Can You Spot the Difference: 802.11n Has Been Ratified?
It’s here ...!
No, not that poltergeist thingy – you know, 802.11n: the IEEE Task Force have finished! The specification formerly known as 802.11n Draft N (or the IEEE’s draft 2.0 of the specification) is now a fully-fledged ratified standard! And yes, we’ve been a little exuberant and somewhat excessive here and, to be perfectly honest, it was absolutely crazy in the office during our celebration of its final arrival. Moreover, we all became a little incessant, as we mulled over the numerous applications that would follow – streaming video over a wireless connection – yikes, it could really happen! Admittedly, the alcohol was flowing steadily over several hours, as we sat back and mused over the years of an Indiana Jones high-speed wireless adventure and dismissed several unrealistic blue-sky notions, whilst the alcohol took effect. The IEEE 802.11n Task Group have now fully ratified the standard after what may have seem to be an eternity, albeit seven years or so in its formation. Nonetheless, what joy, as it surely translates into consumers benefiting from true high-speed wireless connectivity – something which has beleaguered Bluetooth over the last few years or so. Now let’s continue with this exclusive story!
The awakening
So, as we sat and wondered how to share our insight and experiences surrounding 802.11n and, of course, the foretold promises of amazing data rates of up to 300Mbits/s (possibly more) – we suddenly awoke from our stupor with a deep sobering realisation.
In our awakening, as we started to examine more closely at what 802.11n would do for the wireless telecommunications industry along with its many adopters, a cold and sobering thought entered our minds. Our thoughts became a little clearer and we unravelled and finally rested on the single notion that both manufacturers and consumers alike have already been enjoying 802.11n for a couple of years now, as ‘Draft N’! You must surely recall that the Wi-Fi Alliance (wi-fi.org) offered an interim certification for a feature subset of the future 802.11n standard back in 2007. Crikey, what’s new then? Furthermore, it seems the Wi-Fi Alliance (the certification group) assures its member companies and consumers that nothing will change and that products supporting Draft N will coexist with the new 802.11n ratified standard.
The only agenda
Following seven years of waiting, it may be easy to forget that an interim solution was offered during 2007. In fact, the Wi-Fi Alliance offered its member companies an opportunity to manufacturer 802.11 Draft N products and still receive that all important certification! Presumably, the only agenda was to sustain a stagnant PC market, enabling consumers to receive an intermediate revision of the future 802.11n standard and, as a consequence, consumers would ultimately benefit from increased data rates following the success and popularity of 802.11b and 802.11g.
On the other hand, there have been many manufacturers who backed away from incorporating such an immature technology, due to the simple fact that it wasn’t finished. Richard Edgar, Product Manager for Wi-Fi at Cambridge Silicon Radio confirmed, “there has been a reluctance to commit to 802.11n because it was in draft,” he continued to suggest that many vendors felt it was always subject to change. Nevertheless, Edgar was confident that many manufacturers would now embrace the ratified standard, not just the PC industry, but many mobile phone manufacturers too. Edgar suggested that although mobile phone manufacturers have patiently waited for the ratified standard, some of the antenna technology may have been too cumbersome to integrate it into a small form factor. The additional features offered within the ratified standard, however, provide support for multiple antennas for improved performance and reliability, but this will inevitably have an impact on cost, battery life and so on. It will certainly be interesting to follow-up on how mobile phone manufacturers integrate 802.11n into their products.
So, what are the differences?
As we touched upon earlier, Draft N was a subset of the proposed ratified standard, where a number of basic features were introduced into Draft N-enabled products. Nevertheless, with this in mind we wondered whether the ratified version would offer further enhancements. As such, to feed our effervescent curiosity, we eventually caught up with the Wi-Fi Alliance who offered us a better insight, as to what consumers can expect from 802.11n. The most obvious visual changes are to the Wi-Fi logo, as we can see in Figure 1 – the ‘Draft’ supplement is no more!
Sean – insert <> here
Figure 1: The obvious first change made to the Wi-Fi logo is the omission of the Draft status.
The Wi-Fi Alliance has also provided two additional Wi-Fi logos, which shall indicate to the consumer what feature set or functionality they can expect from a new 802.11n product; these are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. Primarily, the feature sets will “deliver a significant boost in performance,” according to the Alliance. The new taglines that occupy the sample logos will be offered to manufacturers as long as their equipment is successfully certified for the additional features. It is suggested that devices that conform to the “multi-stream n” certification may offer up to 10x the throughput and wider service range when compared with legacy Wi-Fi devices.
Sean – insert <> here
Figure 2: A sample of the updated logo to include the tag line “dual stream n” (courtesy of the Wi-Fi Alliance).
Sean – insert <> here
Figure 3: A sample of the updated logo to include the tag line “multi-stream n” (courtesy of the Wi-Fi Alliance).
