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 Logo used by the Wi-Fi Alliance for Wi-Fi 6 | |
| Introduced | 1 September 2020 |
|---|---|
| Compatible hardware | Personal computers, gaming consoles, smart devices, televisions, printers, security cameras |
Wi-Fi 6, or IEEE 802.11ax, is an IEEE standard from the Wi-Fi Alliance, for wireless networks (WLANs). It operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands,[9] with an extended version, Wi-Fi 6E, that adds the 6 GHz band.[10] It is an upgrade from Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), with improvements for better performance in crowded places. Wi-Fi 6 covers frequencies in license-exempt bands between 1 and 7.125 GHz, including the commonly used 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, as well as the broader 6 GHz band.[11]
This standard aims to boost data speed (throughput-per-area[c]) in crowded places like offices and malls. Though the nominal data rate is only 37%[12] better than 802.11ac, the total network speed increases by 300%,[13] making it more efficient and reducing latency by 75%.[14] The quadrupling of overall throughput is made possible by a higher spectral efficiency.
802.11ax Wi-Fi has a main feature called OFDMA, similar to how cell technology works with Wi-Fi.[12] This brings better spectrum use, improved power control to avoid interference, and enhancements like 1024‑QAM, MIMO and MU-MIMO for faster speeds. There are also reliability improvements such as lower power consumption and security protocols like Target Wake Time and WPA3.
The 802.11ax standard was approved on September 1, 2020, with Draft 8 getting 95% approval. Subsequently, on February 1, 2021, the standard received official endorsement from the IEEE Standards Board.[15]
Rate set
Notes
- ^ MCS 9 is not applicable to all combinations of channel width and spatial stream count.
- ^ Per spatial stream.
OFDMA
In 802.11ac (802.11's previous amendment), multi-user MIMO was introduced, which is a spatial multiplexing technique. MU-MIMO allows the access point to form beams towards each client, while transmitting information simultaneously. By doing so, the interference between clients is reduced, and the overall throughput is increased, since multiple clients can receive data simultaneously.
With 802.11ax, a similar multiplexing is introduced in the frequency domain: OFDMA. With OFDMA, multiple clients are assigned to different Resource Units in the available spectrum. By doing so, an 80 MHz channel can be split into multiple Resource Units, so that multiple clients receive different types of data over the same spectrum, simultaneously.
To support OFDMA, 802.11ax needs four times as many subcarriers as 802.11ac. Specifically, for 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz channels, the 802.11ac standard has, respectively, 64, 128, 256 and 512 subcarriers while the 802.11ax standard has 256, 512, 1024, and 2048 subcarriers. Since the available bandwidths have not changed and the number of subcarriers increases by a factor of four, the subcarrier spacing is reduced by the same factor. This introduces OFDM symbols that are four times longer: in 802.11ac, an OFDM symbol takes 3.2 microseconds to transmit. In 802.11ax, it takes 12.8 microseconds (both without guard intervals).
Technical improvements
The 802.11ax amendment brings several key improvements over 802.11ac. 802.11ax addresses frequency bands between 1 GHz and 6 GHz.[16] Therefore, unlike 802.11ac, 802.11ax also operates in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band. Wi-Fi 6E introduces operation at frequencies of or near 6 GHz, and superwide channels that are 160 MHz wide,[17] the frequency ranges these channels can occupy and the number of these channels depends on the country the Wi-Fi 6 network operates in.[18] To meet the goal of supporting dense 802.11 deployments, the following features have been approved.
Notes
- ^ 802.11ac only specifies operation in the 5 GHz band. Operation in the 2.4 GHz band is specified by 802.11n.
- ^ Wi-Fi 6E is the industry name that identifies Wi-Fi devices that operate in 6 GHz. Wi-Fi 6E offers the features and capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 extended into the 6 GHz band.
- ^ Throughput-per-area, as defined by IEEE, is the ratio of the total network throughput to the network area.[12]
Comparison
References
- ^ "MCS table (updated with 80211ax data rates)". semfionetworks.com.
- ^ "Understanding Wi-Fi 4/5/6/6E/7". wiisfi.com.
- ^ Reshef, Ehud; Cordeiro, Carlos (2023). "Future Directions for Wi-Fi 8 and Beyond". IEEE Communications Magazine. 60 (10). IEEE. doi:10.1109/MCOM.003.2200037. Retrieved 2024-05-21.
- ^ "What is Wi-Fi 8?". everythingrf.com. March 25, 2023. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
- ^ Giordano, Lorenzo; Geraci, Giovanni; Carrascosa, Marc; Bellalta, Boris (November 21, 2023). "What Will Wi-Fi 8 Be? A Primer on IEEE 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability". arXiv:2303.10442.
- ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (2018-10-03). "Wi-Fi Now Has Version Numbers, and Wi-Fi 6 Comes Out Next Year". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
- ^ Phillips, Gavin (18 January 2021). "The Most Common Wi-Fi Standards and Types, Explained". MUO - Make Use Of. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
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- ^ "Generational Wi-Fi® User Guide" (PDF). Wi-Fi Alliance. October 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ^ "Wi-Fi 6E expands Wi-Fi® into 6 GHz" (PDF). Wi-Fi Alliance. January 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ^ "FCC Opens 6 GHz Band to Wi-Fi and Other Unlicensed Uses". www.fcc.gov. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ a b c Khorov, Evgeny; Kiryanov, Anton; Lyakhov, Andrey; Bianchi, Giuseppe (2019). "A Tutorial on IEEE 802.11ax High Efficiency WLANs". IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials. 21 (1): 197–216. doi:10.1109/COMST.2018.2871099.
- ^ Aboul-Magd, Osama (17 March 2014). "802.11 HEW SG Proposed PAR" (DOCX). IEEE. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ^ Goodwins, Rupert (3 October 2018). "Next-generation 802.11ax wi-fi: Dense, fast, delayed". ZDNet. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
- ^ "IEEE 802.11, The Working Group Setting the Standards for Wireless LANs". www.ieee802.org. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
- ^ Aboul-Magd, Osama (2014-01-24). "P802.11ax" (PDF). IEEE-SA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-10-10. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
2 page PDF download
- ^ "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 | Wi-Fi Alliance".
- ^ "Wi-Fi 6E and 6 GHz Update" (PDF). www.wi-fi.org. 2021-03-11.
- ^ Porat, Ron; Fischer, Matthew; Venkateswaran, Sriram; et al. (2015-01-12). "Payload Symbol Size for 11ax". IEEE P802.11. Retrieved 2017-01-14.
- ^ "Official IEEE 802.11 working group project timelines". January 26, 2017. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
- ^ "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n: Longer-Range, Faster-Throughput, Multimedia-Grade Wi-Fi Networks" (PDF). Wi-Fi Alliance. September 2009.
- ^ a b Banerji, Sourangsu; Chowdhury, Rahul Singha. "On IEEE 802.11: Wireless LAN Technology". arXiv:1307.2661.
- ^ "The complete family of wireless LAN standards: 802.11 a, b, g, j, n" (PDF).
- ^ The Physical Layer of the IEEE 802.11p WAVE Communication Standard: The Specifications and Challenges (PDF). World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science. 2014.
- ^ IEEE Standard for Information Technology- Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems- Local and Metropolitan Area Networks- Specific Requirements Part Ii: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications. (n.d.). doi:10.1109/ieeestd.2003.94282
- ^ a b "Wi-Fi Capacity Analysis for 802.11ac and 802.11n: Theory & Practice" (PDF).
- ^ Belanger, Phil; Biba, Ken (2007-05-31). "802.11n Delivers Better Range". Wi-Fi Planet. Archived from the original on 2008-11-24.
- ^ "IEEE 802.11ac: What Does it Mean for Test?" (PDF). LitePoint. October 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-16.
- ^ "IEEE Standard for Information Technology". IEEE Std 802.11aj-2018. April 2018. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.2018.8345727.
- ^ "802.11ad - WLAN at 60 GHz: A Technology Introduction" (PDF). Rohde & Schwarz GmbH. November 21, 2013. p. 14.
- ^ "Connect802 - 802.11ac Discussion". www.connect802.com.
- ^ "Understanding IEEE 802.11ad Physical Layer and Measurement Challenges" (PDF).
- ^ "802.11aj Press Release".
- ^ "An Overview of China Millimeter-Wave Multiple Gigabit Wireless Local Area Network System". IEICE Transactions on Communications. E101.B (2): 262–276. 2018. doi:10.1587/transcom.2017ISI0004.
- ^ "IEEE 802.11ay: 1st real standard for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) via mmWave – Technology Blog". techblog.comsoc.org.
- ^ "P802.11 Wireless LANs". IEEE. pp. 2, 3. Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved Dec 6, 2017.
- ^ a b "802.11 Alternate PHYs A whitepaper by Ayman Mukaddam" (PDF).
- ^ "TGaf PHY proposal". IEEE P802.11. 2012-07-10. Retrieved 2013-12-29.
- ^ "IEEE 802.11ah: A Long Range 802.11 WLAN at Sub 1 GHz" (PDF). Journal of ICT Standardization. 1 (1): 83–108. July 2013. doi:10.13052/jicts2245-800X.115.
External links
- Evgeny Khorov, Anton Kiryanov, Andrey Lyakhov, Giuseppe Bianchi. 'A Tutorial on IEEE 802.11ax High Efficiency WLANs', IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 197–216, First quarter 2019. doi:10.1109/COMST.2018.2871099
- Bellalta, Boris (2015). "IEEE 802.11ax: High-Efficiency WLANs". IEEE Wireless Communications. 23: 38–46. arXiv:1501.01496. doi:10.1109/MWC.2016.7422404. S2CID 15023432.
- Shein, Esther (November 30, 2021). "Deloitte: Don't rule out Wi-Fi 6 as a next-generation wireless network". TechRepublic. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19.