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The IEEE802.11n standard will enable a new class of consumer and enterprise products utilizing wireless LAN connectivity that is ten times faster than is feasible with the current IEEE802.11a/b/g standards. This tutorial will provide a comprehensive overview of the Media Access Control (MAC) Layer defined in the p802.11n draft standard. The 802.11n MAC tutorial is a companion to the 802.11n PHY tutorial although familiarity with the PHY tutorial is not required for this tutorial.
The tutorial begins with an overview of the applications, environments, channel models, use cases, and usage models developed by the study group and task group which provided the framework for proposal development. We continue with a history of the various coalitions that ultimately led to the final joint proposal adopted as the draft standard. This part of the tutorial contains similar information to the PHY tutorial and is repeated in a truncated form for the benefit of participants who may not view the PHY tutorial.
The technical portion of the tutorial begins with an overview of why changes are needed in the MAC to achieve high throughput. The tutorial then covers the major features that improve MAC efficiency, including aggregation and the various modifications made to the block acknowledgement protocol.
The 802.11n amendment introduces 40MHz operation, new frame formats and reduced interframe spacing among other things. The tutorial goes on to describe the features that support coexistance and interoperability with legacy devices as well as among the various capability classes of 802.11n devices.>>Finally the tutorial covers some of the more advanced features added to the standard, including the reverse direction protocol, fast link adaptation and transmit beamforming.
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