802.11

WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

The Working Group for WLAN Standards

Upcoming sessions

2025 September IEEE 802 Wireless Interim Session September 14-19, 2025 Hilton Waikoloa Village Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA Register to attend (in-person or remote) An agenda for this session is available here.

The meetings between now and the upcoming session will be held by teleconference.

Working group ballots and comment collections

Expected to start soon:

  • A 30-day working group initial ballot on P802.11REVmf/D1.0.
  • A 45-day working group initial ballot on P802.11bn/D1.0.
  • A 20-day working group recirculation ballot on P802.11bi/D2.0.

IEEE SA ballots

None at present.

Recent activities

At 2025 July 802 plenary session in Madrid, Spain, 802.11 made progress in the following areas:

  • TGbn (Ultra High Reliability) produced an initial draft D1.0 for their project, expected to be the basis for Wi-Fi 8. The working group approved a 45 day initial WG ballot. Since the ballot will likely extend beyond the September session, the group will work through a back log of technical presentations at that session.
  • TGbi (Enhanced Privacy) have resolved all the comments from their initial WG ballot on D1.0 and the working group has approved a recirculation ballot on D2.0 that results from those resolutions.
  • The technical editors for TGmf (producing the maintenance revision, REVmf) are rolling in the recently published IEEE Std 802.11be-2024 into the base standard. That work is nearing completion and an initial ballot for this revision project will begin when the work is done. The ballot should complete before the start of the September session.
  • The P802.11bt PAR (Post-Quantum Cryptography) was reviewed and approved by the 802 LMSC. The PAR has been forwarded to NesCom, the new standards committee of the IEEE SA. With approval, a new task group, TGbt, will begin developing a draft standard.
  • TGbp (Ambient Power Communications) is still working toward their initial draft. They now expect to have an early draft D0.1 coming out of the September session.
  • The working group approved the formation of a Unified Channel Model (UCM) topic interest group (TIG). The goal of the UCM TIG is to deliver a channel model which is spatially consistent across the sub-7 GHz, mmWave and optical bands that builds on available and verified models and that can be implemented using open software. We, as a group, regularly use channel models in simulations to compare one technical approach to another.

A more detailed report is available here.

802.11 members Jerome Henry, Brian Hart, Binita Gupta and Malcolm Smith have written a detailed guide to IEEE Std 802.11be-2024, known in the industry as Wi-Fi 7.

Recent standards approvals

IEEE Std 802.11bf™-2025 was approved on May 28, 2025. Publication expected soon.

IEEE Std 802.11bk™-2025 was approved on May 28, 2025. Publication expected soon

IEEE Std 802.11be™-2024 was published on 22 July, 2025.

IEEE Std 802.11bh™-2024 was published on 3 June, 2025.

IEEE Std 802.11™-2024 was published on April 28, 2025.

"Click Here" for IEEE 802 Free Standards

The IEEE has made available IEEE 802 standards for free download. Under this program, a standard may be downloaded for free six months after the initial publication of the standard. All relevant IEEE 802.11 Standard, Amendments, and Recommended Practices are listed.

Access to 802.11 draft standards

Draft standards are available from a number of sources:

  • If you are a voting 802.11 member, go to the members' area and log in using the 802.11 members ID and password supplied to you by the 802.11 officers.  Contact Robert Stacey if you have lost this. During an 802.11 session, attendees may access 802.11 draft standards from a local fileserver, regardless of their membership status.
  • If you are an active member of one of the other 802 groups, you may be able to access the 802.11 members' area using the same credentials used to access your own group. If this doesn't work, ask your group's Chair to request access from the 802.11 Chair (Robert Stacey).
  • Draft IEEE standards are, from time to time, made available for purchase using the IEEE store or Techstreet.

IEEE standards development guide

The IEEE-SA has created an easy to use Online Standards Development web site that has a wealth of information that details the whole standards process flow, from creation of the initial PAR, to balloting to final draft, and beyond. It even includes, tutorials, and online forms of the various processes evolved. This site is recommended for all Members and Chairs involved.

Upcoming meetings

A google calendar (embedded below) is maintained for 802.11 meetings.

You can import the calendar as an iCal file, or use the "Add to Google Calendar" at the bottom right of the calendar below.

The 802 calendar, which contains the 802 meetings and also rolls up the working group calendars, is available here.