Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi (/ˈwaɪfaɪ/)[1][a] is a family of wireless network protocols, based on
the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area
networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices
to exchange data by radio waves. These are the most widely used computer
networks in the world, used globally in home and small office networks to
link desktop and laptop computers, tablet computers, smartphones, smart
TVs, printers, and smart speakers together and to a wireless router to
connect them to the Internet, and in wireless access points in public places
like coffee shops, hotels, libraries and airports to provide visitors with
Internet access for their mobile devices.
21 September 1997; 25 years ago
Introduc
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Compati Personal computers, gaming
ble consoles, Smart
hardwar devices, televisions, printers, smartphones, s
e ecurity cameras
Wi-Fi is a trademark of the non-profit Wi-Fi Alliance, which restricts the use
of the term Wi-Fi Certified to products that successfully
complete interoperability certification testing.[3][4][5] As of 2017, the Wi-Fi
Alliance consisted of more than 800 companies from around the world.
[6] As of 2019, over 3.05 billion Wi-Fi enabled devices are shipped globally
each year.[7]
Wi-Fi uses multiple parts of the IEEE 802 protocol family and is designed to
interwork seamlessly with its wired sibling, Ethernet. Compatible devices can
network through wireless access points to each other as well as to wired
devices and the Internet. The different versions of Wi-Fi are specified by
various IEEE 802.11 protocol standards, with the different radio
technologies determining radio bands, and the maximum ranges, and
speeds that may be achieved. Wi-Fi most commonly uses the 2.4 gigahertz
(120 mm) UHF and 5 gigahertz (60 mm) SHF radio bands; these bands are
subdivided into multiple channels. Channels can be shared between
networks but, within range, only one transmitter can transmit on a channel
at a time.
A newly installed home Wi-Fi network in April 2022
Wi-Fi's radio bands have relatively high absorption and work best for line-
of-sight use. Many common obstructions such as walls, pillars, home
appliances, etc. may greatly reduce range, but this also helps minimize
interference between different networks in crowded environments. An
access point range of about 20 metres (66 feet) indoors while some access
points claim up to a 150-metre (490-foot) range outdoors. Hotspot
coverage can be as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves,
or as large as many square kilometres using many overlapping access
points with roaming permitted between them. Over time the speed and
spectral efficiency of Wi-Fi have increased. As of 2019, some versions of Wi-
Fi, running on suitable hardware at close range, can achieve speeds of
9.6 Gbit/s (gigabit per second).[8]
Version and Genartuon
Wi-Fi Generations
Maximu Radio
IEEE
Generatio m Adopte Frequenc
Standar
n Linkrate d y
d
(Mbit/s) (GHz)[40]
Wi-Fi 7 802.11be 40000 TBA 2.4/5/6
Wi-Fi 6E 802.11ax 600 to 2020 2.4/5/6
9608
Wi-Fi 6 2019 2.4/5
433 to
Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac 2014 5
6933
Wi-Fi 4 802.11n 72 to 600 2008 2.4/5
(Wi-Fi 3*) 802.11g 6 to 54 2003 2.4
(Wi-Fi 2*) 802.11a 6 to 54 1999 5
(Wi-Fi 1*) 802.11b 1 to 11 1999 2.4
(Wi-Fi 0*) 802.11 1 to 2 1997 2.4
*: (Wi-Fi 0, 1, 2, 3, are unbranded common usage. [41]
[42])
Equipment frequently supports multiple versions of Wi-Fi. To communicate, devices
must use a common Wi-Fi version. The versions differ between the radio wavebands
they operate on, the radio bandwidth they occupy, the maximum data rates they can
support and other details. Some versions permit the use of multiple antennas, which
permits greater speeds as well as reduced interference.
Historically, the equipment has simply listed the versions of Wi-Fi using the name of the
IEEE standard that it supports. In 2018,[43] the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced simplified Wi-Fi
generational numbering to indicate equipment that supports Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n), Wi-Fi 5
(802.11ac) and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax). These generations have a high degree of backward
compatibility with previous versions. The alliance has stated that the genel 4, 5, or 6 can
be indicated in the user interface when connected, along with the signal strength. [44]
Uses
Internet
An example of a service set called "WiFi Wikipedia" consisting of two Basic Service Sets. They are able to
automatically roam between the two BSSs, without the user having to explicitly connect to the second
network.
