IEEE 802.11ad: Directional 60 GHz Communication for Multi-Gigabit-per-Second Wi-Fi

With the ratification of the IEEE 802.11ad amendment to the 802.11 standard in December 2012, a major step has been taken to bring consumer wireless communication to the millimeter wave band. However, multi-gigabit-per-second throughput and small interference footprint come at the price of adverse signal propagation characteristics, and require a fundamental rethinking of Wi-Fi communication principles. This article describes the design assumptions taken into consideration for the IEEE 802.11ad standard and the novel techniques defined to overcome the challenges of mm-Wave communication. In particular, we study the transition from omnidirectional to highly directional communication and its impact on the design of IEEE 802.11ad.