- Extended channel binding
- Mandatory 80 MHz channel bandwidth for stations (vs. 40 MHz maximum in 802.11n), 160 MHz available optionally (必须支持80MHz的频道宽度,可以选择支持160MHz)
- More MIMO spatial streams (更多的空分)
- Support for up to eight spatial streams (vs. four in 802.11n) (支持多达8个空分)
- Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) (多用户MIMO)
- Multiple STAs, each with one or more antennas, transmit or receive independent data streams simultaneously (多个用户同时发送或接收数据)
- “Space Division Multiple Access” (SDMA): streams not separated by frequency, but instead resolved spatially, analogous to 11n-style MIMO (SDMA空分技术,不是分频)
- Downlink MU-MIMO (one transmitting device, multiple receiving devices) included as an optional mode (下行链路多用户:一个发送设备,多个接收设备)
- Multiple STAs, each with one or more antennas, transmit or receive independent data streams simultaneously (多个用户同时发送或接收数据)
- Modulation
- Other elements/features (其他特性)
- Beamforming with standardized sounding and feedback for compatibility between vendors (non-standard in 802.11n made it hard for beamforming to work effectively between different vendor products) (标准化的波束赋形技术,使不同厂商设备互相兼容)
- MAC modifications (mostly to support above changes) (MAC层的修改,以期支持以上特性)
- Coexistence mechanisms for 20/40/80/160 MHz channels, 11ac and 11a/n devices (多频道共存,和11a/n设备共存)