Mark Pickavance covers some important wi-fi standards announcements that could address many problems with the existing technology
For those who still haven't transitioned to 802.11ac or maybe even 802.11n, a raft of recent announcements and product releases might just complicate their available choices.
WiGig
802.11ac wi-fi, working optimally, can offer spectacular performance levels, but (and isn't this always the case?) there are people who want more.
If you want to stream 4K video over wi-fi or transfer large files without delay, then even the most expensive 802.11ac configuration has its limits.
If you want to go even quicker, you now have the option of 802.11ad, which in many respects is just a minor addendum to the existing 802.11ac standard. The critical modification that 802.11ad ushers in is the inclusion of a 60GHz millimetre wave spectrum alongside the existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz ranges. The exact frequency is regionally flexible over 57-66GHz in four distinct channels, because in some part of the world these are occupied by local transmissions.
One of the contentious parts of the world for this range is China, so a whole new designated standard called 802.11aj has been devised, which uses the 45GHz unlicensed spectrum there for the same purpose.
There are several advantages to this extra third frequency, wherever it is, but probably the one that most people will appreciate is the extra bandwidth that it unlocks. The theoretical cap for 5GHz under 802.11ac is 1733Mbps, even though most users get significantly less than that even in ideal conditions. 60GHz should, again in theory, be capable of supporting files transfer speeds of up to 4600Mbps - almost three times quicker. If you factor in the other ranges, then 7Gbps might well be possible under a triple-channel bonding scenario. That's at a level that should support 4K video streaming, even when the connection isn't a theoretical one or made under laboratory conditions.
At this time, one of the few products that's been unveiled is an amazing-looking router by TP-Link called the Talon AD7200, though this is promised to arrive on shelves in just a few months.
The problem (as with 802.11ac) is that for it to be truly useful it will require tablets, mobile phones and other devices to support the 60GHz channels, or it's all just a technical exercise without practical application.
When 802.11ad was first mooted, it had its own cheerleading trade team under the brand identity of WiGig, a function that was merged into the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2013. However, the WiGig logo and branding still exists, and it's likely to see extensive use when 802.11ad kit starts to proliferate.
HaLow Jump
For some considerable time, those in the Wi-Fi Alliance who control IEEE 802.11 standards have been ignoring the obvious problems that wi-fi has for many people. These include the inelegance of how it scales, as well as how inefficient it is for devices that only need to connect briefly.
However, the proliferation of smart control devices and the range limitations of technologies like Bluetooth have exposed dead-zones in the 802.11 strategy. Recently the Wi-Fi Alliance tried to address these with the revealing of the 802.11ah standard, a technology that many have branded 'FlaLow'.
The moniker comes from the way that this standard has been designed to deliver low-power and high-range-perfect for Internet of Things devices to communicate.
To avoid treading on existing standards, HaLow uses the 900MHz spectrum, and it includes some clever features. Among them is relaying, which could allow devices that use it to be placed much further apart than would be previously possible. Ranges of at least 1km are being suggested, though exactly how that translates into retail products we've yet to experience.
By using 900MHz, the HaLow solution should also very power efficient, making it practical to use with battery powered devices. And compared with the higher frequencies, communications should be less susceptible to interference.
Interestingly, this isn't the only wi-fi technology planned for the sub-1 GHz spectrum, because the alliance has already announced IEEE 802.11 af. That technology has no cute pseudonym as yet, but it's designed to exploit the 'white space’ frequencies in the spectrum around the VHF and UHF bands using cognitive radio methods.
Edgar Figueroa, CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance, was on hand at the announcement to bang this particular drum:
"Wi-Fi FlaLow is well suited to meet the unique needs of the smart home, smart city and industrial markets because of its ability to operate using very low power, penetrate through walls and operate at significantly longer ranges than wi-fi today,"
The problem for Edgar and the Wi-Fi Alliance is that there are already long-range wireless technologies in existence, specifically those already used by mobile phone networks. And there are also other existing LPWA (low-power wide area) systems, such as CleanSlate, Sigfox and Weightless.
Because of this, many in the tech industry are expecting 802.11ah to appear as an aside to exiting router technology rather than for people to actually purchase HaLow-specific hardware to support their Internet of Things collection.
There's also the question of how the frequency ranges will be used outside the USA, because here in Europe 900MHz is currently allocated to other uses, and the available bandwidth in that range isn't anywhere as much as it is in America.
Anyone who follows wi-fi standards will be aware that the HaLow announcement is no guarantee of when it's likely to be delivered. Before you can buy hardware that supports it, there's still the ratification phase to go through. And prior to that, there'll no doubt be a phase when hardware makers produce mucked-up pre-release versions.
The current thinking is that IEEE will formally approve the 802.11ah standard at some point in Q3 of this year, with supporting chipsets probably along in 2017 or 2018.
More Wi-fi To Come
If you've concluded that wireless networking has gone as far as it is likely to go, then think again, because the WiFi Alliance is already working on further 802.11 incarnations that will takes mobile computing into the next decade.
Of these, probably the one that will create the most headlines is 802.11ax, the successor to 802.11ac. This is intended to make wireless networks significantly more efficient than they are at the moment. While details of 'ax' are sketchy at this point, those developing the standard are aiming to quadruple the raw throughput of 'ac' but without adding extra frequency ranges.