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Wi-Fi HaLow Delivers On The Promise Of IoT Connectivity

Forbes Technology Council

Michael De Nil is the CEO and co-founder at Morse Micro — reinventing Wi-Fi for IoT.

The transformative power of the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to accelerate as new technologies and emerging standards converge in today’s smart, connected world, redefining how we live, work, produce, consume, travel and communicate. According to a recent IDC report, tens of billions of IoT devices will generate an estimated 80 zettabytes of data per year by 2025. A lot of that data will flow to the cloud for AI-powered analytics and much will be processed at the network edge by increasingly intelligent devices tuned for machine learning (ML).

The IoT is all about connectivity, and the wireless options are diverse, well established and continuously progressing. They range from low-power mesh protocols—such as Thread, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth mesh and the new Matter specification (an IP-based protocol built on Thread, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE)—to low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies—including Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), LoRaWAN and LTE-M. 5G IoT solutions are emerging for those vendors who can afford to implement and tweak the required small-cell, repeater and phased-array antenna infrastructure.

The IoT Connects With Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi is another wireless technology of choice for the IoT. According to IDC, nearly 18 billion Wi-Fi devices will be in use worldwide in 2022, including more than 4.4 billion devices shipping this year.

Various flavors of the 802.11 Wi-Fi standard (operating in sub-GHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequencies) underpin wireless LANs and IoT connectivity in our homes, workplaces and public spaces. Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and its 6 GHz 6E sibling garner a lot of media buzz because they deliver very high bandwidth and low latency for performance-intensive applications such as hi-res streaming video, augmented reality and online gaming. However, these power-hungry, “race car” Wi-Fi versions are hardly suitable choices for the billions of battery-operated IoT devices and wireless sensors deployed in power-sensitive applications, often at considerable distances from routers and gateways.

As many power- and range-conscious developers have discovered, there’s another Wi-Fi standard that is ideally suited to the unique demands of IoT connectivity: 802.11ah Wi-Fi HaLow.

Operating in the uncrowded, license-free sub-GHz frequency band, Wi-Fi HaLow was designed from the ground up for the IoT, offering an optimal combination of power efficiency, extended range, large network capacity, advanced security, Wi-Fi compatibility and native IP support. This unparalleled mix of capabilities makes Wi-Fi HaLow a good choice for low-power, long-reach IoT use cases in home and building automation, industrial IoT (IIoT), smart agriculture, fleet and asset management, security and surveillance, and smart city infrastructure.

A New Wi-Fi Standard Is Ready For The IoT

November 2, 2021, was a watershed date for the world of Wi-Fi and IoT connectivity. That’s when the Wi-Fi Alliance—the global nonprofit organization that promotes the use of Wi-Fi and certifies Wi-Fi products—introduced the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow program based on the IEEE 802.ah standard.

The Wi-Fi Alliance worked closely with several silicon and software vendors that served as Wi-Fi HaLow “test beds” to help drive the 802.11ah certification program forward. Companies that actively participate in the Wi-Fi Alliance’s certification program development process help accelerate market acceptance of Wi-Fi HaLow as a standards-based solution for low-power, long-range, high-capacity IoT networks. IoT products based on Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow solutions will be Wi-Fi certification-ready and will benefit from multivendor support and interoperability. As with all Wi-Fi certified standards, adherence to a thorough certification process simplifies development, reduces cost, speeds time to market and fosters consumer confidence in end-product compatibility and interoperability.

As an integral part of the expanding Wi-Fi portfolio, Wi-Fi HaLow provides a more comprehensive approach to IoT connectivity than other Wi-Fi variants. Following five years of development and testing, Wi-Fi HaLow has been engineered to address the needs of the IoT. Simply put, Wi-Fi HaLow offers a combination of advantages for IoT applications that other wireless protocols can’t match.

Longer Range And Easier Penetration Of Barriers

The sub-1 GHz signals of Wi-Fi HaLow cover a wider range of long-reach applications such as large factories, warehouses and smart city infrastructure without repeaters or meshes. The narrowband signals can reach 10x-100x farther than 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi or Bluetooth while using less total energy and extending multiple kilometers. Instead of dealing with multiple connectivity standards, Wi-Fi HaLow can handle every LED bulb, light switch, door lock, smoke detector, security camera or any other imaginable building automation device. Sub-GHz signals also penetrate walls and other physical barriers more effectively than higher frequencies such as 2.4 GHz Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Zigbee. The variability of construction materials and building layouts has minimal effect on Wi-Fi HaLow signals, compared to wireless protocols in the crowded 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

Large Network Capacity

Wi-Fi HaLow can support up to 8,191 devices from a single access point (AP). Multiple signaling options reduce the overhead required to manage and control such large numbers of devices in IoT networks. This reduces collisions and frees up airwaves for active devices to transfer more data at the fastest modulation and coding scheme rates they can achieve.

Optimal Data Rates

Wi-Fi HaLow offers a wide range of data rates to fit the needs of IoT applications such as high-definition cameras to low-bit-rate temperature sensors and smart door locks. Although the standard’s maximum data rate is 43.3 Mb/s for 8 MHz channels, that’s more than adequate for nearly every type of home automation and industrial IoT device.

Conclusion

Wi-Fi HaLow specifically addresses the full range of IoT connectivity requirements without compromises. Building on the market success of Wi-Fi to increase the range and battery life of Wi-Fi-connected devices, Wi-Fi HaLow also meets the scalability, security and interoperability demands of challenging IoT applications. Although there is no “one size fits all” wireless protocol for every IoT use case, Wi-Fi HaLow is the first to address the majority of IoT application needs.


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