In early October, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced a new version of the Wi-Fi standard – Wi-Fi 6. Its release is scheduled for the end of 2019. The developers changed their naming approach – replacing familiar terms like 802.11ax with single digits. Let's explore what else is new.
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Why the Name Change
According to The developers of the standard believe that the new naming approach will make Wi-Fi standard names understandable to a wider audience.
The Wi-Fi Alliance notes that it's common for users to purchase laptops that support a standard incompatible with their home router. As a result, the newer device relies on backward compatibility mechanisms — data exchange occurs using an older standard. In some cases, this can reduce data transmission speeds by 50-80%.
To clearly indicate which standard a particular gadget supports, the Alliance developed a new labeling system — a Wi-Fi icon with the corresponding digit displayed on top.
Features of Wi-Fi 6
A detailed description of all the features and characteristics of Wi-Fi 6 can be found in (to obtain it, you need to fill out a form) or . Next, we will discuss the main innovations.
Support for 2.4 and 5 GHz Bands. Ideally, simultaneous support for both 2.4 and 5 GHz will help increase the number of scenarios for operating multiple devices. However, in practice, this advantage may not be realized. The market is flooded with legacy devices (which support 2.4 GHz), so new devices will often operate in compatibility mode.
Support for OFDMA. This refers to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). Essentially, this technology is the 'multi-user' version of . It allows the signal to be divided into subcarriers and groups assigned for processing individual data streams.
This will enable data to be synchronously transmitted to multiple Wi-Fi 6 clients at an average speed. However, there's one caveat: all these clients must support Wi-Fi 6. Therefore, 'old' gadgets once again find themselves 'left out.'
Cooperation and OFDMA. In Wi-Fi 5 (this in the old nomenclature, which was ratified in 2014) technology (Multiple Input Multiple Output) allowed data to be transmitted to four clients using different subcarriers. In Wi-Fi 6, the number of possible device connections has doubled to eight.
The Wi-Fi Alliance states that MU-MIMO systems combined with OFDMA will enable multi-user data transmission speeds of up to 11 Gbps over . Such a result by test devices at CES 2018. However, residents of Hacker News claim that ordinary gadgets (laptops, smartphones) will not see such speeds.
During tests at CES the tri-band router D-Link DIR-X9000, and 11 Gbps is the sum of the maximum data transfer speeds across three channels. Hacker News residents note that most devices typically use only one channel, so data will be transmitted at speeds of up to 4804 Mbps.
Target Wake Time feature. It allows devices to enter sleep mode and 'wake up' on a schedule. Target Wake Time determines when a device is idle and when it is active. If a gadget is not transmitting data during a specific time frame (for example, at night), its Wi-Fi connection 'sleeps', saving battery life and reducing network congestion.
For each device, a 'target wake time' is set — a moment when a typical laptop always transmits data (for instance, during working hours in corporate networks). During such periods, sleep mode will not activate.
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Where Wi-Fi 6 will be applied
According to the developers, the technology will be beneficial when deploying high-density Wi-Fi networks. Specific solutions, such as MU-MIMO and OFDMA, will improve connectivity in public transport, corporate environments, retail spaces, hotels, or stadiums.
However, IT community members a major downside to Wi-Fi 6 in the context of technology deployment. The noticeable benefit of switching to Wi-Fi 6 will only be apparent if all devices in the network support the new standard. This will definitely pose challenges.
Let us remind you that the Wi-Fi 6 release is scheduled for late 2019.
P.S. Here are several materials on the topic from the VAS Experts blog:
P.P.S. Related articles from our blog on Habr:
Source: habr.com