Wi-Fi technology may be used to provide local network and Internet access to devices
that are within Wi-Fi range of one or more routers that are connected to the Internet.
The coverage of one or more interconnected access points (hotspots) can extend from an
area as small as a few rooms to as large as many square kilometres (miles). Coverage in
the larger area may require a group of access points with overlapping coverage. For
example, public outdoor Wi-Fi technology has been used successfully in wireless mesh
networks in London. An international example is Fon.
Wi-Fi provides services in private homes, businesses, as well as in public spaces. Wi-Fi
hotspots may be set up either free-of-charge or commercially, often using a captive
portal webpage for access. Organizations, enthusiasts, authorities and businesses, such as
airports, hotels, and restaurants, often provide free or paid-use hotspots to attract
customers, to provide services to promote business in selected areas. Routers often
incorporate a digital subscriber line modem or a cable modem and a Wi-Fi access point, are
frequently set up in homes and other buildings, to provide Internet access
and internetworking for the structure.
Similarly, battery-powered routers may include a cellular Internet radio modem and a Wi-
Fi access point. When subscribed to a cellular data carrier, they allow nearby Wi-Fi
stations to access the Internet over 2G, 3G, or 4G networks using the tethering technique.
Many smartphones have a built-in capability of this sort, including those based
on Android, BlackBerry, Bada, iOS, Windows Phone, and Symbian, though carriers often
disable the feature, or charge a separate fee to enable it, especially for customers with
unlimited data plans. "Internet packs" provide standalone facilities of this type as well,
without the use of a smartphone; examples include the MiFi- and WiBro-branded
devices. Some laptops that have a cellular modem card can also act as mobile Internet
Wi-Fi access points.
Many traditional university campuses in the developed world provide at least partial Wi-
Fi coverage. Carnegie Mellon University built the first campus-wide wireless Internet
network, called Wireless Andrew, at its Pittsburgh campus in 1993 before Wi-Fi branding
originated.[45][46][47] By February 1997, the CMU Wi-Fi zone was fully operational. Many
universities collaborate in providing Wi-Fi access to students and staff through
the Eduroam international authentication infrastructure.
City-wide
Further information: Municipal wireless network
An outdoor Wi-Fi access point
In the early 2000s, many cities around the world announced plans to construct
citywide Wi-Fi networks. There are many successful examples; in 2004, Mysore
(Mysuru) became India's first Wi-Fi-enabled city. A company called WiFiyNet has
set up hotspots in Mysore, covering the whole city and a few nearby villages.[48]
In 2005, St. Cloud, Florida and Sunnyvale, California, became the first cities in the
United States to offer citywide free Wi-Fi (from MetroFi).[49] Minneapolis has
generated $1.2 million in profit annually for its provider.[50]
In May 2010, the then London mayor Boris Johnson pledged to have London-wide
Wi-Fi by 2012.[51] Several boroughs including Westminster and Islington [52][53]
already had extensive outdoor Wi-Fi coverage at that point.
New York City announced a city-wide campaign to convert old phone booths into
digitized "kiosks" in 2014. The project, titled LinkNYC, has created a network of
kiosks which serve as public Wi-Fi hotspots, high-definition screens and landlines.
