|
Quick Reference Guide |
|
Group |
Label |
Description |
|
IEEE 802.11 Working Group |
WG |
The Working Group is comprised of all of the Standing Committees, Task
Groups, Study Groups, and Ad-Hoc Groups |
|
Task Group |
TG |
The committee(s) that are tasked by the WG as the author(s) of the
Standard or subsequent Amendments via an approved PAR |
|
MAC Task Group |
MAC |
Scope of Project |
The scope of the project is to develop one common MAC for Wireless
Local Area Networks (WLANs) applications, in-conjunction with the
PHY Task Group work |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the original Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-1997 |
|
Update Status |
Work has been completed on the ISO / IEC version of the original
Standard - Published as IEEE Std. 802.11, 1999 (ISO/IEC 8802-11:
1999) |
|
PHY Task Group |
PHY |
Scope of Project |
The scope of the project is to develop three PHY's for Wireless Local
Area Networks (WLANs) applications, using Infrared (IR), 2.4 GHz
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS), and 2.4 GHz Direct
Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), in-conjunction with the one common
MAC Task Group work |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the original Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-1997 |
|
Update Status |
Work has been completed on the ISO / IEC version of the original
Standard - Published as IEEE Std. 802.11, 1999 (ISO/IEC 8802-11:
1999) |
|
Task Group a |
TGa |
Scope of Project |
The scope of the project is to develop a PHY to operate in the newly
allocated UNII band. |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the Standard as an
amendment - Published as IEEE Std. 802.11a-1999 |
|
Update Status |
Work has been completed on the ISO / IEC version of the original
Standard as an amendment - Published as IEEE Std. 802.11a-1999
(ISO/IEC 8802-11: 1999 (E)/Amd 1: 2000 (ISO/IEC) and is now part of
the IEEE 802.11 Standard - Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group b |
TGb |
Scope of Project |
The scope of the project is to develop a standard for a higher rate
PHY in the 2.4GHz band |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the Standard as an
amendment - Published as IEEE Std. 802.11b-1999 |
|
Task Group b-Cor1 |
TGb-Cor1 |
Scope of Project |
The scope of this project is to correct deficiencies in the MIB
definition of 802.11b |
|
Purpose of Project: |
As the MIB is currently defined in 802.11b, it is not possible to
compile an interoperable MIB. This project will correct the
deficiencies in the MIB |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the IEEE 802.11 Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group c |
TGc |
Scope of Project |
To add a subclause under 2.5 Support of the Internal Sub-Layer Service
by specific MAC Procedures to cover bridge operation with IEEE
802.11 MAC. This supplement to ISO/IEC 10038 (IEEE 802.1D) will be
developed by the 802.11 Working Group in cooperation with the IEEE
802.1 Working Group. |
|
Purpose of Project: |
To provide the required 802.11 specific information to the ISO/IEC
10038 (IEEE 802.1D) standard |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the ISO/IEC 10038 (IEEE
802.1D) Standard and part of the IEEE 802.11 Standard - Published as
IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group d |
TGd |
Scope of Project |
This supplement will define the physical layer requirements
(channelization, hopping patterns, new values for current MIB
attributes, and other requirements to extend the operation of 802.11
WLANs to new regulatory domains (countries) |
|
Purpose of Project: |
The current 802.11 standard defines operation in only a few regulatory
domains (countries). This supplement will add the requirements
and definitions necessary to allow 802.11 WLAN equipment to operate
in markets not served by the current standard |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the IEEE 802.11 Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group e |
TGe |
Scope of Project |
Enhance the 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) to improve and manage
Quality of Service, provide classes of service, and enhanced
security and authentication mechanisms. Consider efficiency
enhancements in the areas of the Distributed Coordination Function
(DCF) and Point Coordination Function (PCF) |
|
Purpose of Project: |
To enhance the current 802.11 MAC to expand support for LAN
applications with Quality of Service requirements. Provide
improvements in security, and in the capabilities and efficiency of
the protocol. These enhancements, in combination with recent
improvements in PHY capabilities from 802.11a and 802.11b, will
increase overall system performance, and expand the application
space for 802.11. Example applications include transport of voice,
audio and video over 802.11 wireless networks, video conferencing,
media stream distribution, enhanced security applications, and
mobile and nomadic access applications |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the IEEE 802.11 Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group F |
TGF |
Scope of Project |
To develop recommended practices for an Inter-Access Point Protocol
(IAPP) which provides the necessary capabilities to achieve
multi-vendor Access Point interoperability across a Distribution
System supporting IEEE P802.11 Wireless LAN Links. This IAPP will be
developed for the following environment(s): |
|
1) A Distribution System consisting of IEEE 802 LAN components
supporting an IETF IP environment. |
|
2) Others as deemed appropriate |
|
This Recommended Practices Document shall support the IEEE
P802.11standard revision(s) |
|
Purpose of Project: |
IEEE P802.11 specifies the MAC and PHY layers of a Wireless LAN system
and includes the basic architecture of such systems, including the
concepts of Access Points and Distribution Systems. Implementation
of these concepts where purposely not defined by P802.11 because
there are many ways to create a Wireless LAN system. Additionally
many of the possible implementation approaches involve concepts from
higher network layers. While this leaves great flexibility in
Distributions System and Access Point functional design, the
associated cost is that physical Access Point devices from different
vendors are unlikely to inter-operate across a Distribution System
due to the different approaches taken to Distribution System design.