Better performance and reliability
Essentially, the IEEE’s ratified 802.11n standard offers existing functionality that ensures backward compatibility with Draft N products, but also with other 802.11b-, 802.11g- and 802.11a-enabled products in a mixed-mode context – it is envisaged that a mixed-mode operation will inevitably impede performance for most devices. In an optimum environment 802.11n devices will interoperate with other 802.11n devices offering the best performance in a Greenfield context. The Alliance suggests that the new features offered by the newly ratified standard are optional but, when implemented, will deliver a better connectivity experience and increase performance. Likewise, the new features will also provide increased reliability in unfriendly neighbourhoods by utilising multiple antennas.
In looking towards the future of the 802.11n standard Richard Edgar, CSR, disclosed to us that the IEEE has initiated two new task groups, namely 802.11ac and 802.11ad. Edgar explained that the former standard would offer various enhancements to 802.11n and the latter would take the technology to the much sought after 1Gbps data throughput. But he suggested that these improvements are several years away at the moment. Of course, Ultra-wideband theoretically offers consumer data rates comparable to the 1Gbps threshold now! However, Edgar declined to comment when pressed about the future of the technology and how he envisaged the future of Wi-Fi applications when compared with Ultra-wideband. Similarly, we were also curious about 802.11n support within the Bluetooth Alternative MAC/PHY (AMP) layer. Edgar explained that current support for AMP was limited to 802.11g, but he expected support for 802.11n early next year (2010).
A certain future
The Wi-Fi Alliance is incredibly confident and rightly so. Nonetheless, consumers may not immediately benefit from increased performance, as there is a large Wi-Fi technology base consisting of legacy technologies (802.11a/b/g) and it may take several years (if not more, perhaps a decade?) to witness 802.11n operating in full Greenfield mode, where consumers will truly benefit from a very tangible 1Gbps data throughput. Likewise, the Wi-Fi Alliance and CSR for that matter don’t expect all these new features to be incorporated and certified overnight, and it may be a few more years before we witness increased data rates. In fact, current testing highlights consumers realistically witnessing 110Mbps or so with existing 802.11n products; it was suggested that we would begin to see new features circa 2013 to 2015.
It may not have escaped the keen wireless technology observer that Wi-Fi seems to be creeping into an application space that’s normally privy to Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband. Nobody at the moment seems to want to share their thoughts and some are keeping their cards close to their chest. But for the keen observer, Wi-Fi is broadening its application reach. With the initiation of the two new standard groups, that is 802.11ac and 802.11ad, we can be assured of a sustainable and certain future for Wi-Fi technology. And on a final note provided by the Wi-Fi Alliance, “The good news is that the extensibility, flexibility and robustness of 802.11n guarantees [it] a long, long life”.
Dean Anthony Gratton.
No, not that poltergeist thingy – you know, 802.11n: the IEEE Task Force have finished! The specification formerly known as 802.11n Draft N (or the IEEE’s draft 2.0 of the specification) is now a fully-fledged ratified standard! And yes, we’ve been a little exuberant and somewhat excessive here and, to be perfectly honest, it was absolutely crazy in the office during our celebration of its final arrival. Moreover, we all became a little incessant, as we mulled over the numerous applications that would follow – streaming video over a wireless connection – yikes, it could really happen! Admittedly, the alcohol was flowing steadily over several hours, as we sat back and mused over the years of an Indiana Jones high-speed wireless adventure and dismissed several unrealistic blue-sky notions, whilst the alcohol took effect. The IEEE 802.11n Task Group have now fully ratified the standard after what may have seem to be an eternity, albeit seven years or so in its formation. Nonetheless, what joy, as it surely translates into consumers benefiting from true high-speed wireless connectivity – something which has beleaguered Bluetooth over the last few years or so. Now let’s continue with this exclusive story!
The awakening
So, as we sat and wondered how to share our insight and experiences surrounding 802.11n and, of course, the foretold promises of amazing data rates of up to 300Mbits/s (possibly more) – we suddenly awoke from our stupor with a deep sobering realisation.
In our awakening, as we started to examine more closely at what 802.11n would do for the wireless telecommunications industry along with its many adopters, a cold and sobering thought entered our minds. Our thoughts became a little clearer and we unravelled and finally rested on the single notion that both manufacturers and consumers alike have already been enjoying 802.11n for a couple of years now, as ‘Draft N’! You must surely recall that the Wi-Fi Alliance (wi-fi.org) offered an interim certification for a feature subset of the future 802.11n standard back in 2007. Crikey, what’s new then? Furthermore, it seems the Wi-Fi Alliance (the certification group) assures its member companies and consumers that nothing will change and that products supporting Draft N will coexist with the new 802.11n ratified standard.
The only agenda
Following seven years of waiting, it may be easy to forget that an interim solution was offered during 2007. In fact, the Wi-Fi Alliance offered its member companies an opportunity to manufacturer 802.11 Draft N products and still receive that all important certification! Presumably, the only agenda was to sustain a stagnant PC market, enabling consumers to receive an intermediate revision of the future 802.11n standard and, as a consequence, consumers would ultimately benefit from increased data rates following the success and popularity of 802.11b and 802.11g.
