IEEE 802.11n development: History, process, and technology

This article provides insight into the IEEE 802.11n standard amendment development process, beginning with a general overview of the IEEE 802.11 process. Development of requirements and usage models in the study group and task group is discussed. The lengthy proposal down selection process used by 802.11n is described and critiqued. We also discuss the expected time to develop a standard from a market perspective. An overview of the physical layer technology used to achieve the 600 Mb/s data rate is presented. We outline the medium access layer features employed to enhance usable throughput to over 400 Mb/s. The added robustness afforded by techniques in the standard and issues with backward compatibility with legacy IEEE 802.11a/g devices are addressed.