As P802.11 based systems have grown in popularity, this limitation
has become an impediment to WLAN market growth. At the same time it
has become clear that there are a small number of Distribution
System environments that comprise the bulk of the commercial WLAN
system installations |
|
This project proposes to specify the necessary information that needs
to be exchanged between Access Points to support the P802.11 DS
functions. The information exchanges required will be specified for,
one or more Distribution Systems; in a manner sufficient to enable
the implementation of Distribution Systems containing Access Points
from different vendors which adhere to the recommended practices |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the Standard as a
recommended practice - Published as IEEE Std. 802.11F-2003. This
standard practice has been withdrawn as of February 2006. |
|
Task Group g |
TGg |
Scope of Project |
The scope of this project is to develop a higher speed(s) PHY
extension to the 802.11b standard. The new standard shall be
compatible with the IEEE 802.11 MAC. The maximum PHY data rate
targeted by this project shall be at least 20 Mbit/s. The new
extension shall implement all mandatory portions of the IEEE 802.11b
PHY standard. |
|
The project will take advantage of the provisions for rate expansion
that are in place on the current standard PHY. The 802.11 MAC
defines a mechanism for operation of stations supporting different
data rates in the same area. The current 802.11b standard already
defines the basic rates of 1, 2, 5.5 and 11 Mbit/s. The
proposed project targets further developing the provisions for
enhanced data rate capability of 802.11b networks. |
|
The 802.11 MAC currently incorporates the interpretation of data rate
information and the computation of expected packet duration even if
the specific station does not support the rate at which the packet
was sent. |
|
Purpose of Project: |
To develop a new PHY extension to enhance the performance and the
possible applications of the 802.11b compatible networks by
increasing the data rate achievable by such devices. This technology
will be beneficial for improved access to fixed network LAN and
inter-network infrastructure (including access to other wireless
LANs) via a network of access points, as well as creation of higher
performance ad hoc networks |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the IEEE 802.11 Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group h |
TGh |
Scope of Project |
Enhance the 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) standard and 802.11a
High Speed Physical Layer (PHY) in the 5GHz Band supplement to the
standard; to add indoor and outdoor channel selection for 5GHz
license exempt bands in Europe; and to enhance channel energy
measurement and reporting mechanisms to improve spectrum and
transmit power management (per CEPT and subsequent EU committee or
body ruling incorporating CEPT Recommendation ERC 99/23) |
|
Purpose of Project: |
To enhance the current 802.11 MAC and 802.11a PHY with network
management and control extensions for spectrum and transmit power
management in 5GHz license exempt bands, enabling regulatory
acceptance of 802.11 5GHz products. Provide improvements in channel
energy measurement and reporting, channel coverage in many
regulatory domains, and provide Dynamic Channel Selection and
Transmit Power Control mechanisms |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the IEEE 802.11 Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group i |
TGi |
Scope of Project |
Enhance the 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) to enhance security and
authentication mechanisms |
|
Purpose of Project: |
To enhance the current 802.11 MAC to provide improvements in security |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the IEEE 802.11 Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group j |
TGj |
Scope of Project |
Enhance the 802.11 standard and amendments, to add channel selection
for 4.9 GHz and 5 GHz in Japan to additionally conform to the
Japanese rules for radio operation |
|
Purpose of Project: |
To obtain Japanese regulatory approval by enhancing the current 802.11
MAC and 802.11a PHY to additionally operate in newly available
Japanese 4.9 GHz and 5 GHz bands |
|
Status |
Work has been completed and is now part of the IEEE 802.11 Standard -
Published as IEEE Std. 802.11-2007 |
|
Task Group k |
TGk |
Scope of Project |
To define Radio Resource Measurement enhancements to provide
interfaces to higher layers for radio and network measurements |
|
Purpose of Project: |
The original standard has a basic set of radio resource measurements
for internal use only. These measurements and others are required to
provide services; such as roaming, coexistence, and others; to
external entities. It is necessary to provide these measurements and
other information in order to manage these services from an external
source |
|
Status |
Completed with the publication of IEEE Std 802.11k-2008 |
|
Task Group l |
TGl |
Scope of Project |
Task Group "Letter - L" not to be used by the IEEE 802.11 Working
Group for inclusion into the published standard |
|
Purpose of Project: |
N/A |
|
Status |
N/A |
|
Task Group m |
TGmb |
Scope of Project |
Maintenance of the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard |
|
Purpose of Project: |
Maintenance of technical and editorial corrections
to the 802.11-2007 Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and
Physical Layer (PHY) specifications standard |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group n |
TGn |
Scope of Project |
Investigating the possibility of improvements to the 802.11 standard
to provide high throughput (>100Mbps) |
|
Purpose of Project |
The purpose of the project is to improve the 802.11
wireless local area network (LAN) user experience by providing
significantly higher throughput for current applications and to
enable new applications and market segments. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group o |
TGo |
Scope of Project |
Task Group "Letter - O" not to be used by the IEEE 802.11 Working
Group for inclusion into the published standard |
|
Purpose of Project: |
N/A |
|
Status |
N/A |
|
Task Group p |
TGp |
Scope of Project |
To create an amendment of IEEE 802.11 to support
communication between vehicles and the roadside and between vehicles
while operating at speeds up to a minimum of 200 km/h for
communication ranges up to 1000 meters. The amendment will support
communications in the 5 GHz bands; specifically 5.850-5.925 GHz band
within North America with the aim to enhance the mobility and safety
of all forms of surface transportation, including rail and marine.
