A CDE Definition
LOOK UP ANOTHER TERM
802.11ac
The latest IEEE Wi-Fi standard, which was designed to improve wireless services in the enterprise as well as support multiple streams of HD video in the home. Also known as "Gigabit Wi-Fi" and "5G Wi-Fi," products became available in 2012 before the standard was approved in early 2014.
Operating only in the 5 GHz band, devices are backward compatible with 802.11n, which is expected to co-exist with 802.11ac until the 2020s. An 802.11ac access point employs beamforming, which uses feedback to aim the transmission more directly to the receiving device. The second generation Wave 2 supports multiuser MIMO (MU-MIMO) with a total of eight simultaneous streams and up to four per client. See 2.5/5G Ethernet, 802.11n, 802.11ad, OFDM and QAM.
802.11ac and 802.11n SPECIFICATIONS
11ac 11n
Band 5 GHz 2.4/5 GHz
Modulation 256-QAM 64-QAM
Max Antennas 8 4
Channel MHz 20, 40, 20, 40
80, 160
11n
(40 MHz channels)
1 stream 150 Mbps
2 streams 300 Mbps
3 streams 450 Mbps
4 streams 600 Mbps
11ac Wave 1
(80 MHz channels)
1 stream 433 Mbps
2 streams 867 Mbps
3 streams 1.3 Gbps
11ac Wave 2
(160 MHz channels)
1 stream 867 Mbps
4 streams 3.39 Gbps
8 streams 6.77 Gbps
Before/After Your Search Term
Terms By Topic
Click any of the following categories for a list of fundamental terms.