - (2003-2011) Chinese Wi-Fi standard; officially, the implementation was mandatory for Wi-Fi products in China;
- rarely used in practice; withdrawn in 2011 WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure on Wikipedia
- WirelessHD aka UltraGig - (2008) Proprietary 60GHz standard by SiBeam (became Silicon Image, later Lattice)
- pre-n - (2005-6) an even earlier version of draft-n...
- draft-n - (2007) Compatible with the final IEEE 802.11n standard up to MIMO 2x2
- 802.11n (Wi-Fi 4) - (2009) 72Mbps (20MHz), 150Mbps (HT 40MHz), 300Mbps (HT 40MHz MIMO), 450Mbps (MIMO 3x3)
- 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) - (2013) 450/600Mbps (2.4GHz) & 1300/1750Mbps (5GHz), MIMO up to 4x4, 80MHz channel
- 802.11ac Wave 2 - (2014) MU-MIMO, MIMO up to 8x8, 160MHz channel
- 802.11ad aka WiGig - (2012) 6.75Gbps (60GHz) Wireless Gigabit Alliance on Wikipedia
- 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) - (2019) MU-MIMO, 2.4/5 GHz, MIMO up to 8x8, 160MHz channel
- 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6E) - (2020) MU-MIMO, 2.4/5/6 GHz, MIMO up to 8x8, 160MHz channel
Unless noted, proprietary protocols are not compatible with each other (for example TI G++ 125Mbps is not compatible with Broadcom 125Mbps HSM).
802.11 network standards
802.11 protocol |
Release date |
Frequency | Bandwidth | Stream data rate |
Allowable MIMO streams |
Modulation | Appr. range | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indoor | Outdoor | |||||||
(GHz) | (MHz) | (Mbps) | (m) | (m) | ||||
802.11-1997 (legacy mode) |
Jun 1997 | 2.4 | 22 | 1, 2 | N/A | DSSS, FHSS |
20m | 100m |
802.11a (Wi-Fi 1) |
Sep 1999 | 5 | 20 | 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 |
N/A | OFDM | 35m | 120m |
3.7 | — | 5000m | ||||||
802.11b (Wi-Fi 2) |
Sep 1999 | 2.4 | 22 | 1, 2, 5.5, 11 |
N/A | DSSS | 35m | 140m |
802.11g (Wi-Fi 3) |
Jun 2003 | 2.4 | 20 | 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 |
N/A | OFDM, DSSS |
38m | 140m |
802.11n (Wi-Fi 4) |
Oct 2009 | 2.4 / 5 | HT20 | 7.2, 14.4, 21.7, 28.9, 43.3, 57.8, 65, 72.2} (6.5, 13, 19.5, 26, 39, 52, 58.5, 65} |
4 | OFDM | 70m | 250m |
HT40 | 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 135, 150 (13.5, 27, 40.5, 54, 81, 108, 121.5, 135} |
70m | 250m | |||||
802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) |
Dec 2013 | 5.2 / 5.8 | VHT20 | 7.2, 14.4, 21.7, 28.9, 43.3, 57.8, 65, 72.2, 86.7, 96.3 (6.5, 13, 19.5, 26, 39, 52, 58.5, 65, 78, 86.7} |
8 | 35m | ||
VHT40 | 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 135, 150, 180, 200 (13.5, 27, 40.5, 54, 81, 108, 121.5, 135, 162, 180} |
35m | ||||||
VHT80 | 32.5, 65, 97.5, 130, 195, 260, 292.5, 325, 390, 433.3 (29.2, 58.5, 87.8, 117, 175.5, 234, 263.2, 292.5, 351, 390} |
35m | ||||||
VHT160 | 65, 130, 195, 260, 390, 520, 585, 650, 780, 866.7 (58.5, 117, 175.5, 234, 351, 468, 702, 780} |
35m | ||||||
802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) |
Est. 2019 | 2.4 / 5 | HE80, HE160 |
Up to 10.530 (10.53 Gbit/s) | 8 | MIMO-OFDM | 50 | - |
802.11ad (Wi-Fi 7) |
Dec 2012 | 60 GHz mmWave |
2.160 | Up to 6.912 (6.75 Gbit/s) | N/A | OFDM, single carrier, (low-power) |
60 | 100 |
802.11aj | Apr 2018 | 45/60 GHz mmWave |
540/1.080 | Up to 15.000 (15 Gbit/s) | 4 | OFDM, single carrier |
- | - |
802.11ay | Est. 2020 | 60 GHz mmWave |
8000 | Up to 20.000 (20 Gbit/s) | 4 | OFDM, single carrier |
10 | 100 |
802.11ah | Dec 2016 | 0.7~0.9 | 1–16 | Up to 8.67 (@2MHz) | 4 | MIMO-OFDM | - | - |
802.11af | Feb 2014 | 0.054~0.79 | 6–8 | Up to 568.9 | 4 | MIMO-OFDM | - | - |