Amendments to the PHY and MAC will be limited to those required to
support communications under these operating environments within the
5 GHz bands. |
|
Purpose of Project |
To amend the existing IEEE 802.11 standard to make it
suitable for interoperable communications to and between vehicles.
The primary reasons for this amendment include the unique transport
environments, and the very short latencies required (some
applications must complete multiple data exchanges within 4 to
50ms). |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group q |
TGq |
Scope of Project |
Task Group "Letter - Q" not to be used by the IEEE 802.11 Working
Group for inclusion into the published standard |
|
Purpose of Project: |
N/A |
|
Status |
N/A |
|
Task Group r |
TGr |
Scope of Project |
Enhancements to the 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC)
layer to minimize or eliminate the amount of time data connectivity
between the Station (STA) and the Distribution System (DS) is absent
during a Basic Service Set (BSS) transition, limited to the state
necessary for the operation of the MAC. |
|
Purpose of Project |
To improve BSS transitions within 802.11 ESS's and to
support real time constraints imposed by applications such as Voice
over Internet Protocol (VoIP). |
|
Status |
Completed with the publication of IEEE Std 802.11r-2008 |
|
Task Group s |
TGs |
Scope of Project |
To develop an IEEE 802.11 Extended Service Set (ESS)
Mesh* with an IEEE 802.11 Wireless Distribution System (WDS) using
the IEEE 802.11 MAC/PHY layers that supports both
broadcast/multicast and unicast delivery over self-configuring
multi-hop topologies. |
|
Purpose of Project |
To provide a protocol for auto-configuring paths
between APs over self-configuring multi-hop topologies in a WDS to
support both broadcast/multicast and unicast traffic in an ESS Mesh
using the four-address frame format or an extension. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group T |
TGT |
Scope of Project |
To provide a set of performance metrics, measurement methodologies,
and test conditions to enable measuring and predicting the
performance of 802.11 WLAN devices and networks at the component and
application level as a recommended practice. |
|
Purpose of Project |
To enable testing, comparison, and deployment planning
of 802.11 WLAN devices based on a common and accepted set of
performance metrics, measurement methodologies and test conditions. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group u |
TGu |
Scope of Project |
Amend the IEEE 802.11 MAC and PHY to support InterWorking with
External Networks. |
|
Purpose of Project |
To provide amendments to the IEEE 802.11 PHY/MAC
layers which enable InterWorking with other networks. This includes
both enhanced protocol exchanges across the air interface and
provision of primitives to support required interactions with higher
layers for InterWorking. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group v |
TGv |
Scope of Project |
Amendment to provide Wireless Network Management enhancements to the
802.11 MAC, and PHY, to extend prior work in radio measurement to
effect a complete and coherent upper layer interface for managing
802.11 devices in wireless networks. |
|
Purpose of Project |
To provide amendments to the IEEE 802.11 PHY/MAC layers that enables
management of attached stations in a centralized or in a distributed
fashion (e.g. monitoring, configuring, and updating) through a layer
2 mechanism. While the 802.11k Task Group is defining messages to
retrieve information from the station, the ability to configure the
station is not in its scope. The proposed Task Group will also
create an Access Port Management Information Base (AP MIB). |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group w |
TGw |
Scope of Project |
The proposed project seeks to create
enhancements to the IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control layer to
provide, as appropriate, mechanisms that enable data integrity, data
origin authenticity, replay protection, and data confidentiality for
selected IEEE 802.11 management frames including but not limited to:
action management frames, deauthentication and disassociation
frames. |
|
Purpose of Project: |
The purpose is to improve the security of some
or all IEEE 802.11 management frames by defining enhancements such
as data integrity, data origin authenticity, replay protection, and
data confidentiality. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group x |
TGx |
Scope of Project |
Task Group "Letter - X" not to be used by the IEEE 802.11 Working
Group for inclusion into the published standard |
|
Purpose of Project: |
N/A |
|
Status |
N/A |
|
Task Group y |
TGy |
Scope of Project |
