Wi-Fi 6 - The Latest Wireless Technology
The following points can help you quickly understand wifi 6:
What is Wi-Fi 6?
Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, expands on the 802.11ac standard. Wi-Fi
6
provides increased speed, flexibility, and scalability.
In fact, in 2017, Qualcomm Global launched the first Wi-Fi 6 network
solution.
By 2019, flagship phones of Samsung and Apple have also been equipped
with WiFi
6.
WiFi 6 is the sixth generation of wireless communication technology,
also called
802.11ax, but the previous 802.11xx name is more complicated, and the
IEEE
Standards Association changed it to a simpler form that is easier to
understand.
|
Old Name
|
802.11b
|
802.11a
|
802.11g
|
802.11n
|
802.11ac
|
802.11ax
|
|
New Name
|
Wi-Fi 1
|
Wi-Fi 2
|
Wi-Fi 3
|
Wi-Fi 4
|
Wi-Fi 5
|
Wi-Fi 6
|
|
Why Wi-Fi 6?
The demand for wireless access is dramatically increasing,
and the
number and variety of devices and applications continue to
grow.
Wi-Fi 6 helps accommodate the growing number of mobile and
IoT
devices by increasing network efficiency and speed to better
meet IT
and business requirements.
|
|
Compared with WiFi 5, WiFi 6 has some major advantages:
The first is speed. The theoretical maximum data
throughput of
WiFi 6 is 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s), while WiFi 5 has a theoretical maximum of
6.9
Gbps, which is an increase of more than 40%.
Secondly, the core technology of WiFi 6 is the introduction of MU-MIMO
(multi-user-multiple input multiple output), so that one base station
can serve
multiple mobile terminals at the same time, which means that when a
large number
of devices are connected to the network, the problem of network
congestion Can
be relieved.
The second core technology is OFDMA (Spatial
Multiplexing),
which can send and receive data to multiple devices at once. In the
past, FDMA
was transmitted to multiple devices in sequence, and each transmission
occupies
all frequency bands, which means that the devices in the rear have to
wait until
WiFi 5 is like this, which is extremely wasteful of resources. OFDMA
continues
to subdivide the frequency band, allowing different devices to transmit
data at
the same time, no longer waiting in line, and making full use of
resources.
The previous generations comparison:
|
Generation
|
WiFi 4
|
WiFi 5
|
WiFi 6
|
|
Protocol
|
802.11n
|
802.11ac
|
802.11ax
|
|
Released Date
|
2009
|
2013
|
2018
|
|
Frequency band
|
2.4GHz, 5GHz
|
5GHz
|
2.4GHz, 5GHz
|
Wi-Fi 6 also provides these features:
-
Multi-user multiple input, multiple output (multi-user MIMO) allows
more
downlink data to be transferred at one time, enabling access points
(APs) to
concurrently handle more devices.
-
Target Wake Time (TWT) significantly improves network efficiency and
device
battery life, including IoT devices.
-
IoT handling operating mode for low-power, low-bandwidth devices
like
sensors, automation, and medical devices.
-
WPA3 and Enhance Open to strengthen user privacy in open networks,
simplify
configuring security for headless IoT devices, and add higher levels
of
security to meet government, defense and industrial requirements.