What you need to know about

802.11ac
IEEE 802.11ac is a wireless networking standard in the 802.11 family (which is marketed under the brand
name Wi-Fi), developed in the IEEE Standards Association process, providing high-throughput WLANs on
the 5GHz band. The standard was developed from 2011 through 2013 and approved in January 2014.
According to a study, devices with the 802.11ac specification are expected to be common by 2015 with an
estimated one billion spread around the world.
This specification has expected multi-station WLAN throughput of at least 1Gbps and a single link throughput
of at least 500Mbps. This is accomplished by extending the air interface concepts embraced by 802.11n:
wider RF bandwidth (up to 160 MHz), more MIMO spatial streams (up to eight), downlink multi-user MIMO (up
to four clients), and high-density modulation (up to 256-QAM)
There's a new Wi-Fi protocol in town, and vendors are starting to push products based on the new standard
out the door. It seems like a good time to meet 802.11ac, and see what all the excitement's about.

What is 802.11ac?
802.11ac is a brand new, soon-to-be-ratified wireless networking standard under the IEEE 802.11 protocol.
802.11ac is the latest in a long line of protocols that started in 1999:

802.11b provides up to 11 Mb/s per radio in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. (1999)

802.11a provides up to 54 Mb/s per radio in the 5 GHz spectrum. (1999)

802.11g provides up to 54 Mb/s per radio in the 2.4 GHz spectrum (2003).

802.11n provides up to 600 Mb/s per radio in the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz spectrum. (2009)

802.11ac provides up to 1000 Mb/s (multi-station) or 500 Mb/s (single-station) in the 5.0 GHz
spectrum. (Jan 2014)

802.11ac is a significant jump in technology and data-carrying capabilities. The following slide
compares specifications of the 802.11n (current protocol) specifications with the proposed specs for
802.11ac.

What is new and improved with 802.11ac?

For those wanting to delve deeper into the inner workings of 802.11ac, this Cisco white paper should
satisfy you. For those not so inclined, here's a short description of each major improvement.
Larger bandwidth channels: Bandwidth channels are part and parcel to spread-spectrum technology.
Larger channel sizes are beneficial, because they increase the rate at which data passes between
two devices. 802.11n supports 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels. 802.11ac supports 20 MHz channels,
40 MHz channels, 80 MHz channels, and has optional support for 160 MHz channels.

(Slide courtesy of Cisco)

More spatial streams: Spatial streaming is the magic behind MIMO technology, allowing multiple
signals to be transmitted simultaneously from one device using different antennas. 802.11n can
handle up to four streams where 802.11ac bumps the number up to eight streams.

(Slide courtesy of Aruba)

MU-MIMO: Multi-user MIMO allows a single 802.11ac device to transmit independent data streams
to multiple different stations at the same time.

(Slide courtesy of Aruba)

Beamforming: Beamforming is now standard. Nanotechnology allows the antennas and controlling
circuitry to focus the transmitted RF signal only where it is needed, unlike the omnidirectional
antennas people are used to.

(Slide courtesy of Altera.)

What's to like?
It's been four years since 802.11n was ratified; best guesses have 802.11ac being ratified by the
end of 2013. Anticipated improvements are: better software, better radios, better antenna
technology, and better packaging.

The improvement that has everyone charged up is the monstrous increase in data throughput.
Theoretically, it puts Wi-Fi on par with gigabit wired connections. Even if it doesn't, tested throughput
is leaps and bounds above what 802.11b could muster back in 1999.
Another improvement that should be of interest is Multi-User MIMO. Before MU-MIMO, 802.11
radios could only talk to one client at a time. With MU-MIMO, two or more conversations can happen
concurrently, reducing latency.

What do experts say about 802.11ac?

There is a lot of guessing going on as to how 802.11ac pre-ratified devices are performing.
802.11ac's primary advantage is support for the 80 MHz-wide channel. And without question, the
wider channel can stream more data. But, as with everything, there are trade-offs:
I don't think you'll find 802.11ac clients as standard equipment for computers. So, you need

to buy one, connect it to the computer via Ethernet, configure the client, and finally pair the client
with the router/access point.
Unless your application requires streaming large amounts of data, you probably will not

experience a noticeable improvement in performance.

The 80 MHz-wide channel is more susceptible to RF interference or congestion from other

Wi-Fi channels by virtue of its larger width.

The 80 MHz channel eats up four of the available channels in the 5.0 GHz band. Some

routers implement DCS (dynamic channel selection) whereby they will jump to a better channel
in the presence of RF interference. But if you are using 80 MHz channels your choices for better
channels are few or non-existent.

Concerns;

The higher the frequency (5.0 GHz versus 2.4 GHz), the greater the bandwidth which allows
more data carrying capacity.

Attenuation is the reduction of signal strength during transmission.

RF signals are attenuated exponentially over distance.

Attenuation is directly proportional to the frequency.

My concern rides on 802.11ac needing to use the 5.0 GHz frequency range in order to get the
monster data throughput being advertised. That means -- per the physics above -- users will have to

live with a significantly smaller coverage area, something those more familiar with 2.4 GHz devices
will not expect.