Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, is the latest Wi-Fi industry standard after Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). Before the release of Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi standards were identified by versions from 802.11b to 802.11ac. Later, the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to make the Wi-Fi standards easier to understand and remember, and therefore renamed them in a manner similar to the different generations like 3G, 4G, and 5G in mobile communications.
Wi-Fi 6 introduces various new technologies, such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), uplink/downlink multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (UL/DL MU-MIMO), BSS coloring, and Target Wake Time, significantly improving performance. In this manner, Wi-Fi 6 supports four times higher bandwidth and concurrency than Wi-Fi 5. Additionally, Wi-Fi 6 provides lower latency and better energy-saving capability than Wi-Fi 5.
What Problems Does Wi-Fi 6 Try to Solve?
Wi-Fi 6 vs Wi-Fi 5
Compared with Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 stands out not only in the faster speed but also in user performance improvement in high-density scenarios.
Faster Speed
Over the last 20 years, Wi-Fi has become exponentially faster. Wi-Fi 6 leverages various "speed boosters", such as higher-order 1024-QAM, more subcarriers and spatial streams, and longer symbol duration (3.2 us -> 12.8 us per STA), to provide a theoretical speed of 9.6 Gbit/s at the 160 MHz channel width, nearly 900 times faster than the first generation of Wi-Fi.
Higher Concurrency
To support high concurrency, Wi-Fi 6 introduces multi-user technologies, such as OFDMA and uplink MU-MIMO, to improve spectrum utilization. Compared with Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 supports four times the concurrent connections.
Lower Latency
OFDMA and BSS coloring technologies introduced in Wi-Fi 6 reduce latency to as low as 20 ms. OFDMA reduces channel conflicts and improves spectrum utilization, and BSS coloring reduces co-channel interference. Unlike Wi-Fi 5 (30 ms latency), Wi-Fi 6 meets the latency requirements of emerging applications such as VR/AR, panoramic live broadcast, interactive gaming, immersive conferencing, and HD wireless projection.
Energy-Saving
As IoT terminals are widely used, Wi-Fi 6 focuses on power consumption of terminals in addition to the speed improvement.
Wi-Fi 6 uses Target Wake Time to save power by waking terminals up on demand. Target Wake Time, together with 20 MHz-only technology, further reducing the power consumption of terminals.
Wi-Fi 6 Devices
Huawei launched its first Wi-Fi 6 AP in October 2017. Subsequently, Huawei launched a full range of all-scenario AirEngine Wi-Fi 6 products to build digital, wireless, and IoT office and production spaces in various industries, including enterprise, education, finance, healthcare, government, manufacturing, commerce, and stadium.
Huawei AirEngine series APs include:
- AirEngine 8760 series: Huawei's flagship indoor Wi-Fi 6 APs suitable for high-density and high-bandwidth scenarios in large enterprises
- AirEngine 6760 series: Huawei's indoor AirEngine Wi-Fi 6 APs suitable for high-density deployment scenarios in large and midsize enterprises
- AirEngine 5760 series: Huawei's indoor AirEngine Wi-Fi 6 APs suitable for mobile offices of small and midsize enterprises, business, and retail scenarios
- AirEngine 8760R series: Huawei's flagship outdoor Wi-Fi 6 APs suitable for high-density scenarios such as large enterprises, stadiums, and public venues
- AirEngine 6760R series: Huawei's high-performance outdoor Wi-Fi 6 APs suitable for various outdoor scenarios such as squares, parks, and pedestrian streets
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