IEEE 802.11-1997

To develop a Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specification for wireless connectivity for fixed, portable and moving stations within a local area.

To provide wireless connectivity to automatic machinery, equipment or stations that require rapid deployment, which may be portable, or hand-held or which may be mounted on moving vehicles within a local area. To offer a standard for use by regulatory bodies to standardize access to one or more radio frequency bands for the purpose of local area communication.

New IEEE Standard - Superseded. SUPERSEDED BY ISO/IEC 8802-11:1999 The medium access control and physical characteristics for wireless local area networks are specified in this standard, part of a series of standards for local and metropolitan area networks. The medium access control unit in this standard is designed to support physical layer units as they may be adopted dependent on the availability of spectrum. This standard contains three physical layer units: two radio units, both operating in the 2400-2500 MHz band, and one baseband infrared unit. One radio unit employs the frequency-hopping spread spectrum technique, and the other employs the direct sequence spread spectrum technique.