一个关于Wi-Fi (R)发展的20年前的故事

Ana Mata

September 06, 2022

Wi-Fi technology must evolve to keep pace with the rampant demand for access created by the enormous increase in devices.

When Wi-Fi, a new wireless technology was launched in 1999 no one could have foreseen the enormous impact it would have on society. 自第一次IEEE 802以来的二十年里.11b standard was ratified, Wi-Fi has become the “de facto” method of connectivity for the majority of enterprises, 也是住宅和消费用户的必备设备.

Wi-Fi is now so popular that the Wi-Fi Alliance has renamed the standard using non-technical terminology to make it easier for everyone. 所以，第六代Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.11ax，简称Wi-Fi 6.

Since the early days, users, on a massive scale have embraced the mobility made possible by Wi-Fi, 他们的移动设备需要越来越多的应用, pushing technology to its limits with each new delivery of the Wi-Fi standard. For example, between 2000 and 2005, more than 100 million devices were sold each year. That meant Wi-Fi had to evolve to support an ever-increasing number of devices as well as to provide improved performance in any possible scenario including: indoor offices and outdoor industrial sectors, 在高密度环境中, 支持物联网网络和实时应用, for enterprises, 以及开放的公共网络.

Today, more than twenty years after its introduction, the Wi-Fi universe is still growing. In the last few years, 采用率呈指数级增长, with a forecast of nearly 18 billion Wi-Fi devices in use by the end of 2022. 这是全球人口的两倍多!

Wi-Fi 6:并非没有挑战

The latest evolution of Wi-Fi to address our current day requirements is Wi-Fi 6, 于2019年获得认证，被称为高效Wi-Fi. 为Wi-Fi网络增加更多容量, Wi-Fi 6 was quickly followed by the certification of Wi-Fi 6E in 2021.

Wi-Fi 6 introduces a number of new technological improvements compared to Wi-Fi 5, such as 8x8 MU-MIMO, OFDMA, 1024-QAM, TWT and WPA3, to name a few. These features enable new business applications with superior quality of experience and perform better in high density areas. Wi-Fi 6还支持物联网扩散，延长电池寿命, 更好的户外覆盖和先进的安全性.

Wi-Fi deployments are increasing worldwide across large office and residential buildings, public arenas, 教育校园和大众交通枢纽. In parallel, there is a surge of emerging applications such as virtual reality and augmented reality for e-Learning, 医疗保健中的8K超高清视频应用, 以及元宇宙技术的出现.

All of this means that Wi-Fi is once again being challenged to provide higher bandwidth with lower latency while supporting higher density environments.  此外，Wi-Fi还面临频谱短缺的问题. The 2.4 GHz band has long been saturated by common electronics such as microwaves. In the 5 GHz band, 有些地方限制Wi-Fi的使用, and the availability of wide channels required by bandwidth-hungry applications is limited, for example; the band has capacity to allocate only two super-wide 160 MHz and seven 80 MHz channels. In addition, the available spectrum in 5 GHz is shared with slower legacy devices. 在这个高度拥挤的频谱场景中, new Wi-Fi 6 certified devices cannot really leverage the full potential of Wi-Fi 6.

Wi-Fi 6E释放了Wi-Fi 6的潜力

Enter Wi-Fi 6E. 尽可能简洁地描述它, Wi-Fi 6E extends the features and capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 into the 6 GHz unlicensed band.

What this means is that a new large uncongested band is available for Wi-Fi traffic. In total, Wi-Fi 6E provides a new 1200 MHz continuous spectrum in the 6 GHz band. 这基本上是2中可用的组合频谱的三倍.4 and 5 GHz bands. The addition of this new spectrum helps mitigate congestion-related problems and facilitates Wi-Fi growth with improved performance.

Another important advantage is that only Wi-Fi 6E certified devices are permitted in the 6 GHz band which means overhead and traffic from legacy devices is no longer an issue, 从而实现更好的连接和更少的干扰. Additionally, access points have more, 更宽的通道，以适应更多的设备在更高的吞吐量. Wi-Fi 6E can use up to fourteen 80 MHz channels and seven super-wide 160 MHz channels in the 6 GHz band for high-bandwidth, low-latency applications, 比如高清视频流和虚拟现实.

In a nutshell

Wi-Fi 6E将已经非常高效的Wi-Fi 6扩展到6 GHz频段, to achieve higher speeds, lower latency and provide more capacity to address the proliferation of Wi-Fi devices and next generation use cases.

针对市场需求，我们的 阿尔卡特朗讯OmniAccess®恒星无线局域网 解决方案与当今的Wi-Fi标准同步发展. In addition to the OmniAccess Stellar 1200 family of Wi-Fi 5 certified access points, over the past two years we have introduced the comprehensive and competitive OmniAccess Stellar 1300 Wi-Fi 6 access points. This product family includes indoor access points for enterprises with basic, standard and demanding Wi-Fi requirements; three models of hardened access points for outdoor deployments, and one in-room access point designed for sectors such as hospitality, education and healthcare.

We have also recently announced an extension to the portfolio with the new OmniAccess Stellar 1400 Wi-Fi 6E认证接入点系列. 我们将推出一个高端Wi-Fi 6E接入点, OmniAccess恒星AP1451, in September, followed by the AP1431, a mid-range access point, by the end of this year.

Look for our upcoming blog where we will discuss, when is the right time to move to Wi-Fi 6E. Don’t miss it!