Keeping the World Connected
For over 40 years, IEEE 802 working groups have paved the way for technological connectivity in how people live, work, and communicate.
Recognizing this milestone and the vast accomplishments of these innovations, we invite people from around the world to join us in advancing networking technologies for the benefit of humanity.
What is IEEE 802?
The founders of the IEEE Local Area Network Standards Committee (LMSC) began discussing standardization opportunities in 1979, submitting a project proposal “Local network for Computer Interconnection” through the IEEE Computer Society to the IEEE in August 1979 that was formally approved by the IEEE on 13 March 1980. Today, the IEEE 802 LMSC develops and maintains networking standards and recommended practices for local metropolitan, and other area networks using an open, consensus-driven standards development process, and advocates them on a global basis.
Currently, the IEEE 802 family of standards consists of 71 published standards with 54 under development. The most widely used IEEE 802 standards are for Ethernet, Bridging and Virtual Bridged LANs Wireless LAN, Wireless PAN, Wireless MAN, Wireless Coexistence, Media Independent Handover Services, and Wireless RAN with a dedicated Working Group providing focus for each area.
IEEE 802 also coordinates with other national and international standards bodies, including ISO which has published certain IEEE 802 standards as international standards. Moreover, the IEEE 802 LMSC and working groups garner strong international participation with ongoing meetings and sessions being held throughout the world.
Meet IEEE 802
Amelia Andersdotter
Amelia Andersdotter has worked with internet infrastructures from a range of perspectives, regulatory, technical and social, for over a decade. Previously with UK-based freedom of speech-organisation ARTICLE19, she participated in IEEE 802 as recording secretary for IEEE 802.11 SG Next-Generation Vehicles, and IEEE 802.11 TIG Chair for Randomized and changing MAC addresses. Her work in IEEE 802 focused on privacy considerations for networked technologies, but she has also researched differential privacy in the IETF, and privacy and security features in mobile networks. Amelia previously worked with IPR, telecoms law, and identity management as elected official in the European Parliament, and currently with DNS topics as Director of Strategic Initiatives at Brussels-based CENTR. Her educational background is in mathematical statistics and business law. Amelia /likes/ the internet.
Dr. Jim Lansford
Dr. Jim Lansford is in the standards group at Qualcomm, responsible for automotive and Wi-Fi standards. He has over 35 years of experience in communications systems, digital signal processing, and strategic business development. Prior to its acquisition by Qualcomm in August 2015, he was a Fellow in the Global Standards Group at Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR).
Dr. Lansford is currently chair of the Wireless Next Generation Standing Committee in IEEE 802.11. In the Wi-Fi Alliance, he chairs the Automotive Market Segment Task Group and the Long Range Strategy Group. He is also actively involved in automotive related standards efforts in SAE and 5GAA.
In addition to his experience with Qualcomm and other companies, Dr. Lansford is currently an Adjunct Professor in the graduate Technology, Cybersecurity, and Policy program at the University of Colorado — Boulder.
Dr. Lansford lives in Cascade, Colorado with his wife, Lynn, and daughter, Katelynne.
David Law
David Law is a Distinguished Technologist in the CTO Office of Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. David has served as Chair of the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group since 2008 and Vice-Chair between 1996 and 2008. David has also served in IEEE SA governance positions such as Chair of the IEEE SA Review Committee (RevCom) from 2008 to 2012, and is currently a member of the IEEE SA Standards Board and Chair of the IEEE SA Patent Committee (PatCom). David has received the IEEE SA Standards Medallion, the IEEE SA Standards Board Distinguished Service Award, the IEEE SA International Award, the IEEE Computer Society Karlsson Award and the IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award. David earned his BEng (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland.
