IEEE 802.11ay, ''Enhanced Throughput for Operation in License-exempt Bands above 45 GHz'', is a follow-up to
IEEE 802.11ad WiGig
WiGig, alternatively known as 60 GHz Wi-Fi, refers to a set of 60 GHz wireless network protocols. It includes the current IEEE 802.11ad standard and also the IEEE 802.11ay standard.
The WiGig specification allows devices to communicate wi ...
standard which quadruples the bandwidth and adds
MIMO
In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output, or MIMO (), is a method for multiplying the capacity of a radio link using multiple transmission and receiving antennas to exploit multipath propagation. MIMO has become an essential element of wi ...
up to 8 streams.
Development started in 2015 and the final standard IEEE 802.11ay-2021 was approved in March 2021.
Technical details
802.11ay is a type of WLAN in the
IEEE 802.11
IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer commun ...
family of
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () 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 wav ...
WLANs. It's an improvement on
IEEE 802.11ad rather than a new standard. It has a frequency of 60 GHz, a transmission rate of 20–40 Gbit/s and an extended transmission distance of 300–500 meters. It includes mechanisms for
channel bonding
In computer networking, link aggregation is the combining ( aggregating) of multiple network connections in parallel by any of several methods, in order to increase throughput beyond what a single connection could sustain, to provide redundan ...
and
MU-MIMO
Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) is a set of multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technologies for multipath wireless communication, in which multiple users or terminals, each radioing over one or more antennas, communicate with one another. In cont ...
technologies.
It was originally expected to be released in 2017, but was delayed until 2021.
Where 802.11ad uses a maximum of 2.16 GHz bandwidth, 802.11ay bonds four of those channels together for a maximum bandwidth of 8.64 GHz. MIMO is also added with a maximum of four streams.
The link-rate per stream is 44 Gbit/s, with four streams this goes up to 176 Gbit/s. Higher order modulation is also added, probably up to 256-QAM.
Applications could include replacement for
Ethernet
Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1 ...
and other cables within offices or homes, and provide backhaul connectivity outside for service providers.
802.11ay should not be confused with the similarly named
802.11ax
IEEE 802.11ax, officially marketed by the Wi-Fi Alliance as (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and (6 GHz), is an IEEE standard for wireless local-area networks (WLANs) and the successor of 802.11ac. It is also known as ''High Efficiency'' , for ...
that was officially approved in 2021. The 802.11ay standard is designed to run at much higher frequencies. The lower frequency of 802.11ax enables it to penetrate walls, something that the 11ay standard struggles to do.
Draft versions
Draft version 0.1 of 802.11ay was released in January 2017, followed by draft version 0.2 in March 2017. Draft version 1.0 was made available in November 2017, and draft 1.2 was available as of April 2018.
Draft version 7.0 was released in December 2020 and the Final 802 Working Group Approval was received in February 2021.
See also
*
List of WLAN channels
Wireless LAN (WLAN) channels are frequently accessed using IEEE 802.11 protocols, and equipment that does so is sold mostly under the trademark Wi-Fi. Other equipment also accesses the same channels, such as Bluetooth. The radio frequency (RF) spec ...
*
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...
References
{{IEEE standards
External links
*
IEEE 802.11ay-2021— ''IEEE Standard for Information Technology — Telecommunications and Information Exchange between Systems Local and Metropolitan Area Networks — Specific Requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications Amendment 2: Enhanced Throughput for Operation in License-exempt Bands above 45 GHz.''
Wireless networking