Wi-Fi 6 — “Better, Longer, Faster”
Performance Boosts and Scaling To Meet Growth In Interconnected Devices
The Wi-Fi standard is going to get a major upgrade that will improve overall performance with new features. Introducing Wi-Fi 6, also known as IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11ax High-Efficiency Wireless standard. This is the successor to the previous standard, IEEE 802.11ac, which is used in many home and business installations for wireless Internet access. One thing new is the marketing name given to IEEE 802.11ax which is “Wi-Fi 6”.
In the Wi-Fi scheme of things, there are now version numbers. The last 2 generations of the Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 protocol are thus:
- Wi-Fi 4 is 802.11n (2009)
- Wi-Fi 5 is 802.11ac (2014)
If you got your smartphone or laptop after 2014, you should or would most likely have Wi-Fi 5. The latest version is Wi-Fi 6 which brings better signaling techniques with faster speeds. The following table shows the speed differences among the Wi-Fi versions.
These speeds are theoretical values given for a single device in an environment where there is nothing else affecting data traffic. In the real world, the actual speed varies due to many factors like total number of devices connected, signal strength and bandwidth efficiency. A lot of signals are transmitted along with the data, and they also consume a chunk of the bandwidth allocated on the frequency spectrum. That in turn lowers the data rate.
The good thing about Wi-Fi 6 is it has an enormous swath of bandwidth to give which makes it more capable of handling today’s needs for interconnected devices. A typical household has multiple devices connected to the Internet e.g. smartphones, TV, computers, IoT appliances, etc. Wi-Fi 4 and 5 were sufficient to handle 2 to 4 before experiencing bandwidth issues. With more devices connected, there is more contention on a wireless frequency channel. All devices obviously cannot “talk” at the same time. They are given a time or “open window” to transmit or receive data from the Wi-Fi access point. Wi-Fi 6 also addresses this issue, not just by increasing bandwidth, but also by using better signaling techniques. This is also a scaling solution to support more devices so it leaves plenty of room for growth.
Here are the features of Wi-Fi 6:
Better Performance
Typical Wi-Fi environments today consist of multiple users. Whether you are at a public space or school library, you are trying to get as much bandwidth as all the other users around you. In dense environments, the Wi-Fi bandwidth can quickly get saturated. Wi-Fi 6 offers better performance in these situations by using a different signaling technique called OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) channel access method.
OFDMA divides a wireless channel into a large number of subchannels. Think of the wireless channel as a “freeway”. The subchannels are dedicated to each device connected on the network, like being given its own lane on the freeway. Wi-Fi 6, like 5G networks, also uses MU-MIMO (Multiple User-Multiple Input, Multiple Output) 1024 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) schemes that implement multiple antennas from the access point to communicate with many devices at once. This allows for full-duplex communication between the access point and the devices.
Wi-Fi 6 also allows better isolation of networks within a close proximity with each other. This is done using a “color” aka BSS (Base Service Set) scheme which is a number from 0 to 7 that can be assigned to the access point. The access point can ignore all signals not configured for its color and thus increase efficiency by not having to process signals from another access point that is not a part of its configured network.
Longer Battery Life
A feature called TWT (Target Wake Time) will help mobile devices like smartphones, laptops and tablets that connect to a Wi-Fi network save on battery life. Currently, devices that connect on Wi-Fi networks must keep their connection up and running. Unfortunately, for mobile devices, this consumes battery power which is needed by the Wi-Fi radio transmitter. Even during idle, the radio transmitter still consumes power. TWT allow the access point to “wake up” a device when it is transmitting or sending data. During the times of inactivity, the radio transmitter can then go to idle mode and this allows it to conserve energy, thus allowing for longer battery life. This can also benefit IoT devices which now don’t have to continuously keep an open connection to the network unless the access point is receiving data or when it needs to transmit data.
Faster Speeds
Faster speeds are attainable with Wi-Fi 6 thanks to the use of two frequency channels simultaneously, 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz (dual band support). Wi-Fi 5 users are familiar with the 5.0 GHz spectrum probably from installing their IEEE 802.11ac access point. It is a lot faster than previous generations which had used the 2.4 GHz channel. Vendors also released dual band routers, but you cannot use both at the same time. Wi-Fi 6 combines both frequency channels to create a high bandwidth communications channel or akin to a freeway with more lanes.
The 2.4 GHz frequency signals can travel longer distances, but were prone to interference from other devices. The 5.0 GHz frequency channel was less prone to interference and much faster, but did not have the long range capabilities of 2.4 GHz. Through the use of more powerful processors and signal encoding, Wi-Fi 6 makes use of both frequency channels effectively.
Compatibility
The Wi-Fi 6 standard should be backward compatible with Wi-Fi 4 and 5 (if not there should be an announcement from the Wi-Fi Alliance). There is also a certification for devices that are truly compliant to the Wi-Fi 6 standard with a label that should appear on the devices.
Here is the thing, if your smartphone or laptop uses a previous generation Wi-Fi radio transmitter, then you won’t be able to take full advantage of the features of Wi-Fi 6. An IEEE 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) device will only connect at that speed on a Wi-Fi 6 access point. If the device is fully compliant to a Wi-Fi 6 access point, then it will be able to access those features.
The advantage of Wi-Fi 6 is the bandwidth. With speeds approaching 10 GbE territory, it will be possible to use wireless networks to connect workstations to data intensive servers that would normally require a network cable (e.g. CAT6e, etc.). This can also improve the flow of wireless traffic in dense environments where there are many users who don’t have access to ethernet ports. The signaling schemes used are also more efficient, allowing full-duplex communications which means devices don’t have to wait their turn to transmit data since they have their own subchannel.
Things are ramping up in support of faster, low latency networks. Wi-Fi 6 is the ideal partner network to 5G in terms of speed and scaling efficiency. This can significantly affect any production workflow in many great ways.
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