Keen to learn more about 802.11ax but don’t know where to start?  Here’s a few excellent resources to get you started!

(note: title specifies mid-2018 as publications are going to change and evolve as more information about the standard and implementations come to fruition).

EDIT: post updated to include some additional resources due to a few requests/recommendations.  Thanks!

EDIT 2: additional link added advising 802.11ax draft expected on July 1st 2018!

EDIT 3: link to the 802.11ax For Dummies book added on 1st August 2018.

Ekahau – 802.11ax Webinar

I highly recommend starting with this webinar by Bryan Harkins (@80211University), Joel Crane (@Potato_Fi) and Jerry Olla (@jolla) from Ekahau that provides an overview of some of the new features and benefits of the protocol, as well as  great practical considerations and examples discussed in the Q&A session.

Notable cameos with comments from Heather Williams (@MoBetterWiFi) and David Coleman (@mistermultipath).

And yes – the Ekahau Sidekick will be able to survey 802.11ax networks!

(Shameless disclaimer: I am a Technical Sales Engineer at Ekahau for the APAC region).

CWNP – 802.11ax Webinar

Straight after the Ekahau webinar, Tom Carpenter (@carpentertom), CTO of CWNP, also provided an excellent overview of some of the key features of 802.11ax with a webinar.  Tom describes the new benefits and challenges from a standards viewpoint as well as the impact on wireless clients.

 

National Instruments – What You Should Know About 802.11ax

This white paper provides some excellent technical detail, some referenced by the webinars above, to give a deeper understanding of how OFDMA will work in Wi-Fi and the benefits of BSS Coloring and TWT.  It’ll certainly be interesting to watch how wireless LAN vendors implement these features in their solutions.

https://electroiq.com/2017/01/high-efficiency-wireless-802-11ax/

 

Wireless LAN Professionals

A few presenters at various WLPC conferences have provided insights to what 802.11ax is likely to bring to our environments, as well as potential issues.

I recommend the following presentations by Dr Eldad Perahia and Veli-Pekka Ketonen (@VPonwireless) respectively:

https://www.wlanpros.com/resources/issues-goals-and-timeline-for-high-efficiency-802-11ax/

Vendor White Papers

I expect to see more of these show up over the next 12 months, however these white papers from Aruba and Cisco provide some great detail around 802.11ax operations and features while not going into “vendor speak” too much (purely because they haven’t developed/released code to support 802.11ax yet).

Enjoy these reads before the marketing teams get to have their influence on future 802.11ax material!

https://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/wp/WP_802.11AX.pdf

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/white-paper-c11-740788.html#_Toc514796497

Extreme Networks – Deep Dive Into 802.11ax Technology with Devin Akin

Webinar presented by Devin Akin (@DevinAkin), CWNE#1, Co-Founder and ex-CTO of CWNP, Wi-Fi trainer, industry legend, and Principal Wi-Fi Architect at Divergent Dynamics.

Devin goes into the deep end with all the technical details and 802.11ax goodness you could hope for.  Be ready with some caffeine and your trigger finger prepared to hit the pause and rewind buttons!

https://content.extremenetworks.com/on-demand-webinars/deep-dive-into-80211ax-technology

 

How Wireless Works – 802.11ax

If you didn’t already get enough of your Devin fix, you can also get a hold of this great foundational course in 802.11ax over at https://howwirelessworks.com/product/802-11ax-devin-akin/

 

802.11ax For Dummies

Aerohive have just released a Dummies book which is a good read of the new features of 802.11ax.  You can download a copy here: https://content.aerohive.com/conf_802.11ax_Dummies_Book

 

What next?

Now we sit back and wait for the IEEE to ratify the 802.11ax amendment, Wi-Fi Alliance to produce a certification for APs and wireless clients, and for access point and chipset vendors to produce and release 802.11ax products into the market.

EET Asia have advised that we are expecting the draft amendment details as early as 1st July 2018!  You can read more here: https://www.eetasia.com/news/article/18061507-802-11ax-specs-expected-to-be-finalized-in-july Thanks to David Coleman (@mistermultipath) for posting on Twitter.

But that’s not all!  Learning and education is never finished for a Wi-Fi professional, so keep your eyes open for additional information and resources being released by the community over the next 12-18 months.  Enjoy!