Usable in high-speed, rapidly changing radio environments

Jul 27, 2010 09:59 GMT  ·  By

The Base IEEE 802.11 WLAN specification has been showing up in a wide variety of mobile computers and other electronics over the past months. Still, like all evolving technologies, there is still room for improvements and for wider support to be added. Obviously, the IEEE has been putting effort into increasing the number of applications that this wireless solution can tackle. Now, it decided to reap the benefits of that effort by Publishing the 802.11p Amendment.

Basically, what this amendment does is extend the base specification for wireless access to environments that don't exactly make it easy to maintain a stable connection. Mostly, this refers to devices in automobiles, whether they are cars or trucks. When traveling at high speeds, especially on highways, the radio environment changes very rapidly. The new standard defines the conditions that need to be met in order for the technology to keep up in such conditions.

For one, the specification defines the MAC layer changes that are needed in order to meet the needs of entering a new communication zone and immediately establish a link. Basically, a wirelessly-connected device should be able to quickly establish a link and exchange multiple packets of data in less than 100 ms. Other protocols that the MAC changes are meant to support are those from the IEEE 1609 set of standards. All in all, by means of this technology, vehicles should be able to seamlessly switch between wireless connections even at speeds of up to 200 kph.

The full title of the specification is IEEE 802.11p- 2010, Standard for Information Technology-Telecommunications and Information Exchange between systems-Local and Metropolitan networks-Specific requirements-Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications: Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments. Parties interested in purchasing it, as well as other standards, need only visit this link.