802.11

WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

The Working Group for WLAN Standards


Upcoming sessions

2024 November IEEE 802 Plenary Session November 10-15, 2024 Hyatt Regency Vancouver Vancouver, Canada Register to attend (in-person or remote) A tentative agenda for the session is here

The meetings between now and the upcoming session will be held by teleconference.

Working group ballots and comment collections

None at present.

IEEE SA ballots

None at present.

Recent activities

The IEEE SASB has approved

  • IEEE Std 802.11™-2024, a revision to our standard that rolls in all previously published amendments and contains numerous fixes and enhancements
  • IEEE Std 802.11bh™-2024, an amendment that improves operation with random and changing MAC addresses
  • IEEE Std 802.11be™-2024, an amendment that is the basis for Wi-Fi 7
Actual publication is expected soon.

A report summarizing our work at the September 8-13, 2024 interim session is available.

The Automotive topic interest group (AUTO TIG) held their first meetings at the September interim session. The AUTO TIG is developing a report on connected vehicles, identifying:

  • Use cases and requirements
  • Key performance indicators
  • Technical approaches and gaps in the 802.11 standard
  • Alternative solutions

The Enhanced Light Communications (ELC) study group (SG) held their first meetings at the September interim session and produced an initial revision of their draft PAR. The ELC SG expects to have a draft PAR ready for working group approval at the January 2025 interim session.

TGbn (Ultra High Reliability) reviewed around 80 technical submissions during the September interim session on a variety of topics, including unequal modulation (UEQM), multi-AP, coordinated spatial reuse (CSR), distributed RU (dRU), beamforming, power save, enhanced long range (ELR), control frame design, L4S, relay, roaming, preamble and PPDU design, interference mitigation, preemption, Quality of Service (QoS) enhancements, coordinated beamforming (CBF), coordinated rTWT (CrTWT), coordinated TDMA (C-TDMA), etc. Consensus was reached (resulting in updates to the specification framework document, SFD) on adding new MCSs, interference mitigation, C-TDMA, C-rTWT, AP power save, and a common framework for AP coordination. Additionally, the group reached consensus on additional design details for ELR, dRU, UEQM, roaming, power save, intermediate FCS, and other features already in the SFD.

TGbk completed its working group letter ballot series. The working group will seek 802 LMSC unconditional approval for P802.11bk (320 MHz Positioning) to initiate SA ballot with D3.0.

TGbf (WLAN Sensing) completed comment resolution from their initial SA ballot on D4.0 and, with the availability of D5.0, will open the first recirculation SA ballot.

TGbi (Enhanced Data Privacy) are developing their initial draft and will have D0.6 available shortly. TGbi will hold an ad-hoc October 28-30, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The ad-hoc will focus on resolving comments from their comment collection on D0.3 and reviewing text submissions for inclusion into their initial draft.

At the July plenary session, the working group approved a draft PAR for P802.11bq (Integrated Millimeter Wave). The draft PAR will be reviewed by the 802 LMSC prior to and during the November 2024 plenary.

Recent standards approvals

IEEE Std 802.11be™-2024 was approved on September 26, 2024. Publication expected soon.

IEEE Std 802.11bh™-2024 was approved on September 26, 2024. Publication expected soon.

IEEE Std 802.11™-2024 was approved on September 26, 2024. Publication expected soon.

IEEE Std 802.11bc™-2023 (incorporating IEEE Std 802.11-2020/Cor 2-2024) was published on February 28, 2024.

IEEE Std 802.11bb™-2023 was published on November 10, 2023.

IEEE Std 802.11bd™-2022 was published on March 10, 2023.

IEEE Std 802.11az™-2022 was published on March 3, 2023.

IEEE Std 802.11™-2020/Cor 1-2022 was published on December 27, 2022.

IEEE Std 802.11ba™-2021 was published on October 8, 2021.

IEEE Std 802.11ay™-2021 was published on July 28, 2021.

IEEE Std 802.11ax™-2021 was published on May 19, 2021.

IEEE Std 802.11™-2020, was published February 26, 2021.

Congratulations to the many 802.11 members who participated in development of these standards. Please visit the photographs page to see pictures of the leadership and major contributors receiving their awards.

"Click Here" for IEEE 802 Free Standards

The IEEE has made available IEEE 802 standards for free download. Under this program, a standard may be downloaded for free six months after the initial publication of the standard. All relevant IEEE 802.11 Standard, Amendments, and Recommended Practices are listed.

Liaison statements and external communications

Recent liaison statements and communications are available here.

Access to 802.11 draft standards

Draft standards are available from a number of sources:

  • If you are a voting 802.11 member, go to the members' area and log in using the 802.11 members ID and password supplied to you by the 802.11 officers.  Contact Robert Stacey if you have lost this. During an 802.11 session, attendees may access 802.11 draft standards from a local fileserver, regardless of their membership status.
  • If you are an active member of one of the other 802 groups, you may be able to access the 802.11 members' area using the same credentials used to access your own group. If this doesn't work, ask your group's Chair to request access from the 802.11 Chair (Robert Stacey).
  • Draft IEEE standards are, from time to time, made available for purchase using the IEEE store or Techstreet.

IEEE standards development guide

The IEEE-SA has created an easy to use Online Standards Development web site that has a wealth of information that details the whole standards process flow, from creation of the initial PAR, to balloting to final draft, and beyond. It even includes, tutorials, and online forms of the various processes evolved. This site is recommended for all Members and Chairs involved.

Upcoming meetings

A google calendar (embedded below) is maintained for 802.11 meetings.

You can import the calendar as an iCal file, or use the "Add to Google Calendar" at the bottom right of the calendar below.