TU (time unit) explained

In some data communication standards, a time unit (TU) is equal to 1024 microseconds.^[1] This unit of time was originally introduced in IEEE 802.11-1999 standard^[2] and continues to be used in newer issues of the IEEE 802.11 standard.^[1]

In the 802.11 standards, periods of time are generally described as integral numbers of time units. The unit allows for maintaining intervals that are easy to implement in hardware that has a 1 MHz clock (by dividing the clock signal in half ten times, rather than operating a phase-locked loop or digital divider to divide such a clock signal by 1000).

One time unit is equal to one millionth of a kibisecond (1 TU = 10⁻⁶ Kis).

See also

• Binary prefix
• IEEE 1541
• Jiffy

References

1. Web site: IEEE Std 802.11-2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081013101112/http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.11-2007.pdf . dead . October 13, 2008 . IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) . 2007-06-12 . time unit (TU): A measurement of time equal to 1024 μs. . 14 . 2010-07-20.
2. Book: Maufer, Thomas . A Field Guide to Wireless LANs: For Administrators and Power Users . 2004 . . The Radia Perlman Series in Computer Networking and Security Series . 9780131014060 . 0131014064 . 144 . 2015-10-27.

External links

• IEEE 802 Standards available via IEEE Get Program
• IEEE 802.11 Tutorial