The 5-GHz IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN
James C. Chen · John Wiley & Sons, Inc. eBooks · 2002
Wireless local area networks have come a long way from their humble roots. What started out as a way for vertical industries to transmit data in warehouses and factory floors has grown into a cost-effective means for enterprises to network increasingly mobile workers for increased productivity. Last year approximately 7 million wireless LAN units were sold, generating an estimated $1 billion market. Although such results seem impressive, wireless LANs have yet to realize their full potential. Systems built to the IEEE 802.11a standard will soon appear in the market to take advantage of higher data rates and more frequency channels for even greater performance. In this chapter, we present an introduction to 802.11a systems, emphasizing the fundamentals of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). In addition, measured 5-GHz 802.11a performance data are presented for the first time. The range performance of 5-GHz 802.11a systems is measured in terms of data link rate and throughput. These results are then used to calculate 802.11a system capacity. Here, 802.11a not only provides higher end user speeds but also allows reductions in wireless LAN deployment costs.