The history of the origin of Wi-Fi goes back to the early 90s of the last century. The progenitor of the technology was a joint product of NCR Corporation and AT&T named WaveLAN, designed to optimize the operation of the cash registers of the Dutch supermarket chain. Wireless data transmission between the clients of this network was established at a speed of up to 2 Mbps.

This was followed by the so-called period of uncertainty - following the Dutch, other "players" in the wireless data transmission arena began to enter the market. However, the equipment of different vendors was not compatible with each other, which was the impetus for the adoption of a single wireless standard. It was approved in 1997 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the main international body in the field of standards development for radio electronics. Since then, the acronym IEEE has steadily followed every version of Wi-Fi.

Popular Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) Routers

802.11

Letterless 802.11 was the first wireless standard. Data over the air using this protocol was transmitted at a rate of up to 1 Mbps (then it increased to 2 Mbps). Initially, the standard provided for two types of transmission media: radio frequency 2.4 GHz and infrared range 850-950 nm, which was not further developed.

Very quickly, speeds of 1-2 Mbps were not enough. Therefore, the non-profit organization Wi-Fi Alliance, created in 1999 from a group of the largest IT companies at that time (3Com, Cisco, Nokia, Symbol Technologies, etc.), initiated the development of a new version of the wireless data transfer protocol. The alliance popularized the newly minted technology with the advertising slogan "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity" (wireless accuracy standard). Over time, the phrase was truncated to "Wireless Fidelity", a shortened version of which subsequently became recognizable throughout the world.

802.11b

The debut of the 802.11b protocol took place at the end of the outgoing era of the 20th century. The data transfer rate in it was increased to 5 and 11 Mbps, despite the fact that the same 2.4 GHz radio channel was used. In the entire operating frequency range of the standard, three non-overlapping channels can be distinguished, on which three different Wi-Fi wireless networks can operate.

Visual evolution of "letter" Wi-Fi standards.

802.11a

Work on the development of this standard began earlier than the previous version of 802.11b, but its final revision was released later (in 2001). The key innovations of the protocol with the letter “a” are an increased bandwidth (up to 54 Mbps) and a new 5 GHz radio frequency band(less crowded compared to the 2.4 GHz band). The standard did not find wide application, since the difference in frequencies necessitated equipping compatible equipment with dual transceivers. In addition, two years later, a new revision of Wi-Fi was announced with the letter “g” at the end of the full name.

802.11g

The g-version of the 802.11 standard was released in 2003. In fact, this is a “finished” protocol “b” at a frequency of 2.4 GHz with an increased “flight” speed up to 54 Mbps. At the time of the announcement of the technology, such high-speed indicators of data exchange were considered even redundant, because. the memory of many portable devices was up to hundreds of megabytes. Plus, they were not adapted to the browser. The era of the Internet in mobile gadgets began a little later.

The introduction of the 802.11g protocol into life was slow and mainly due to laptops.

802.11n

A serious increase in speed indicators occurred in the "n" generation of the 802.11 standard. It was presented to the general public in 2009. The protocol learned to work in two frequency bands (2.4 and 5 GHz), and support for MIMO technology (receiving and transmitting data simultaneously over several channels) was also introduced into it. Theoretically, you can “squeeze” speeds up to 600 Mbps from the standard. However, in practice, this figure can only be achieved at a frequency of 5 GHz between fixed access points with MIMO technology installed within the same room with a good signal-to-noise ratio.

"Down with wires!" is the unofficial motto of Wi-Fi networks.

A more realistic figure for the 802.11n protocol is 150 Mbps. Approximately this threshold of the maximum data transfer rate should be expected from a home router at a frequency of 2.4 GHz.

Popular laptops with Wi-Fi 5 (ac)

802.11ac

2014 was marked by the debut of the 802.11ac standard, which switched strictly to the 5 GHz frequency. The coverage area in this range is less than 2.4 GHz, which prompted network equipment manufacturers to put directional antennas into service with their products.

The theoretical speed limit for data exchange in 802.11ac Wi-Fi networks is 6.77 Gbps. "Pumping" the speed was achieved by increasing the bandwidth from the standard 20 MHz to 80 MHz and even 160 MHz. One protocol channel with a width of 20 MHz provides a peak data transfer rate of 867 Mbps. Where did the figure of almost 7 Gbps come from? And it is formed by the MU-MIMO 8x8 configuration, during which 8 channels of 867 Mbps each are combined into a complete high-speed stream.

802.11ax

The latest version of Wi-Fi today is marked with the 802.11ax brand. The 2019 birth standard returned to using the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency bands. Also, adjacent free bands of the frequency spectrum can be allocated for it.

The speed limit of data exchange in the 6th revision of Wi-Fi (it is also the 802.11ax standard) reached 10 Gbps.

Revision 802.11ax provides data transfer at speeds up to 10 Gbps. Of the innovations, she was “brought up” with orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA technology) for synchronous data transmission to several clients at an average speed. At the same time, the “ax” release for the first time lit up the Target Wake Time feature, put into service with an eye to waking up IoT devices on a timer only when data needs to be collected.

Smartphones with Wi-Fi 6 (ax)

New numbering

Alphanumeric designations of different generations of Wi-Fi are difficult to remember for ordinary users. In an effort to make them more understandable to a wider audience, a move was made to rename the last trio of wireless standard designations. From now on, generations of Wi-Fi are referred to as follows:

Older versions of Wi-Fi have not been officially renamed.

Wi-Fi network generation designations in a new way.

Over time, Wi-Fi enabled devices will be able to broadcast icons to graphically represent the network connection being used. For example, by overlaying an icon with a number on top of the signal level icon.

Related technologies

In complex with the development of wireless Wi-Fi networks, related technologies got on their feet. In particular, MIMO and Beamforming. Let's go through each of them briefly.

MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)

MIMO technology is used to increase throughput and more efficient use of the frequency band. It allows you to transmit more data in one frequency range and a given frequency corridor, which is achieved through the use of multiple transmitting and receiving antennas. Depending on the number of antennas, it is possible to obtain an increase in the speed of information exchange up to eight times (in the revision of Wi-Fi 6).

The difference between the subspecies of MIMO technology: Single-User and Multi-User.

There are two types of MIMO technology:

  • SU-MIMO(Single-User) - provides multi-channel input and output streams to only one device; other clients of the Wi-Fi network are patiently waiting for data exchange with it;
  • MU-MIMO(Multi-User) - provides simultaneous access point communication with multiple devices; as a result, users do not share the connection between themselves and the overall network performance improves.
Popular MU-MIMO Routers

An integral attribute of the latest multi-variety of technology is Beamforming:

Beamforming

This useful option allows you to direct the emitted signal not randomly, but in a concentrated beam towards the subscriber. As a result, the quality of signal reception from the access point improves and the data exchange rate increases.

Beamforming technology allows you to concentrate the flow of waves clearly in the direction of the client device.

The Beamforming function on board the router will come in handy in remote corners of the monastery and in places where there are many different signal overlaps along with sources of radio interference.

Stable wireless connections to you!