Frequently asked questions

Traditional Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 4/5/6/7) is optimized for high-speed data transfer over short distances – great for streaming and downloads – but power-hungry and range-limited. Wi-Fi HaLow, based on the IEEE 802.11ah standard, operates below 1 GHz to deliver up to 10x better coverage distance, superior wall and material penetration, and dramatically lower power consumption. It’s purpose-built for the Internet of Things (IoT), enabling connected devices to operate reliably at the edge, with multi-megabit throughput and battery life measured in years.

IEEE 802.11ah is the underlying wireless LAN standard, defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) specifically for IoT applications. It adds key capabilities for extended range, lower power operation, and higher network density to the ubiquitous 802.11 standard.

The Wi-Fi Alliance® created the “Wi-Fi HaLow™” brand to certify and promote products compliant with IEEE 802.11ah, ensuring interoperability and performance consistency.

Other Wi-Fi generations, such as Wi-Fi 4, 5, 6, and 7, correspond to IEEE 802.11n/ac/ax/be and are optimized for high throughput in shorter-range consumer and enterprise applications.

IEEE 802.11ah is the underlying wireless LAN standard, defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) specifically for IoT applications. It adds key capabilities for extended range, lower power operation, and higher network density to the ubiquitous 802.11 standard.

The Wi-Fi Alliance® created the “Wi-Fi HaLow™” brand to certify and promote products compliant with IEEE 802.11ah, ensuring interoperability and performance consistency.

Other Wi-Fi generations, such as Wi-Fi 4, 5, 6, and 7, correspond to IEEE 802.11n/ac/ax/be and are optimized for high throughput in shorter-range consumer and enterprise applications.

IoT 2.0 represents the next generation of the Internet of Things, where devices don’t just connect — they generate insights, act autonomously, and interact at the edge. Wi-Fi HaLow enables IoT 2.0 by providing long-range, high-bandwidth wireless connectivity critical to the next wave of edge intelligence. This enables smarter automation, predictive analytics, and real-time decision-making directly where the data is generated.

Wi-Fi HaLow is ideal for both indoor and outdoor IoT deployments. Urban environments benefit from up to 1km coverage, rural areas up to 5km, and line-of-sight field trials have achieved up to 20km. It excels on industrial sites, in smart cities, in agriculture, and in other environments where traditional Wi-Fi struggles with range, penetration, or power consumption.

Wi-Fi HaLow data rates scale dynamically, just like traditional Wi-Fi. Single-stream Wi-Fi HaLow links can achieve up to 25 Mbps TCP throughput at 100 m in urban environments and up to 5 Mbps in rural environments. Generally, Wi-Fi HaLow maintains robust connectivity that’s more than 1,000× faster than LoRaWAN or other sub-1 GHz technologies.

Wi-Fi HaLow operates below 1 GHz using narrow channels, allowing signals to travel up to 10× farther than 2.4/5/6 GHz Wi-Fi. The lower frequency also provides superior propagation and penetration – for example, there’s only ~20% range loss through a brick wall compared to ~60% for Wi-Fi 4/5/6/7, all while using significantly less power.

Wi-Fi HaLow enables seamless integration with edge and cloud platforms. Put simply, it delivers IP to the edge, and that edge is much farther away than in traditional Wi-Fi. IoT devices can process data locally at the edge for low-latency decisions while transmitting aggregated insights to the cloud. This combination supports real-time analytics, predictive maintenance, and smarter automation across distributed networks.

Wi-Fi HaLow delivers the world’s most energy-efficient Wi-Fi connectivity, optimized for IoT 2.0 applications. Key power-saving features include:

• Morse Micro’s transmitter is the most power-efficient in the world, at 35% efficiency at peak output power. This translates to either consuming less power to cover the same distance as competitors or covering a greater distance with the same amount of power input.
• Sub-1 GHz operation and efficient modulation schemes mean achieving much higher throughput at range than other long-distance wireless technologies. Higher throughput translates to much less time on air to transmit data, which both reduces power consumption and reduces radio noise.
  Advanced sleep modes let devices stay dormant for long intervals, eliminating unnecessary wake-ups and extending battery life.
• An intelligent listen-before-talk mechanism reduces retransmissions and channel contention, further conserving power.

Wi-Fi HaLow incorporates modern Wi-Fi security standards, including WPA3 encryption. This ensures safe communications between IoT devices, gateways, and the cloud while maintaining low-power operation.

Wi-Fi HaLow supports dense IoT networks without the complexity of mesh networks. A single Access Point can service hundreds of nodes or client devices, which are also referred to as stations. The exact number will depend on the application and environment in question. 

Yes. Wi-Fi HaLow supports secure over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates. Devices can remotely receive software improvements or security updates required by the new EU regulations, reducing maintenance costs and ensuring IoT systems stay up to date without manual intervention.

Morse Micro’s products are designed and manufactured with the applications listed on our website in mind. While Morse Micro strives for the highest industry quality and reliability standards in the design and manufacture of our semiconductor devices, these products are not intended, manufactured, or warranted for use in environments or applications where extraordinarily high levels of quality, reliability, and failure tolerance are demanded, and/or where a malfunction or failure could lead to significant harm to life, health, property, or result in severe societal repercussions (“Critical Applications”). Critical Applications encompass, but are not limited to, Defence related applications, nuclear facilities, aviation and space equipment, medical devices, critical automotive, train, marine, and other transportation equipment components, devices involved in controlling combustion or explosions, safety devices, elevators and escalators, devices associated with electric power, and equipment used in finance-related fields. Use of our products in any such Critical Applications is explicitly prohibited unless a prior written approval is secured from Morse Micro and the Company will not be supporting any Critical Applications of its products in any form. This disclaimer is applicable to all products within Morse Micro’s product portfolio. By using Morse Micro’s products, you are accepting the terms of this disclaimer.

Companies can begin with Morse Micro’s Wi-Fi HaLow development kits and evaluation boards. Comprehensive documentation, SDKs, and support from the Morse Micro ecosystem enable rapid prototyping and integration into commercial IoT products.

Morse Micro provides a complete ecosystem, including developer kits, evaluation platforms, documentation, forums, and partner integrations. This ecosystem enables developers to build, test, and deploy Wi-Fi HaLow-enabled devices efficiently. Find out more at our community: community.morsemicro.com

Our webiste has you covered, see:

• The Technology section for detailed technical information and comparisons
• The Products section for key info on our chips, modules, evaluation kits and HaLowLink devices
• Applications for examples of how Wi-Fi HaLow enables insight, automation, and action at the edge