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Full Steam Ahead For The WLAN Juggernaut

Advances made with the 802.11 standard keep the wireless LAN field on pace for record growth, with new products arriving at a furious speed.

Date Posted: June 09, 2003 12:00 AM

Author: Lou Frenzel

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Another significant TI announcement is WANDA (Wireless Any-Network Digital Assistant). This combination 802.11b-GSM/GPRS cell-phone/Bluetooth-PDA concept design lets users roam from one type of network to another (Fig. 3). It contains TI's TNETW1100B 802.11b chip set, the BRS6100 single-chip Bluetooth transceiver, the TCS2100 GSM/GPRS cell-phone circuits, and the OMAP 1510 applications processor made up of an ARM925 and a TI 320C55x DSP. The WANDA reference design can be adapted to pocket PCs, smart phones, laptops, or other products that require maximum connectivity.

IEEE 802.11 WIRELESS ETHERNET STANDARDS SUMMARY

Task Group	Status
a	The original high-speed standard; 54 Mbits/s using OFDM in the 5 GHz; ratified.
b	The initial and primary defining standard; 11 Mbits/s using DSSS in the 2.4-GHz band; ratified; used in most (90%+) WLAN products and activities.
e	Goal is to improve the MAC and improve and manage QoS, provide classes of service, and enhance security and authentication. It should facilitate applications such as VoIP over wireless. Ratification expected in the third quarter of this year.
f	Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP) development; permits access points to communicate with one another to facilitate roaming, LAN-to-LAN handoffs, and links to other systems; essential as the number of access points grows; a work in progress.
g	High-speed extension of the 802.11b standard; implements speeds to 54 Mbits/s in the same 2.4-GHz bandwith backward compatibility with 802.11b products; ratification expected in June/July 2003.
h	Modifications to the 802.11a standard to implement changes that will permit its use in Europe; MAC and HY changes to implement spectrum and power-management features compatible with European standards; ratification expected later in 2003.
i	Project to enhance security of transmission in a/b/g radios; improves encryption by using the AES with 64- and 128-bit keys and authentication methods over the original Wireless Equivalent Protocol originally built into the a and b standards; ratification expected in 2004.
j	Modification to 802.11a standard to add 4.9- to 5-GHz channel-selection capability so that the system is usable in Japan.
k	Project to define Radio Resource Measurement enhancements to provide interfaces to higher layers for radio and network measurements; adds load balancing, roaming, and co-existence, plus other management and measurement features.
m	An ongoing maintenance-related task group to watch over, update, and correct the main a, b, and g PHY and MAC standards.
n	The High Throughput Study Group tasked to speed up the MAC to permit future faster, next-generation options.

Need More Information?

Airshare
www.airshare.org

Agere Systems
(800) 372-2447
www.agere.com

Atheros Communications
(408) 773-5344
www.atheros.com

Broadcom Corp.
(408) 543-3311
www.broadcom.com

Envara
+972-9-776-6211
www.envara.com

Hyperlink Technologies Inc.
(561) 995-2256
www.hyperlinktech.com

IceFyre Semiconductor Corp.
(613) 599-3000
www.IceFyre.com

Intel Corp.
(800) 538-3373
www.intel

Intersil Corp.
(480) 607-4840
wwwintersil.com

Linksys Group Inc.
(800) 546-5797
www.linksys.com

Marvell Semiconductor Corp.
(408) 222-2500
www.marvell.com

Maxim Integrated Product
(800) 998-8800
www.maxim-ic.com

Philips Semiconductors
(800) 234-7381
www.semiconductors.philips.com

SiGe Semiconductors
(613) 820-9244
www.sige.com

Silicon Integrated Systems
+886-2-8913-1168
www.sis.com

Synad Technologies
+44(0)118-929-8029
www.synad.com

Texas Instruments Inc.
(214) 480-7963
www.ti.com/wla

IEEE 802.11 WIRELESS ETHERNET STANDARDS SUMMARY

Task Group	Status
a	The original high-speed standard; 54 Mbits/s using OFDM in the 5 GHz; ratified.
b	The initial and primary defining standard; 11 Mbits/s using DSSS in the 2.4-GHz band; ratified; used in most (90%+) WLAN products and activities.
e	Goal is to improve the MAC and improve and manage QoS, provide classes of service, and enhance security and authentication. It should facilitate applications such as VoIP over wireless. Ratification expected in the third quarter of this year.
f	Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP) development; permits access points to communicate with one another to facilitate roaming, LAN-to-LAN handoffs, and links to other systems; essential as the number of access points grows; a work in progress.
g	High-speed extension of the 802.11b standard; implements speeds to 54 Mbits/s in the same 2.4-GHz bandwith backward compatibility with 802.11b products; ratification expected in June/July 2003.
h	Modifications to the 802.11a standard to implement changes that will permit its use in Europe; MAC and HY changes to implement spectrum and power-management features compatible with European standards; ratification expected later in 2003.
i	Project to enhance security of transmission in a/b/g radios; improves encryption by using the AES with 64- and 128-bit keys and authentication methods over the original Wireless Equivalent Protocol originally built into the a and b standards; ratification expected in 2004.
j	Modification to 802.11a standard to add 4.9- to 5-GHz channel-selection capability so that the system is usable in Japan.
k	Project to define Radio Resource Measurement enhancements to provide interfaces to higher layers for radio and network measurements; adds load balancing, roaming, and co-existence, plus other management and measurement features.
m	An ongoing maintenance-related task group to watch over, update, and correct the main a, b, and g PHY and MAC standards.
n	The High Throughput Study Group tasked to speed up the MAC to permit future faster, next-generation options.

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