Dr. Roger B. Marks
Roger B. Marks of EthAirNet Associates is an IEEE Fellow. He initiated the IEEE 802.16 Working Group in 1998 and has served as its chair since. Marks is active in the IEEE 802.1 Working Group, serving as Technical Editor of IEEE Std 802c-2017 and the P802.1CQ project as well as chairing the IEEE 802 “Network Enhancement for the Next Decade” Industry Connections Activity (Nendica). Marks is also active in other IEEE 802 Working Groups, particularly 802.11. Marks serves as Second Vice Chair on the IEEE 802 Executive Committee and is a member of the IEEE Registration Authority Committee. He received his Ph.D. degree in applied physics from Yale University, following an undergraduate physics degree from Princeton and a MSEE from the University of Utah.
Dr. Andrew Myles
Dr. Andrew Myles has been involved in IEEE-SA based standards development work since 1988. For the last 20 years, he has mainly focused on the development of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) as a participant, editor and chair in various sub-groups of IEEE 802. His IEEE-SA standards development work has also led him to become involved in a variety of complementary organisations, including the Wi-Fi Alliance, ISO/IEC JTC1, 3GPP and ETSI. His current technical focus is ensuring that Wi-Fi and 5G share the spectrum in a somewhat fair manner in the unlicensed 5 & 6 GHz bands. Dr Myles is also involved in the governance of the international standards ecosystem as Member-At-Large of the IEEE-SA Board of Governors and a Director (and former Chair) of the Wi-Fi Alliance Board of Directors. His current governance focus in the IEEE-SA is to promote “enhanced openness” for the IEEE-SA standards development process. Dr Myles is an employee of Cisco Systems, where he is considered to be a little bit Wi-Fi biased!
Active IEEE 802 Working Groups and Study Groups
IEEE 802.1™ Higher Layer LAN Protocols Working Group
The IEEE 802.1 Working Group is chartered to concern itself with and develop standards and recommended practices in the following areas: 802 LAN/MAN architecture, internetworking among 802 LANs, MANs and other wide area networks, 802 Security, 802 overall network management, and protocol layers above the MAC & LLC layers.
IEEE 802.3™ Ethernet Working Group
The IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group (WG) is responsible for developing the Standard for Ethernet under the auspices of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee (LMSC).
IEEE 802.11™ Wireless LAN Working Group
IEEE 802.11 is a standards working group on wireless local area networks. The working group is a part of IEEE LMSC (LAN MAN Standards Committee) formerly called IEEE Project 802. IEEE LMSC reports to the Standards Activity Board (SAB) of the IEEE Computer Society.
IEEE 802.15™ Wireless Specialty Networks (WSN) Working Group
The 802.15 Working Group (WG) on Wireless Specialty Networks (WSN) focuses on the development of open consensus standards addressing wireless networking for the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), allowing these devices to communicate and interoperate with one another, mobile devices, wearables; Optical Wireless Communications (OWC), Autonomous Vehicles, etc.
IEEE 802.18™ Radio Regulatory TAG
The IEEE 802.18 Radio Regulatory Technical Advisory Group (“RR-TAG”) supports the work of the IEEE 802 LMSC and the IEEE 802 wireless Working Groups – IEEE 802.11 (WLAN), IEEE 802.15 (WSN), IEEE 802.16 (WMAN), IEEE 802.20 (Wireless Mobility), IEEE 802.21 (Handoff/Interoperability Between Networks), and IEEE 802.22 (WRAN) – by actively monitoring and participating in radio regulatory matters worldwide as an advocate for IEEE 802.
IEEE 802.19™ Wireless Coexistence Working Group
IEEE 802.19 develops standards for coexistence between wireless standards of unlicensed devices. IEEE 802.19 reviews coexistence assurance (CA) documents produced by working groups developing new wireless standards for unlicensed devices.
IEEE 802.24™ Vertical Applications TAG
The IEEE 802.24 Vertical Applications Technical Advisory Group (TAG) focuses on application categories that use IEEE 802 technology and are of interest to multiple IEEE 802 WGs and have been assigned to IEEE 802.24 by the IEEE Executive Committee.
Get Involved
To participate in creating the world’s next generation of standards for networking technologies, please fill in the information below.