Modifications to existing physical layers (PHYs) and the medium access control layer (MAC) that enable transparent operation of IEEE 802.11 over the light in the 800 nm to 1000 nm band are specified in this amendment. This amendment specifies PHYs that provide bidirectional operations that achieve a minimum and maximum throughput of 10 Mb/s and 9.6 Gb/s, respectively, as measured at the MAC data service access point (SAP), and facilitate interoperability among solid-state light sources with different modulation bandwidths.

This amendment specifies a new PHY layer and modifications to the IEEE 802.11 MAC that enable operation of wireless light communications (LC). This amendment specifies a PHY that provides: 1) Uplink and downlink operations in 800 nm to 1,000 nm band, 2) All modes of operation achieve minimum single-link throughput of 10 Mb/s as measured at the MAC data service access point (SAP), 3) Interoperability among solid state light sources with different modulation bandwidths. This amendment specifies changes to the IEEE 802.11 MAC that are limited to the following: 1) Hybrid coordination function (HCF) channel access, 2) Overlapping basic service set (OBSS) detection and coexistence, 3) Existing power management modes of operation (excluding new modes), and modifications to other clauses necessary to support these changes.

The purpose of this standard is to provide wireless connectivity for fixed, portable, and moving stations within a local area. This standard also offers regulatory bodies a means of standardizing access to one or more frequency bands for the purpose of local area communication.