Installation of the screens began in late 2015. The city government plans to
implement more than seven thousand kiosks over time, eventually making
LinkNYC the largest and fastest public, government-operated Wi-Fi network in the
world.[54][55][56][57][58] The UK has planned a similar project across major
cities of the country, with the project's first implementation in the Camden
borough of London. [59]
Officials in South Korea's capital Seoul are moving to provide free Internet access
at more than 10,000 locations around the city, including outdoor public spaces,
major streets, and densely populated residential areas. Seoul will grant leases to
KT, LG Telecom, and SK Telecom. The companies will invest $44 million in the
project, which was to be completed in 2015
Operational principle
Wi-Fi stations communicate by sending each other data packets: blocks of data individually sent
and delivered over radio. As with all radio, this is done by the modulation and demodulation of
carrier waves. Different versions of Wi-Fi use different techniques, 802.11b uses DSSS on a
single carrier, whereas 802.11a, Wi-Fi 4, 5 and 6 use multiple carriers on slightly different
frequencies within the channel (OFDM).[63][64]
As with other IEEE 802 LANs, stations come programmed with a globally unique 48-bit MAC
address (often printed on the equipment) so that each Wi-Fi station has a unique address.[b]
The MAC addresses are used to specify both the destination and the source of each data
packet. Wi-Fi establishes link-level connections, which can be defined using both the
destination and source addresses. On the reception of a transmission, the receiver uses the
destination address to determine whether the transmission is relevant to the station or should
be ignored. A network interface normally does not accept packets addressed to other Wi-Fi
stations.[c]
Channels are used half duplex[65][66] and can be time-shared by multiple networks. When
communication happens on the same channel, any information sent by one computer is locally
received by all, even if that information is intended for just one destination.[d] The network
interface card interrupts the CPU only when applicable packets are received: the card ignores
information not addressed to it.[c] The use of the same channel also means that the data
bandwidth is shared, such that, for example, available data bandwidth to each device is halved
when two stations are actively transmitting.
A scheme known as carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) governs
the way stations share channels. With CSMA/CA stations attempt to avoid collisions by
beginning transmission only after the channel is sensed to be "idle",[67][68] but then transmit
their packet data in its entirety. However, for geometric reasons, it cannot completely prevent
collisions. A collision happens when a station receives multiple signals on a channel at the same
time. This corrupts the transmitted data and can require stations to re-transmit. The lost data
and re-transmission reduces throughput, in some cases severely.
Waveband
Edit
Main article: List of WLAN channels
The 802.11 standard provides several distinct radio frequency ranges for use in Wi-Fi
communications: 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.6 GHz, 4.9 GHz, 5 GHz, 5.9 GHz and 60 GHz bands.[69]
[70][71] Each range is divided into a multitude of channels. In the standards, channels are
numbered at 5 MHz spacing within a band (except in the 60 GHz band, where they are 2.16 GHz
apart), and the number refers to the centre frequency of the channel. Although channels are
numbered at 5 MHz spacing, transmitters generally occupy at least 20 MHz, and standards
allow for channels to be bonded together to form wider channels for higher throughput.
Countries apply their own regulations to the allowable channels, allowed users and maximum
power levels within these frequency ranges. 802.11b/g/n can use the 2.4 GHz band, operating
in the United States under FCC Part 15 Rules and Regulations. In this frequency band equipment
may occasionally suffer interference from microwave ovens,[10] cordless telephones, USB 3.0
hubs, and Bluetooth devices.[72]
Spectrum assignments and operational limitations are not consistent worldwide: Australia and
Europe allow for an additional two channels (12, 13) beyond the 11 permitted in the United
States for the 2.4 GHz band, while Japan has three more (12–14). In the US and other countries,
802.11a and 802.11g devices may be operated without a licence, as allowed in Part 15 of the
FCC Rules and Regulations.
802.11a/h/j/n/ac/ax can use the 5 GHz U-NII band, which, for much of the world, offers at least
23 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels rather than the 2.4 GHz frequency band, where the
channels are only 5 MHz wide. In general, lower frequencies have longer range but have less
capacity. The 5 GHz bands are absorbed to a greater degree by common building materials than
the 2.4 GHz bands and usually give a shorter range.
As 802.11 specifications evolved to support higher throughput, the protocols have become
much more efficient in their use of bandwidth. Additionally, they have gained the ability to
aggregate (or 'bond') channels together to gain still more throughput where the bandwidth is
available. 802.11n allows for double radio spectrum/bandwidth (40 MHz- 8 channels) compared
to 802.11a or 802.11g (20 MHz). 802.11n can also be set to limit itself to 20 MHz bandwidth to
prevent interference in dense communities.[73] In the 5 GHz band, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz,
and 160 MHz bandwidth signals are permitted with some restrictions, giving much faster
connections.
