MESH NETWORKING PROPOSAL SELECTED FOR IEEE 802(R) WIRELESS
LANs
Contact:
Stuart J. Kerry, Chair, IEEE 802.11 Working Group
Chair +1 408-474-7356, stuart.kerry@philips.com
or Karen McCabe, IEEE Senior Marketing Manager +1 732-562-3824, k.mccabe@ieee.org
PISCATAWAY, N.J., USA, 13 March 2006 The IEEE 802.11 Working Group has
passed a major milestone in the development of IEEE 802.11s(TM), “Wireless
LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications: Extended
Service Set Mesh Networking”, by voting to confirm a single proposal as the
initial basis for the IEEE 802.11s standard. Many additional steps, which will
include technical changes, are necessary before this standard becomes final; but
this vote sets the baseline from which the group will work.
Once completed,
IEEE 802.11s will provide an interoperable and secure wireless distribution system
between IEEE 802.11(TM) mesh points. This can reduce backhaul and installation
costs. It also will extend mobility to access points in IEEE wireless local area
networks (WLANs), enabling a new class of IEEE 802.11 applications that require
untethered infrastructure.
The working group winnowed the 15 proposals
presented in July 2005 for this amendment down to two in January 2006. The two
final concepts were then merged to create a joint proposal, which the group confirmed
as a baseline for this amendment. The evaluation process considered five relevant
use cases, i.e., those concerning the residential, office, public safety, military,
and campus/community/public access sectors.
“From wireless video distribution
in the home to battlefield communications, mesh networking can improve data rates,
reliability and range.” says Stuart J. Kerry, IEEE 802.11 Working Group Chair.
Donald E. Eastlake 3rd, Mesh Networking Task Group Chair, says “Mesh
networking features will help keep IEEE 802.11, already dominant in the WLAN arena
with over a hundred million chip sets shipping annually, at the cutting edge of
technology for the maximum benefit of its users. Final approval of the new amendment
is targeted for 2008.”
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