802.11 refers to a family of specifications developed by the IEEE
for wireless LAN technology. 802.11 specifies an over-the-air interface
between a wireless client and a base station or between two wireless
clients. The IEEE accepted the specification in 1997.
There are several specifications in the 802.11 family:
-- 802.11 -- applies to wireless LANs and provides 1 or 2 Mbps
transmission in the 2.4 GHz band using either frequency hopping
spread spectrum (FHSS) or direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS).
-- 802.11a -- an extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANs
and provides up to 54 Mbps in the 5GHz band. 802.11a uses an orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing encoding scheme rather than FHSS
or DSSS.
-- 802.11b (also referred to as 802.11 High Rate or Wi-Fi) -- an
extension to 802.11 that applies to wireless LANS and provides 11
Mbps transmission (with a fallback to 5.5, 2 and 1 Mbps) in the
2.4 GHz band. 802.11b uses only DSSS. 802.11b was a 1999 ratification
to the original 802.11 standard, allowing wireless functionality
comparable to Ethernet.
-- 802.11g -- applies to wireless LANs and provides 20+ Mbps in
the 2.4 GHz band.
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