QoS in IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN: current research activities

The IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN) is the most widely used standard nowadays for wireless LAN technology. However, the current standard does not provide the QoS support required by the wide range of end applications. Thus, a large number of enhancements to the standard are being proposed. The paper presents a survey of the on-going research activities. We also overview the upcoming IEEE 802.11e standard being introduced. The IEEE 802.11e standard is a proposal defining the mechanisms for wireless LANs aiming to provide QoS support to bandwidth-sensitive applications such as voice and video communications.