IEEE 802
IEEE standards for local and metropolitan area networks
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The IEEE 802 standards are restricted to computer networks carrying variable-size packets, unlike cell relay networks, for example, in which data is transmitted in short, uniformly sized units called cells. Isochronous signal networks, in which data is transmitted as a steady stream of octets, or groups of octets, at regular time intervals, are also outside the scope of the IEEE 802 standards.
The most widely used IEEE 802 standards are for Ethernet, bridging and virtual bridged LANs, wireless LAN, wireless PAN, wireless MAN, wireless RAN, wireless coexistence, and media-independent handover.
Etymology
The number 802 has no significance: it was simply the next number in the sequence that the IEEE used for standards projects.
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Abstraction layers
The services and protocols specified in IEEE 802 map to the lower two layers (data link and physical) of the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) networking reference model. IEEE 802 divides the OSI data link layer into two sub-layers: logical link control (LLC) and medium access control (MAC), as follows:
- Data link layer
- LLC sublayer
- MAC sublayer
- Physical layer
The conceptual interfaces between these layers are known as Service Access Points (SAPs), e.g., PHY Service Access Point (PSAP) representing the interface where the physical Layer provides services to the MAC sublayer. Similarly, for the MSAP and LSAP, which provide services to the next sublayer up (see diagram above).
Everything above LLC is explicitly out of scope for IEEE 802 (as "upper layer protocols", presumed to be parts of equally non-OSI Internet reference model).