New Wi-Fi standard takes the slow road
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`cnet.com/home/internet/new-wi-fi-standard-takes-the-slow-road
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`An industry group developing a new wireless networking standard fails to approve one of its
`leading components. Next: a compromise.
`
`Marguerite Reardon
`May 20, 2005 6:40 a.m. PT
`3 min read
`
`The process to establish the next-generation Wi-Fi standard, which promises to
`quadruple transmission speeds, has stalled as members of the working group
`developing the standard failed to pass the main proposal onto the next stage.
`The proposal, put forth by the vendor group called Task Group 'n' synchronization, or TGn
`Sync, did not get the support of the required 75 percent of attendees at the Institute of
`Electrical and Electronic Engineers 802.11n task group meeting in Cairns, Australia, this
`week. At the first confirmation vote a few months ago, the TGn Sync plan won backing from
`57 percent of the attendees. This time it got only 49 percent of the vote.
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`But people involved in the process say this is business as usual in the IEEE standards
`process.
`
`"We expected this to happen," said Boyd Bangerter, director of the radio communications lab
`for Intel, one of the main supporters of TGn Sync. "It's not necessarily the outcome we
`wanted. But that's the risk you run when you have a consensus-oriented standards process."
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`Since the proposal has now twice failed to reach a super majority, the 802.11n task group will
`consider other proposals, including the strongest alternative from a rival group called World-
`Wide Spectrum Efficiency, or WWiSE.
`
`About a year ago, more than 30 proposals had been submitted to define specifications for
`the 802.11n standard. Today, the industry has split itself into two main camps. The WWiSE
`group is led by Airgo Networks and includes other heavyweights such as Broadcom,
`Motorola, Nokia, France Telecom, Texas Instruments and NTT. On the other side of the
`debate is the TGn Sync group, supported by Intel, Atheros Communications, Nortel,
`Samsung, Sony, Qualcomm, Philips and Panasonic.
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`Both proposals are based on a technology called multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO),
`which could boost throughput on wireless LANs to over 300 megabits per second, though the
`standard will call for a minimum of about 100mbps. The 802.11a and 11g standards used
`today provide throughput between 20mbps and 24mbps. MIMO is a technology that works by
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`allowing two or more distinct signals to be transmitted over the same 802.11 radio channel at
`the same time with no interference. This allows more data to be sent over the available radio
`spectrum than is possible with standard transmissions today.
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`While the TGn Sync and WWiSE proposals are very similar, they differ in several details. The
`authors of WWiSE have kept optional features to a minimum, which supporters of the draft
`claim will help keeps costs down. Meanwhile, the TGn Sync proposal is much more involved,
`which its supporters say makes it more comprehensive. For example, WWiSE favors
`keeping the channel size at 20MHz, while TGnSync proposes adding an option that
`increases it from 20MHz to 40MHz. WWiSE proposes only six mandatory link rates, while
`TGn Sync would require dozens of different link rates.
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`So far the groups appear to be deadlocked, with neither side having enough votes to move
`their own proposal forward. But people in each group say they are certain that a compromise
`will be worked out eventually.
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`"We really need to have an open dialogue between the two camps," Bangerter said.
`"Compromise is always part of the standards process."
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