On the other hand, there have been many manufacturers who backed away from incorporating such an immature technology, due to the simple fact that it wasn’t finished. Richard Edgar, Product Manager for Wi-Fi at Cambridge Silicon Radio confirmed, “there has been a reluctance to commit to 802.11n because it was in draft,” he continued to suggest that many vendors felt it was always subject to change. Nevertheless, Edgar was confident that many manufacturers would now embrace the ratified standard, not just the PC industry, but many mobile phone manufacturers too. Edgar suggested that although mobile phone manufacturers have patiently waited for the ratified standard, some of the antenna technology may have been too cumbersome to integrate it into a small form factor. The additional features offered within the ratified standard, however, provide support for multiple antennas for improved performance and reliability, but this will inevitably have an impact on cost, battery life and so on. It will certainly be interesting to follow-up on how mobile phone manufacturers integrate 802.11n into their products.
So, what are the differences?
As we touched upon earlier, Draft N was a subset of the proposed ratified standard, where a number of basic features were introduced into Draft N-enabled products. Nevertheless, with this in mind we wondered whether the ratified version would offer further enhancements. As such, to feed our effervescent curiosity, we eventually caught up with the Wi-Fi Alliance who offered us a better insight, as to what consumers can expect from 802.11n. The most obvious visual changes are to the Wi-Fi logo, as we can see in Figure 1 – the ‘Draft’ supplement is no more!
Sean – insert <
Figure 1: The obvious first change made to the Wi-Fi logo is the omission of the Draft status.
The Wi-Fi Alliance has also provided two additional Wi-Fi logos, which shall indicate to the consumer what feature set or functionality they can expect from a new 802.11n product; these are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. Primarily, the feature sets will “deliver a significant boost in performance,” according to the Alliance. The new taglines that occupy the sample logos will be offered to manufacturers as long as their equipment is successfully certified for the additional features. It is suggested that devices that conform to the “multi-stream n” certification may offer up to 10x the throughput and wider service range when compared with legacy Wi-Fi devices.
Sean – insert <
Figure 2: A sample of the updated logo to include the tag line “dual stream n” (courtesy of the Wi-Fi Alliance).
Sean – insert <
Figure 3: A sample of the updated logo to include the tag line “multi-stream n” (courtesy of the Wi-Fi Alliance).
Better performance and reliability
Essentially, the IEEE’s ratified 802.11n standard offers existing functionality that ensures backward compatibility with Draft N products, but also with other 802.11b-, 802.11g- and 802.11a-enabled products in a mixed-mode context – it is envisaged that a mixed-mode operation will inevitably impede performance for most devices. In an optimum environment 802.11n devices will interoperate with other 802.11n devices offering the best performance in a Greenfield context. The Alliance suggests that the new features offered by the newly ratified standard are optional but, when implemented, will deliver a better connectivity experience and increase performance. Likewise, the new features will also provide increased reliability in unfriendly neighbourhoods by utilising multiple antennas.
In looking towards the future of the 802.11n standard Richard Edgar, CSR, disclosed to us that the IEEE has initiated two new task groups, namely 802.11ac and 802.11ad. Edgar explained that the former standard would offer various enhancements to 802.11n and the latter would take the technology to the much sought after 1Gbps data throughput. But he suggested that these improvements are several years away at the moment. Of course, Ultra-wideband theoretically offers consumer data rates comparable to the 1Gbps threshold now! However, Edgar declined to comment when pressed about the future of the technology and how he envisaged the future of Wi-Fi applications when compared with Ultra-wideband. Similarly, we were also curious about 802.11n support within the Bluetooth Alternative MAC/PHY (AMP) layer. Edgar explained that current support for AMP was limited to 802.11g, but he expected support for 802.11n early next year (2010).
A certain future
The Wi-Fi Alliance is incredibly confident and rightly so. Nonetheless, consumers may not immediately benefit from increased performance, as there is a large Wi-Fi technology base consisting of legacy technologies (802.11a/b/g) and it may take several years (if not more, perhaps a decade?) to witness 802.11n operating in full Greenfield mode, where consumers will truly benefit from a very tangible 1Gbps data throughput. Likewise, the Wi-Fi Alliance and CSR for that matter don’t expect all these new features to be incorporated and certified overnight, and it may be a few more years before we witness increased data rates. In fact, current testing highlights consumers realistically witnessing 110Mbps or so with existing 802.11n products; it was suggested that we would begin to see new features circa 2013 to 2015.
It may not have escaped the keen wireless technology observer that Wi-Fi seems to be creeping into an application space that’s normally privy to Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband. Nobody at the moment seems to want to share their thoughts and some are keeping their cards close to their chest. But for the keen observer, Wi-Fi is broadening its application reach. With the initiation of the two new standard groups, that is 802.11ac and 802.11ad, we can be assured of a sustainable and certain future for Wi-Fi technology. And on a final note provided by the Wi-Fi Alliance, “The good news is that the extensibility, flexibility and robustness of 802.11n guarantees [it] a long, long life”.
Dean Anthony Gratton.
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