•1971:ALOHA netconnected the Hawaiian Islands with a UHF wireless packet network. ALOHA net and theALOHA protocolwere
early forerunners toEthernet, and later theIEEE 802.11 protocols,respectively.
•1974:Vic Hayes is often regarded as the “father of Wi-Fi.” He started such work in 1974 when he joined NCR Corp.
•1985The U.S. Federal Communications Commission released theISM bandfor unlicensed use.
•1991:NCR CorporationwithAT&T Corporationinvented the precursor to 802.11, intended for use in cashier systems. The first
wireless products were under the nameWaveLAN
•1992 and 1996:CSIRO obtained patentsfor a method later used in Wi-Fi to "unsmear" the signal.
•1997:Thefirst version of the 802.11 protocolwas released , and provided up to 2 Mbit/s link speeds.
•1999:This was updated with802.11bto permit 11 Mbit/s link speeds, and this proved to be popular as WiFi 1
•1999:Wi-Fi Allianceformed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark under which most products are sold.
IEEE 802.11a–WiFi 2
•2003:IEEE 802.11g –WiFi 3
•2007:IEEE 802.11REVmacreated a single document that merged 8 amendments (802.11a,b,d,e,g,h,i,j) with the base standard.
•2009:IEEE 802.11n –WiFi 4
•2012:IEEE802.11REVmBcreated a single document that merged ten amendments (802.11k,r,y,n,w,p,z,v,u,s) with the 2007
base standard
•2013:IEEE 802.11ac &IEEE 802.11ad –WiFi 5
•2014:IEEE 802.11af, also referred to as "White-Fi" and "Super Wi-Fi“
•2016:IEEE 802.11 REVmc, is a revision based on IEEE 802.11-2012, incorporating 5 amendments (11ae,11aa,11ad,11ac,11af)
•2017:IEEE 802.11af
•2019:IEEE 802.11ax-WiFi-6
•2023: IEEE 802.11be –WiFi 7
WiFi -History