Application of 802.11 based systems to the 3650-3700 MHz band in the
USA (FCC 05-56). |
|
Purpose of Project |
The purpose of this project is to standardized the mechanisms required
to allow shared 802.11 operation with other users in the 3650-3700
MHz band in the USA. Likely required mechanisms include:
Specification of new regulatory classes (extending 802.11j), Sensing
of other transmitters (extending 802.11a), Transmit Power Control
(extending 802.11h) and Dynamic Frequency Selection (extending
802.11h). |
|
Status |
Has been approved at RevCom. Publication pending. |
|
Task Group z |
TGz |
Scope of Project |
Amendment to define a new Direct Link Setup (DLS) mechanism to allow
operation with non-DLS capable access points and allow stations with
an active DLS session to enter power save mode. The scope is
specifically limited to modifications related to the DLS mechanism. |
|
Purpose of Project |
This amendment defines a new DLS mechanism which: a) Does not require
access point upgrades (i.e. supports DLS operation with the non-DLS
capable access points), b) Which supports power save mode (when
associated with either DLS or non-DLS capable access points), and c)
Continues to allow operation of DLS in the presence of existing DLS
capable access points. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Task Group aa |
TGaa |
Scope of Project |
This amendment specifies enhancements to the 802.11 MAC (Medium Access
Control)for robust audio video streaming, while maintaining
co-existence with other types of traffic. The MAC enhancements
specified in this amendment enable:
� Graceful degradation of audio video streams when there is
insufficient channel capacity, by enabling packet discarding without
any requirement for deep packet inspection,
� Increased robustness in overlapping BSS environments, without
the requirement for a centralised management entity,
� Intra-Access Category prioritization of transport streams by
modifying EDCA timing and parameter selection without any
requirement for deep packet inspection,
� Improved link reliability and low jitter characteristics for
multicast/broadcast audio video streams,
� Interworking with relevant 802.1AVB mechanisms (802.1Qat,
802.1Qav, 802.1AS) |
|
Purpose of Project: |
This amendment specifies a standard for robust audio video stream
transport over 802.11 for consumer/enterprise applications. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Study Group |
SG |
Investigates the interest of placing something in the Standard |
|
Study Group QSE |
QSE |
Scope of Project |
Investigate the alignment of the Quality of Service specification
developed as 802.11e and that of the Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi Multimedia
(WMM) specification version 1.1 |
|
Purpose of Project: |
Consider whether the convergence of WMM 1.1 and 802.11e functionality
will decrease confusion in the market from multiple QoS standards. |
|
Status |
Dissolved |
|
Study Group VHT |
VHT |
Scope of Project |
Investigate future enhancement of the 802.11 PHY and MAC, to provide
very high throughput of data. |
|
Purpose of Project: |
To consider the enhancement of 802.11 to provide very high throughput
of data, extending the capabilities of 802.11n. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Study Group VTS |
VTS |
Scope of Project |
Investigate enhancements to the 802.11 MAC for robust video streaming. |
|
Purpose of Project: |
Consider an amendment which defines a standard for robust video stream
transport over 802.11 for consumer/enterprise applications. |
|
Status |
Active |
|
Standing Committee / Ad-Hoc Committee |
SC |
A group that reports directly to the WG Chair that investigates
or provides assistance in specific areas |
|
Standing Committee - Publicity |
PSC |
Looks at how IEEE 802.11 can better "publicize" the standard by
collecting data related to its use and operation |
|
Status |
Ongoing |
|
Standing Committee - Wireless Next Generations |
WNG SC |
Scope |
To consider the next generation of features and enhancements to the
802.11 standard. |
|
Purpose |
To provide an opportunity for all new or updated ideas to be presented
for immediate 802.11 peer review. This committee acts as a clearing
house for the wireless next generation of features to the plus
refinements to the existing 802.11 Standard |
|
Status |
Ongoing |
|
Standing Committee - Architecture |
ARC SC |
Purpose |
The WG Chair's Architecture SC engages senior members of 802.11 to
discover, analyze, codify and promote a common understanding of
802.11 architecture; provides an interface point for architectural
topics from other 802 groups; and advises the WG Chair re
architecture interactions between 802.11 TGs. |
|
Status |
Ongoing |
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