Next gen WiFi to bolster connected homes, open space connectivity

GATINEAU — The next generation of WiFi will incorporate LTE technology that will allow more devices to connect to the network simultaneously, a representative from Intel Corp. told a fixed wireless conference on Tuesday. The 802.11ax WiFi standard will mean the effects of network congestion will be lowered due to better spectral efficiency and speed compared to previous generation technology. “The jump from 802.11ac and n to ax is the biggest shift in WiFi technology probably that’s ever happened,” Lance Koenders, global director of service provider sales at Intel, told the audience at the CanWISP 2018 conference in Gatineau, Quebec. Expecting the protocol standard to be certified as WiFi by the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2019, Koenders explained that beyond raw speed increases, the technology changes how pieces of network equipment speak to each other in very populated environments. He began his talk with data revealing the growing number of network devices found in homes across Canada. He said 802.11ax replaces collision detection with collision avoidance. When two devices transmit data at the same time, that’s a collision, according to Koenders. “everyone steps back, and says ‘let’s wait an amount of time,’ and then speak again,” and that works fine as long as there’s only a few devices in the room, said Koenders. “As you get to having hundreds of devices in a room, the probability of a collision goes up dramatically, and all of sudden... you get way lower throughput.” What switching does, Koenders added, is silo each of the transmissions to reduce the chance for collisions. Technologies like LTE uplink scheduling are incorporated in this new technology, meaning the amount of devices in use at once can increase. In a follow-up interview at the event, Koenders added another use case: deploying a wireless network in a stadium or an airport. While homes have walls which can mitigate the effects of interference from multiple access points, open air sports venues or large airports have no such physical dividers, meaning the protocol's self-organizing collision avoidance is very handy. "If you're getting interference in portions of a channel spectrum, can essentially constrain into the parts," that aren't as busy, said Koenders. These advantages will be important in a market where the amount of smart home networked devices is only increasing.

Next gen WiFi to bolster connected homes, open space connectivity

Brief | March 27, 2018

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Next gen WiFi to bolster connected homes, open space connectivity

Brief | March 27, 2018

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