An example of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi spectrum An example of 5 GHz Wi-Fi spectrum
Communication stack
Edit
Main articles: IEEE 802 and IEEE 802.11
Wi-Fi is part of the IEEE 802 protocol family. The data is organized into 802.11 frames that are
very similar to Ethernet frames at the data link layer, but with extra address fields. MAC
addresses are used as network addresses for routing over the LAN.[74]
Wi-Fi's MAC and physical layer (PHY) specifications are defined by IEEE 802.11 for modulating
and receiving one or more carrier waves to transmit the data in the infrared, and 2.4, 3.6, 5, 6,
or 60 GHz frequency bands. They are created and maintained by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards
Committee (IEEE 802). The base version of the standard was released in 1997 and has had many
subsequent amendments. The standard and amendments provide the basis for wireless
network products using the Wi-Fi brand. While each amendment is officially revoked when it is
incorporated in the latest version of the standard, the corporate world tends to market to the
revisions because they concisely denote capabilities of their products.[75] As a result, in the
market place, each revision tends to become its own standard.
In addition to 802.11 the IEEE 802 protocol family has specific provisions for Wi-Fi. These are
required because Ethernet's cable-based media are not usually shared, whereas with wireless
all transmissions are received by all stations within the range that employ that radio channel.
While Ethernet has essentially negligible error rates, wireless communication media are subject
to significant interference. Therefore, the accurate transmission is not guaranteed so delivery
is, therefore, a best-effort delivery mechanism. Because of this, for Wi-Fi, the Logical Link
Control (LLC) specified by IEEE 802.2 employs Wi-Fi's media access control (MAC) protocols to
manage retries without relying on higher levels of the protocol stack.[76]
For internetworking purposes, Wi-Fi is usually layered as a link layer (equivalent to the physical
and data link layers of the OSI model) below the internet layer of the Internet Protocol. This
means that nodes have an associated internet address and, with suitable connectivity, this
allows full Internet access
Modes
Infrastructure
Depiction of a Wi-Fi network in infrastructure mode. The device sends information wirelessly to
another device, both connected to the local network, to print a document.
In infrastructure mode, which is the most common mode used, all communications go through
a base station. For communications within the network, this introduces an extra use of the
airwaves but has the advantage that any two stations that can communicate with the base
station can also communicate through the base station, which enormously simplifies the
protocols.
Ad hoc and Wi-Fi direct
Wi-Fi also allows communications directly from one computer to another without an access
point intermediary. This is called ad hoc Wi-Fi transmission. Different types of ad hoc networks
exist. In the simplest case network nodes must talk directly to each other. In more complex
protocols nodes may forward packets, and nodes keep track of how to reach other nodes, even
if they move around.
Ad hoc mode was first described by Chai Keong Toh in his 1996 patent[77] of wireless ad hoc
routing, implemented on Lucent WaveLAN 802.11a wireless on IBM ThinkPads over a size
nodes scenario spanning a region of over a mile. The success was recorded in Mobile
Computing magazine (1999)[78] and later published formally in IEEE Transactions on Wireless
Communications, 2002[79] and ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review, 2001.[80]
This wireless ad hoc network mode has proven popular with multiplayer handheld game
consoles, such as the Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, digital cameras, and other consumer
electronics devices. Some devices can also share their Internet connection using ad hoc,
becoming hotspots or "virtual routers".[81]
Similarly, the Wi-Fi Alliance promotes the specification Wi-Fi Direct for file transfers and media
sharing through a new discovery- and security-methodology.[82] Wi-Fi Direct launched in
October 2010.[83]
Another mode of direct communication over Wi-Fi is Tunneled Direct-Link Setup (TDLS), which
enables two devices on the same Wi-Fi network to communicate directly, instead of via the
access point.[84]
Multiple access points
Access points send out beacon frames to announce the presence of networks.
An Extended Service Set may be formed by deploying multiple access points that are configured
with the same SSID and security settings. Wi-Fi client devices typically connect to the access
point that can provide the strongest signal within that service set.[85]
Increasing the number of Wi-Fi access points for a network provides redundancy, better range,
support for fast roaming, and increased overall network-capacity by using more channels or by
defining smaller cells. Except for the smallest implementations (such as home or small office
networks), Wi-Fi implementations have moved toward "thin" access points, with more of the
network intelligence housed in a centralized network appliance, relegating individual access
points to the role of "dumb" transceivers. Outdoor applications may use mesh topologie
