HIPERLAN-the Mbit/s radio LAN

In 1991, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) set up an ad-hoc group to study the possibilities for standardising radio LANs (RLANs). It was concluded that although medium and high bit rate systems (up to about 2 Mbit/s) could be created based on either the 1.9 GHz DECT (Digital European Cordless Telecommunications) standard or using the 2.4 GHz ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) band, there was a clear need for a new standard to provide very high data rates of around 20 Mbit/s. This new standard is called the High Performance Radio Local Area Network, or HIPERLAN, and companies from across Europe have successfully completed this standard. In February 1995, the standard was approved to go forward for public enquiry. Although this public enquiry process may lead to refinement of the standard, major changes are not envisaged, and the current status of the standard is presented. The initial phase of the work on HIPERLAN was to define the appropriate technical targets. These were set so as to be ambitious, but still considered feasible for implementation within a two to three year timescale. The key requirements for the design of the HIPERLAN standard are summarised in a table and are then described in more detail