Air is a shared media, so many equipments must be able to communicate at the same time, sometimes with each other and especially without disturbing each other. Moreover, the frequencies used by Wi-Fi are also used by other systems (radar, microwave, presence detector, …) which do not communicate. In order for all this equipment to work in harmony, it is necessary to write standards to define the spaces reserved for each, the conditions of cohabitation and the rules of communication. We therefore find different organizations working together.
Wi-Fi Alliance
The Wi-Fi Alliance (previously named Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance) is a global non-profit organization, founded in 1999. Its mission is to ensure the interoperability of equipment based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. For this purpose, it relies on different programs:
Connectivity: This program aims to ensure that data transmissions are carried out in the expected manner in compliance with 802.11 standards. We currently find the following programs:
- Wi-Fi 6
- Wi-Fi ac
- Wi-Fi Halow (using a frequency band below 1GHz)
- Wi-Fi n (still maintained for the IoT)
- Wi-Fi WiGig (using a high performance 60GHz frequency band)
- Wi-Fi Direct
Security: The equipment must ensure a minimum of security in their exchanges, for this we find the following programs:
- WPA3
- Wi-Fi Enhanced Open
- Protected Management Frames
Access: The equipment can use one of the following methods to authenticate itself on the network:
- Passpoint (currently being upgraded to Vantage which provides more flexibility)
- Wi-Fi Easy Connect
- Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)
Application and services: Various features to enhance the user experience are offered in this program. They include:
- Miracast (Transmission of HD and UHD video content)
- Voice enterprise (VoIP enhancement)
- Wi-Fi Aware (Detection of nearby equipment)
- Wi-Fi Location (Allows geolocation of equipment without GPS connectivity)
Optimization: This program provides solutions to improve the quality of exchanges, here are some examples of features that we find:
- Wi-Fi Agile Multiband (Optimization of the choice of terminals and channels)
- Wi-Fi Optimized Connectivity (Optimizes roaming through quality assessment)
- Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) (Multimedia traffic prioritization)
RF Coexistence: This program assures that Wi-Fi equipment can coexist with other non-802.11 equipment, there is currently only one program that is still under study:
- CWG-RF which studies the interaction of radios on a cellular and Wi-Fi terminal
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) :
IEEE is a global society with approximately 400,000 employees in 160 countries. The main objective of the IEEE is “To foster innovation and technological excellence in the service of people”. To do this, they create standards on which manufacturers can then build to make equipment interoperable and able to communicate with each other.
In order to write or revise standards, the IEEE sets up working groups to which a number is associated in an incremental manner. The first standard that was written was named 802.1 and is a working group on the interconnection of different networks defined in the following standards. Probably the two most known are 802.3 which corresponds to the standard defining the Ethernet and 802.11 which defines the WLAN type network. Once the standard is defined, it is regularly completed and revised by Tasks Groups and one or more letters are added to the standard number, always in an incremental way.
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
The IETF is a standards organization that develops and promotes Internet standards. It is an open organization where all participants are volunteers and there are no membership requirements. The IETF was initially supported by the U.S. government before becoming in 1994 managed by ISOC (Internet Society) which is also a non-profit organization.
The IETF works around eight main themes which are : Applications, a global theme, Internet, Operations and Management, Applications and Real-Time Infrastructure, Routing, Security and Transport. From these themes, many working groups will be created to participate in the development of RFCs (Request for Comments) that will describe network protocols, services or certain rules that can evolve into a standard. Not all RFCs will become standards. Concerning Wi-Fi, many documents (standards, best practices or information documents) provided by the IETF concern security
International Organization for standardization (named ISO)
ISO is a non-governmental certification organization that is found in many fields (security, management, etc.). From a network point of view, ISO is the basis of the OSI model (Open System Interconnection) which governs all data communications. This model is divided into 7 layers:
Application
Presentation
Session
Transport
Network
Link
Physical
International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R)
The ITU-R is an organization under the responsibility of the United Nations which is in charge of the Radio Frequency spectrum at the global level in order to avoid interference on land, in the sky and on the sea. It maintains a worldwide basis on frequency allocations. For this, it relies on 5 organizations that manage specific regions:
- Region A: Americas (Inter-American Telecommunication Commission – CITEL)
- Region B: Western Europe (European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations – CEPT)
- Region C: Eastern Europe and Northern Asia (Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications – RRC)
- Region D: Africa (African Telecommunication Union – ATU)
- Region E: Asia, excluding North Asia and Australia (Asia Pacific Telecommunity – APT)
Within these regions, local regulatory bodies direct the management of the radio-frequency spectrum in their respective areas, in accordance with ITU-R recommendations. Examples of such bodies include:
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the United States
- The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for Europe