Wi-Fi Digital Age: WiFi6 vs 5G

During the period of total digitalization, wireless networks use one way or another enterprises and organizations of any scale. And the advent of the new standard for wireless networks 802.11ax, also known as Wi-Fi 6, opens up fundamentally new opportunities for users. Next-generation Wi-Fi networks will become more reliable and high-performance, while they will provide the ability to connect many IoT devices. The world's largest manufacturers are starting to bring Wi-Fi 6-enabled equipment to the market, without waiting for the end of standardization.

This year, Wi-Fi technology marks the anniversary. The year of its appearance is considered to be 1999, when global developers of wireless equipment EZELINK next generation wifi and HSIA solutions 3Com, Aironet (later Cisco), Intersil, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, Symbol Technologies merged into an organization called the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (later renamed the Wi-Fi Alliance) , whose goal was to promote the standards of the 802.11 family as a single for wireless networks. In addition, the alliance is testing collaboration capabilities in a single wireless infrastructure of network devices from various manufacturers and certifies the compatibility of IEEE 802.11 products.

Revolutionary evolution

In 2018, the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to simplify the classification of wireless standards. So, the 802.11n version developed in 2009 became Wi-Fi 4, and the 802.11ac that appeared in 2013 became Wi-Fi 5. And the last one was replaced by Wi-Fi 6.

The main feature of the new standard is that it is designed for converged radio environments. Wi-Fi 6 supports the technology of multi-antenna reception and transmission (Multi User - Multiple Input Multiple Output, MU-MIMO), which allows several user devices to simultaneously receive and send multiple data streams at the same speed. To improve spectral efficiency, the Orthogonal Frequency Division Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) mode is supported, and the quadrature amplitude modulation of 1024 ‑ QAM is used to increase throughput. Interestingly, OFDMA technology was borrowed from wireless standards operating in licensed ranges. It allows you to share each of the available independent channels, belonging to a specific access point, thus providing the ability to connect dozens of devices to one point. Another distinctive feature of the new technology is the Target Wake Time (TWT) function, which makes it possible to effectively plan and increase the battery life of connected devices.

These technological innovations allow Wi-Fi 6access points to support a larger number of clients in high-densityenvironments, while working with standard wireless LANs is becoming easier. In addition, it is possible to predict the performance of applications with advanced features - such as 4K and 8K video applications, high-density and high-resolution collaboration applications, and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Challenge accepted

The capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 perfectly meet the challenges of the era of mobility, the Internet of things and billions of connected devices. According to a Cisco study of the Visual Networking Index, in which the company analyzes current trends and provides forecasts for the near future, by 2022, 60% of the global population and 69% of Russian residents will become Internet users. And the number of connected devices will be over 28 billion in the world and 867 million in our country. The volume of Russian annual IP traffic by 2022 will increase three times and amount to 138.8 Eb, 79% of which will be transmitted by video.

Such a pace of development, technologies can become the very “throat” that will not allow networks to cope with such loads. “We are facing technological challenges to overcome this obstacle. The number of connected devices is growing at a progressive pace. In order to ensure high connection density and network stability, Wi-Fi technology has been modernized. Wi-Fi 6 is the technological answer to those tasks which are facing manufacturers of wireless equipment

The largest global vendors are already developing equipment with support for next-generation Wi-Fi. So, EZELINK has announced a number of new products. The company introduced 1350 and 1370 access points, which not only support the Wi-Fi 6 standard, but also allow the creation of smart wireless networks with a high degree of protection - thanks to the presence of programmable chipsets of their own design and the ability to connect to analytics systems. In addition, access points are equipped with USB ports for connecting IoT devices. 

Despite the fact that these solutions appeared before the standard was officially approved, access points support Wi-Fi 6capabilities and will later be certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. This leading approach has been adopted in the industry. EZELINK not only tested the compatibility of access points with subscriber devices, but also led the Open Roaming project, which aims to facilitate seamless and safe transition of subscribers between LTE and Wi-Fi networks, as well as connecting to public Wi-Fi -networks. 

EZELINK representatives emphasized that the new products are designed for first customers and customers who want to try Wi-Fi 6 in practice. the purpose of which is to facilitate seamless and safe transfer of subscribers between LTE and Wi-Fi networks, as well as connecting to public Wi-Fi networks. This equipment will be available to customers in the coming months. EZELINK representatives emphasized that the new products are designed for first customers and customers who want to try Wi-Fi 6 in practice. the purpose of which is to facilitate seamless and safe transfer of subscribers between LTE and Wi-Fi networks, as well as connecting to public Wi-Fi networks. 

Faster than 5G

The speed of transition to new generations of technology is constantly increasing. This also applies to wireless technologies operating in both licensed and unlicensed ranges. At the same time, some experts are already wondering if 5G and Wi-Fi 6 will be complementary or competing technologies. The transition to the new version of Wi-Fi standards is faster. Partly due to support from terminal manufacturers. So, chipsets developed on the basis of preliminary Wi-Fi 6 specifications are already produced by large manufacturers of electronic components - in particular, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Marvell and Intel. These chipsets are cheaper than for 5G.

Manufacturers are not afraid to invest in equipment for a new generation of Wi-Fi, although 5G and Wi-Fi 6 standards have not yet been adopted. As of 2019, the technical component of the Wi-Fi 6 standard is fully formed, and now there is a stage of its ratification, at which it is necessary to determine which characteristics of the equipment are mandatory for compliance with the standard, and which are optional. After that, the standard will be officially adopted, but from a technical point of view, no changes are expected.

In addition, the benefits of using Wi-Fi for corporate users. "5G is more of a carrier technology: to use it, you need to obtain a carrier license and permission to use the frequency spectrum. Wi-Fi is a shared environment. Any corporation can own a Wi-Fi wireless network without the need for any permissions.  Representatives of medium and small businesses to serve a small number of customers may limit themselves to using a 5G-enabled router so as not to deploy their own network and not contain staff to support it.

The spread of Wi-Fi 6 and 5G will entail a wave of innovations and create new business opportunities for their application