IEEE Standards Naming Convention
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IEEE Standards Naming Convention
- The IEEE has assigned working groups for several wireless communication standards.
- The 802.11 working group has about 400 active members from more than 200 wireless companies.
It consists of standing committees, study groups, and numerous task groups. - Various 802.11 task groups are in charge of revising and amending the original standard that was developed by the MAC task group (MAC) and the PHY task group (PHY).
- Each group is assigned a letter from the alphabet, and it is common to hear the term 802.11 alphabet soup when referring to all the amendments created by the multiple 802.11 task groups.
- When task groups are formed, they are assigned the next highest available letter in the alphabet, although the amendments may not necessarily be ratified in the same order.
- Quite a few of the 802.11 task group projects have been completed, and amendments to the original standard have been ratified. Other 802.11 task group projects still remain active and exist as draft amendments.
- The IEEE standards are very organized, structured documents.
- A standards document is hierarchically structured, with each section numbered. The highest level (such as 7) is referred to as a clause, with the lower-level sections such as 7.3.2.4 referred to as subclauses.
- As an amendment is created, the sections in the amendment are numbered relative to the latest version of the standard, even though the amendment is a separate document.
- When a standard and its amendments are rolled into a new version of the standard, as was done with IEEE Std 802.11-2007, the clauses and subclauses of all the individual documents are unique, enabling the documents to be combined without having to change any of the section (clause/ subclause) numbers.
- In 2012, the IEEE revised the standard again and rolled into it a group of 10 amendments. Over the years, as new amendments were ratified, some amendments took longer or shorter times to ratify than other amendments.
- The use of an uppercase letter designation for an IEEE task group, like that in IEEE Task Group F, indicates that this amendment (F) is considered a recommended practice and not part of the 802.11-2012 standard.
Reference:
Coleman, David D.,Westcott, David A. CWNA: Certified Wireless Network Administrator Official Study Guide: Exam CWNA-106 Wiley.
Coleman, David D.,Westcott, David A. CWNA: Certified Wireless Network Administrator Official Study Guide: Exam CWNA-106 Wiley.
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