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802.11a
Last modified: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 

An extension to 802.11 specification developed by the IEEE for wireless LAN (WLAN) technology. 802.11 specifies an over-the-air interface between a wireless client and a base station or between two wireless clients. The 802.11a specification uses an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing encoding scheme rather than FHSS or DSSS and provides up to 54 Mbps in the 5GHz band.

See 802.11 for a complete overview of the 802.11x family of specifications.
Also see the "Wireless LAN Standards chart" in the Quick Reference section of Webopedia.
See also "How Wireless Networks Work" in the Did You Know... section of Webopedia.

Related Categories

Communications Standards

Networking Standards

Wireless Computing

Related Terms

802.11

802.11b

802.11e

802.11g

802.11n

802.1x

AP

base station

DSSS

FHSS

IEEE

OFDM

roaming

Wi-Fi

wireless

WLAN

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Webopedia's "Did You Know...?" Section
Use this Webopedia knowledge section for an in-depth overview of specific technologies and occurrences in the areas of Computer Science, The Internet, and Computer Hardware and Software.

Webopedia's Quick Reference Section
Use this Webopedia reference section for information on common Internet and computer facts and occurrences.

Wi-Fi Planet
802.11 news, commentary and information.

Wi-FiHotSpotList.com
Search this directory for Wi-Fi hotspots in your region.








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