IEEE 802.11ad is an amendment to the
IEEE 802.11
IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer commun ...
wireless networking standard, developed to provide a Multiple Gigabit Wireless System (MGWS) standard at 60 GHz frequency, and is a networking standard for
WiGig
WiGig, alternatively known as 60 GHz Wi-Fi, refers to a set of 60 GHz wireless network protocols. It includes the current IEEE 802.11ad standard and also the IEEE 802.11ay standard.
The WiGig specification allows devices to communicate wi ...
networks. Because it uses the
V band
The V band ("vee-band") is a standard designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a band of frequencies in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum ranging from 40 to 75 gigahertz (GHz). The V ...
of
millimeter wave
Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) designation for the band of radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). It lies between the super high frequency band and the ...
(mmW) frequency, the range of IEEE 802.11ad communication would be rather limited (just a few meters and difficult to pass through obstacles/walls) compared to other conventional
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
systems. However, the high frequency allows it to use more
bandwidth
Bandwidth commonly refers to:
* Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range
* Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...
which in turn enables the transmission of data at high data rates up to multiple
gigabits per second
In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols (baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are multi ...
, enabling usage scenarios like transmission of uncompressed
UHD video over the wireless network.
The WiGig standard is not too well known, although it was announced in 2009 and added to the IEEE 802.11 family in December 2012.
After revision, the 60 GHz band covers the frequency of 57 to 71 GHz. The frequency band is subdivided into 6 (previously 4) different channels in IEEE 802.11ad, each of them occupy 2160 MHz of space and provide 1760 MHz of bandwidth.
Some of these frequencies might not be available for the use of IEEE 802.11ad networks around the world (reserved for other purposes or requires licenses). Below is a list of available unlicensed spectrums for IEEE 802.11ad in different parts of the world:
See also
*
Wireless Gigabit Alliance
The Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig Alliance) was a trade association that developed and promoted the adoption of multi- gigabit per second speed wireless communications technology "WiGig" operating over the unlicensed 60 GHz frequency band. Th ...
*
IEEE 802.11ay
References
External links
*
IEEE 802.11ad TutorialIEEE 802.11ad White PaperIEEE Std 802.11ad access entry page
{{IEEE standards
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Wireless networking