Brief History of Wireless LAN
This section provides a brief history of wireless LAN and its
relationship with other IEEE LAN standards. Similar to LANs, many of the initial
WLANs were proprietary. Prior to 1998, many of these wireless applications were
characterized by low data rates, high cost, and a lack of a worldwide standard
that limited widespread deployment. These WLANs were used in many areas, such as
manufacturing, retail, and warehousing. It was at this juncture that IEEE
stepped in and created the standards for WLANs.
11.2.1 IEEE 802.11 Family
IEEE initiated the standardization efforts in the area of
WLANs, similar to the LAN technology it had standardized earlier. In May 1991, a
project authorization request (PAR) was initiated to create a new working group
called IEEE 802.11 for WLANs. This effort resulted in the IEEE adopting a new
standard for WLAN, IEEE 802.11-1997, released in 1997.
There have been enhancements made to this initial release
(referred to as IEEE 802.11-1999) that resulted in other standards being
developed that increase the peak data rates. A brief description of the basic
IEEE 802.11 protocol model is provided next. This framework is used by the
initial and subsequent releases of the IEEE 802.11 standards.
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