IEEE Advances Innovation and Technological Excellence

ieee-heroThe Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a global organization that seeks to advance innovation and technological excellence. It covers a range of industries, including aerospace, information technology (IT), healthcare, nanotechnology and nuclear energy.

CommScope is actively involved in the two main IEEE working groups that focus on cabling technology:

1. IEEE 802.3 Ethernet
The IEEE 802.3 working group defines the media access control (MAC) of wired Ethernet from physical and data link layers. Referred to as the application standard by the cabling community, it regulates the interoperability of components, not performance specifications.

Within the IEEE 802.3 working group, CommScope actively participates in the following task forces:

IEEE Approved Standards
The approved IEEE standards most relevant to the cabling industry are included in the 802.3 (Ethernet) and 802.11 (Wireless Local Area Network) working groups.

Selective published standards for 802.3 Ethernet include the following:

802.3u 1995 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T4, 100BASE-FX Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbit/s (12.5 MB/s) w/autonegotiation
802.3z 1998 1000BASE-X Gbit/s Ethernet over Fiber-Optic at 1 Gbit/s (125 MB/s)
802.3ab 1999 1000BASE-T Gbit/s Ethernet over twisted pair at 1 Gbit/s (125 MB/s)
802.3ae 2003 10 Gbit/s (1,250 MB/s) Ethernet over fiber; 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR, 10GBASE-ER, 10GBASE-SW, 10GBASE-LW, 10GBASE-EW
802.3af 2003 Power over Ethernet (12.95 W)
802.3an 2006 10GBASE-T 10 Gbit/s (1,250 MB/s) Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
802.3aq 2006 10GBASE-LRM 10 Gbit/s (1,250 MB/s) Ethernet over multimode fiber
802.3at 2009 Power over Ethernet enhancements (25.5 W)
802.3az 2010 Energy Efficient Ethernet
802.3ba 2010 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet. 40 Gbit/s over 1m backplane, 10m Cu cable assembly (4x25 Gbit or 10x10 Gbit lanes) and 100 m of MMF and 100 Gbit/s up to 10 m of Cu cable assembly, 100 m of MMF or 40 km of SMF respectively

2. IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN
The 802.11 working group defines the media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications for wireless local area network (WLAN). It also provides the requirements for customer premise wireless equipment that accesses Wi-Fi frequency bands.

The workgroup has been especially engaged developing new standards to accommodate the rapid growth of Enterprise wireless devices.

Published and upcoming standards for 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks include the following:

Wireless 802.11a 802.11b 802.11g 802.11n 802.11ac 802.11ad
Standard Approved 1999 1999 2003 2009 2014 2012
Maximum Data Rate (Mbps) 54 (30) 11 (5) 54 (30) 600 (300) 1000 (500) 7000 (3500)
Frequency Band (GHz) 5 2.4 2.4 2.4 or 5 5 60

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