Wi-Fi
History

A 1985 ruling by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission released parts of the ISM bands for unlicensed use for communications. These frequency bands include the same 2.4 GHz bands used by equipment such as microwave ovens, and are thus subject to interference.

In 1991 in Nieuwegein, the NCR Corporation and AT&T invented the precursor to 802.11, intended for use in cashier systems, under the name WaveLAN. NCR's Vic Hayes, who held the chair of IEEE 802.11 for ten years, along with Bell Labs engineer Bruce Tuch, approached the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to create a standard and were involved in designing the initial 802.11b and 802.11a specifications within the IEEE. They have both been subsequently inducted into the Wi-Fi NOW Hall of Fame.

In 1989 in Australia, a team of scientists began working on wireless LAN technology. A prototype test bed for a wireless local area network (WLAN) was developed in 1992 by a team of researchers from the Radiophysics Division of the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in Australia, led by John O'Sullivan. A patent for Wi Fi was lodged by the CSIRO in 1992

The first version of the 802.11 protocol was released in 1997, and provided up to 2 Mbit/s link speeds. This was updated in 1999 with 802.11b to permit 11 Mbit/s link speeds.

In 1999, the Wi-Fi Alliance formed as a trade association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark under which most IEEE 802.11 products are sold.

The major commercial breakthrough came with Apple Inc. adopting Wi-Fi for their iBook series of laptops in 1999. It was the first mass consumer product to offer Wi-Fi network connectivity, which was then branded by Apple as AirPort. This was in collaboration with the same group that helped create the standard: Vic Hayes, Bruce Tuch, Cees Links, Rich McGinn, and others from Lucent.

In the year 2000, Radiata, a group of Australian scientists connected to the CSIRO, were the first to use the 802.11a standard on chips connected to a wi fi network.

Wi-Fi uses a large number of patents held by many different organizations. Australia, the United States and the Netherlands simultaneously claim the invention of Wi-Fi, and a consensus has not been reached globally. In 2009, the Australian CSIRO was awarded $200 million after a patent settlement with 14 technology companies, with a further $220 million awarded in 2012 after legal proceedings with 23 companies.

In 2016, the CSIRO's WLAN prototype test bed was chosen as Australia's contribution to the exhibition A History of the World in 100 Objects held in the National Museum of Australia.
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