Compare various IEEE 802.11x standards. (a/b/g/i/n etc)

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written 7.8 years ago by

What is IEEE 802.11?

In 1997, IEEE developed an international standard for WLANs, i.e. IEEE 802.11. Like other IEEE 802 standards, this layer also focuses on the bottom two layers of the OSI model i.e. physical layer and data link layer.

The objective of IEEE 802.11 was to define a medium access control (MAC) sublayer, MAC management protocol and service and 3 physical layers for wireless connectivity of fixed, portable and movable devices.

-	IEEE 802.11	IEEE 802.11a	IEEE 802.11b	IEEE 802.11g	IEEE 802.11n
Applications	WLAN	WLAN	WLAN
Frequency band	2.4 GHz	2.4 GHz	5 GHz	2.4	2.4, 5 GHz
Max. Data Rate	2 Mbps	54 Mbps	11 Mbps	54 Mbps	600 Mbps
Rate
Approval date	1997	July 1999	July 1999	June 2003	August 2006
Modulation	DSSS , FHSS	OFDM	DSSS or CCK	DSSS or CCK or OFDM	DSSS or CCK or OFDM
Channel width	20 MHz	20 MHz	20 MHz	20 MHz	20 MHz or 40 MHz
Typical range	66 feet	75 feet	100 feet	150 feet	150 feet
Antenna configuration	1x1 SISO	1x1 SISO	1x1 SISO	1x1 SISO(Single Input-Single Output)	4x4 MIMO (Multiple Input-Multiple Output)

IEEE 802.11i is mainly designed for enhanced security purposes. It addresses two main weaknesses of wireless security networks which are encryption and authentication.

Encryption is accomplished by replacing WEP’s original PRNG RC4 algo by stronger cipher that performs three steps on every block of data.

The authentication and key management is accomplished by the IEEE 802.1x standard.

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