How much do you know about the development of Wi-Fi?

As someone who uses Wi-Fi every day, have you ever thought about how Wi-Fi developed?

Today, I will take you back to the development path of Wi-Fi~

Wi-Fi Standard Development

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) refers to high-quality wireless local area networks. It is a brand name created by the Wi-Fi Alliance to popularize the various IEEE 802.11 standards. Wi-Fi is essentially a commercial certification. Products with this certification mean that they comply with the IEEE 802.11 series of wireless network protocols and have passed interoperability testing certification. The IEEE 802.11 series of protocols are short-range wireless transmission technologies that use frequency bands near 2.4GHz or 5GHz. It allows computers, smartphones and other devices to connect and communicate with each other through wireless networks.

The development history of Wi-Fi can be traced back to the 1990s, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States lifted restrictions on the use of the 2.4GHz frequency band, enabling the rapid development of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology.

I use a simple axis chart to summarize the milestones of development:

1999

IEEE 802.11b standard is released, supporting higher data transmission rates, up to 11Mbps.

2006

IEEE 802.11n standard is released, supporting higher data transmission rates and longer coverage, up to 600Mbps.

2019

The release of the IEEE 802.11ax standard, also known as Wi-Fi 6, supports more devices to connect simultaneously and provides higher data transfer rates and better network performance.

2021

The IEEE 802.11be standard, also known as Wi-Fi 7, was released. It introduces CMU-MIMO technology to support up to 16 data streams. In addition to the traditional 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, WiFi 7 will also support the 6GHz frequency band, and the three frequency bands can work simultaneously.

1997

IEEE 802.11 standard was released, which provided technical support for the development of WLAN technology.

2003

The IEEE 802.11g standard was released, with a maximum data transmission rate of 54Mbps, becoming the most mainstream Wi-Fi standard at the time.

2013

IEEE 802.11ac standard is released, which adopts more efficient technology to support higher data transmission rates and larger network capacity, up to 6.9Gbps.

2019

The release of the IEEE 802.11ax standard, also known as Wi-Fi 6, supports more devices to connect simultaneously and provides higher data transfer rates and better network performance.

Next, a table summarizes the characteristics of each IEEE 802.11 standard.

Wi-Fi Authentication and Encryption

Wi-Fi network security mechanisms include authentication and encryption.

Let’s take a look at the evolution of Wi-Fi authentication and encryption methods:

• WEP security encryption method

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is a data encryption algorithm used to provide protection capabilities equivalent to those of a wired LAN. Its security technology is derived from the RSA data encryption technology called RC4 and is an essential security layer for wireless LANs (WLANs).

With the application of technology, test results show that it is only necessary to monitor the network for a few hours to crack the RC4 key, thereby cracking the WEP encryption method. After the publication of this research result, automated cracking tools for the WEP protocol also came into being, officially declaring that the WEP protocol is no longer secure.

• WPA security encryption method

After WEP, WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) appeared. Unlike the static key of WEP, WPA requires constant key conversion. WPA uses an effective key distribution mechanism and can be applied across wireless network cards from different manufacturers. As an upgraded version of WEP, it is more comprehensive in security protection than WEP, mainly in terms of identity authentication, encryption mechanism and data packet inspection, and it also improves the management capabilities of wireless networks.

• A higher level of WAP2

WPA2 is the authentication form of the IEEE 802.11i standard. WPA2 implements the mandatory elements of 802.11i and uses the CCMP (Counter CBC-MAC Protocol) message authentication code, which is recognized to be completely secure, instead of the Michael algorithm. The RC4 encryption algorithm has also been replaced by AES. Currently, the security protection capability of the WPA2 encryption method is better than that of WPA.

• More comprehensive protection: WAP3

WPA3 is a new generation of Wi-Fi encryption protocol released by the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2018. WPA3 improves WPA2 and adds many new features to provide stronger encryption protection for data transmission between users and Wi-Fi networks, making it impossible for hackers to snoop on users' traffic and obtain private information.

Finally, let's use a table to compare these authentication and encryption methods: