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82 PCB007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2019 History and Background For most of the last two decades, we have used an evolving series of wireless devices based on the first IEEE WLAN standard devel- oped in 1997; they called it 802.11, which was the name of the group formed to develop it. The original 802.11 only allowed for a maxi- mum of 2-Mbps bandwidth, which is way too slow for most applications, even back then. For this reason, ordinary 802.11 wireless products are no longer manufactured. However, things have evolved, and they continue to do so. 802.11b was the first widely used standard. I am sure you already feel that the 802.11 nam- ing protocol is confusing, so it is time to simpli- fy the naming protocol. Certainly, if you were asked if you were using 802.11ac, which is the latest most commonly used version, many of you would not know, and if you were asked if you were going to 802.11ax soon, you would probably have no idea. But if you were asked if you were using Wi-Fi 5, and if so, were you soon going to Wi-Fi 6, while you still might not know, you would understand the question. Using Wi-Fi and then a version number from now on will greatly decrease the confusion, and when you hear that Wi-Fi 7 will be an- nounced at some point in the future instead of 802.11btx, you will probably know what they are talking about. Here's an overview. • 802.11b was the first standard to be widely used in wireless LANs • The 802.11a standard is faster but more expensive required than 802.11b • 802.11a is more commonly found in business networks • A common standard, 802.11g, attempts to combine the best of both 802.11a and 802.11b, though it too is more expensive especially for a home networking option • The newest standard, 802.11ac, operates on the 5 MHz band and offers speeds of more than 3 Gbps By now, you must agree that Wi-Fi 5, Wi- Fi 6, etc., would be so much easier to under- stand. Further, both wired and wireless net- works accommodate broadband modems or all in one modem-routers, which allow easy sharing of a cable modem or slower/older DSL internet connection, and virtually all include firewall support. The best way to look at these standards is to consider 802.11 as the founda- tion, and all other iterations as building blocks upon that foundation that focus on improving both small and large aspects of the technolo- gy. Some building blocks are minor touch-ups, while others are quite significant. The largest changes to wireless standards come when the standards are "rolled up" to include most or all small updates. For exam- ple, the most recent roll-up occurred in De- cember 2016 with 802.11-2016. Since then, however, minor updates are still occurring; eventually, another large roll-up will encom- pass them. The following is a brief look at the most recently approved iterations, out- lined from newest to oldest. Other iterations— 802.11ax, 802.11ay, and 802.11az—are still in the approval process. • 802.11aj: Known as millimeter-wave and used in China, this standard is basically 802.11ad for use in some areas. The goal is to maintain backward compatibility with 802.11ad • 802.11ah: Approved in 2017, this standard is designed for lower energy consump- tion and enables longer range Wi-Fi that can increase the range and use less power than a typical 2.4-GHz or 5-GHz network • 802.11ad: Approved in December 2012, this standard is fast; however, the client device must be located close to the access point • 802.11ac: The generation of Wi-Fi that first became popular, this standard uses dual-band wireless technology, support- ing simultaneous connections on both the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz Wi-Fi bands while still allowing backward compatibility to the older 802.11b/g/n standards and with reported bandwidth rated up to 1300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band plus up to 450 Mbps on 2.4 GHz band; most home wireless routers in use today are compliant with this standard