{"id":1180,"date":"2026-05-13T00:59:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/?post_type=glossary&#038;p=1180"},"modified":"2026-05-13T00:59:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:59:05","slug":"ieee-802-11","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/?glossary=ieee-802-11","title":{"rendered":"IEEE 802.11"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/?glossary=ieee-802-11\"\r\n                    class=\"yaw-glossary yaw-glossary-main-link\"\r\n                    title=\"IEEE 802.11\"\r\n                    data-bs-toggle=\"popover\"\r\n                    data-bs-html=\"true\"\r\n                    data-bs-trigger=\"hover focus\"\r\n                    data-bs-content=\"&lt;p&gt;IEEE 802.11 is the family of wireless networking standards that define how Wi\u2011Fi operates at the Physical Layer (Layer 1) and Data Link Layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. These standards specify radio frequencies, modulation techniques, channel widths, data&hellip;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\">IEEE 802.11<\/a> is the family of wireless networking standards that define how Wi\u2011Fi operates at the Physical Layer (Layer 1) and Data Link Layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. These standards specify radio frequencies, modulation techniques, channel widths, data rates, security mechanisms, and interoperability requirements for wireless LANs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What IEEE 802.11 Defines:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Radio frequencies (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Channel widths (20\/40\/80\/160\/320 MHz)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Modulation schemes (DSSS, OFDM, QAM, OFDMA)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>MIMO \/ MU\u2011MIMO \/ beamforming<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Authentication and encryption (WEP, <a href=\"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/?glossary=wi-fi-protected-access\"\r\n                    class=\"yaw-glossary yaw-glossary-alt-link\"\r\n                    title=\"Wi-Fi Protected Access\"\r\n                    data-bs-toggle=\"popover\"\r\n                    data-bs-html=\"true\"\r\n                    data-bs-trigger=\"hover focus\"\r\n                    data-bs-content=\"&lt;p&gt;A security standard developed by Wi-Fi Alliance (a nonprofit organization formed to certify interoperability of wireless devices) to address the weaknesses of Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). This new security standard was called Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) Version 1. The WPA&hellip;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\">WPA<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/?glossary=wi-fi-protected-access-2\"\r\n                    class=\"yaw-glossary yaw-glossary-alt-link\"\r\n                    title=\"Wi-Fi Protected Access 2\"\r\n                    data-bs-toggle=\"popover\"\r\n                    data-bs-html=\"true\"\r\n                    data-bs-trigger=\"hover focus\"\r\n                    data-bs-content=\"&lt;p&gt;A security protocol for wireless networks that uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to provide strong encryption and improved security over its predecessor, WPA. WPA2 introduced WPA Enterprise mode. From March 13, 2006, to June 30, 2020, WPA2 certification was mandatory&hellip;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\">WPA2<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/?glossary=wi-fi-protected-access-3\"\r\n                    class=\"yaw-glossary yaw-glossary-alt-link\"\r\n                    title=\"Wi-Fi Protected Access 3\"\r\n                    data-bs-toggle=\"popover\"\r\n                    data-bs-html=\"true\"\r\n                    data-bs-trigger=\"hover focus\"\r\n                    data-bs-content=\"&lt;p&gt;A security protocol for Wi-Fi networks that provides enhanced encryption and authentication mechanisms to improve protection against unauthorized access and cyber threats. WPA3 provides many improvements to its predecessor, WPA2. WPA3 support has been mandatory for devices which bear the&hellip;&lt;\/p&gt;\n\">WPA3<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Power levels and regulatory compliance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Backward compatibility between Wi\u2011Fi generations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Common IEEE 802.11 Amendments:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>802.11a<\/strong> \u2014 5 GHz, 54 Mbps<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>802.11b<\/strong> \u2014 2.4 GHz, 11 Mbps<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>802.11g<\/strong> \u2014 2.4 GHz, 54 Mbps<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>802.11n (Wi\u2011Fi 4)<\/strong> \u2014 2.4\/5 GHz, MIMO<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>802.11ac (Wi\u2011Fi 5)<\/strong> \u2014 5 GHz, MU\u2011MIMO<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>802.11ax (Wi\u2011Fi 6\/6E)<\/strong> \u2014 2.4\/5\/6 GHz, OFDMA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>802.11be (Wi\u2011Fi 7)<\/strong> \u2014 2.4\/5\/6 GHz, 320 MHz channels, 4096\u2011QAM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why It Matters:<\/strong> IEEE 802.11 ensures that Wi\u2011Fi devices from different manufacturers can communicate reliably. Every router, access point, laptop, phone, and IoT device that uses Wi\u2011Fi is built on top of these standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IEEE 802.11 is the family of wireless networking standards that define how Wi\u2011Fi operates at the Physical Layer (Layer 1) and Data Link Layer (Layer 2) of the OSI model. These standards specify radio frequencies, modulation techniques, channel widths, data rates, security mechanisms, and interoperability requirements for wireless LANs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","format":"standard","class_list":["post-1180","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","format-standard"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/1180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/1180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1181,"href":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/1180\/revisions\/1181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edk-tech.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}