802.11n Wi-Fi Standard Finally Approved

Good News:

As anticipated, the IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.

802.11n  is capable of delivering throughput speeds  to at least  300 megabits per second . It took  seven years to roll out ( six years from the first draft version) and  has been through a dozen or so draft versions since then.

Due to the greatly higher speed of 802.11n, most wireless vendors haven been offering 802.11n-based (also known as Wireless-N) products during the past six years and calling them Draft N products. Now the Draft is no more.

Improvements of 802.11n Over the Present 802.11g:

The most notable new technologyin the new WiFi standard  is called multiple input, multiple output (MIMO). MIMO uses several antennas to move multiple data streams from one place to another. Instead of sending and receiving a single stream of data like the current 802.11g, MIMO can simultaneously transmit three streams of data and receive two. This allows more data to be transmitted in the same period of time. This  can also increase  the distance over which data can be transmitted(range) .A second technology being incorporated into 802.11n is channel bonding, which can use two separate non-overlapping channels at the same time to transmit data. This also increases the amount of data that can be transmitted. A third technology in 802.11n is called payload optimization or packet aggregation, which allows more data to be out  into each transmitted packet.

Use in Existing Equipment:

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, most, if not all, of the existing equipment can be upgraded to the final specification via a firmware update. Finally, all future wireless networking products will be compatible with today’s products that have been Wi-Fi-certified.