Everything you need to know about Wi-Fi HaLow

Wi-Fi HaLow will soon be used in cameras, door locks, shops, factories, and mobile devices near you. What is Wi-Fi HaLow? Why is this the best solution for the Internet of Things?

Author: Shahar Feldman, Vice President of Marketing, Morse Micro

Wi-Fi HaLow is the next generation of Wi-Fi. This technology not only extends the distance and battery life of Wi-Fi-connected devices, but also represents the exciting future of people and devices connected wirelessly through the Internet of Things. Wi-Fi HaLow has a wide range of applications, from sensors, actuators and security cameras to home automation, home appliances and thermostats, all of which can improve user experience and productivity while reducing installation and operating costs.

Wi-Fi HaLow technology was recently standardized by the IEEE 802.11ah working group and named by the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA). Wi-Fi HaLow operates on unlicensed RF frequency bands below 1 GHz, and provides data rates ranging from hundreds of kilobits per second to tens of megabits per second, and span distances from tens of meters to one kilometer. Wi-Fi HaLow satisfies the scalability, robustness and security requirements required to deal with the most challenging IoT environments.

Although traditional Wi-Fi is the most widely used wireless communication protocol today, the rapid development of the Internet of Things forces people to rethink Wi-Fi, revealing technological gaps, and the need for Wi-Fi in an all-encompassing interconnected world What role to play. Many applications of the Internet of Things and the M2M protocol (machine-to-machine), with higher requirements for remote connections and low power consumption, are leading the popularity of Wi-Fi HaLow this year and the next few years.

Figure 1: Wi-Fi spans multiple frequency bands to meet various connection challenges

(Source: Wi-Fi HaLow: Expanding Wi-Fi for IoT applications, Wi-Fi Alliance white paper)

Traditional Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi HaLow

In the near future, traditional Wi-Fi will allow users to use wide channels in the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and even 6GHz frequency bands to quickly play movies and download files. The effective distance of these connections is very short, and the speed of consuming the battery is very fast, the device needs to be charged frequently or use the power connection. For example, Wi-Fi 6 is still ideal for bandwidth-intensive applications such as 4K video streaming and augmented reality.

Wi-Fi HaLow is built on the basis of strong security and spectrum-efficient OFDM. At the same time, it uses a narrow radio channel below 1GHz, which can better penetrate the material and allow the connection to reach 10 times the distance of traditional Wi-Fi, 100 Times the area and 1,000 times the capacity. Wi-Fi-HaLow is the perfect choice for IoT devices, because it allows a powerful connection of more than 8,000 devices on a single access point, and can use the newly added sleep mode to save power. Wi-Fi-HaLow realizes a new product category that can run on batteries for many years and still provides data throughput of tens of Mbps.

Traditional Wi-Fi’s network congestion, distance limitation, high power consumption, and the limited number of devices that can be connected to a single wireless access point are no longer feasible in the interconnected world of smart devices. These limitations hinder the emergence of new IoT-centric business models across industries that require greater capacity, wider range, and better battery life, while also minimizing deployment costs and time. All of these are very desirable features of Wi-Fi HaLow.

Table 1: Comparison of Wi-Fi 4/5/6 and Wi-Fi HaLow

IoT solutions based on IEEE 802.11ah Wi-Fi standard

Wi-Fi HaLow enhances the wireless local area network (LAN) to support today’s most challenging IoT system requirements.In ultra-low power consumption, ultra-low throughput and low energy efficiency LoRa and Sigfox low-power wide area network (LPWAN), lower throughput, shorter distance personal area network (PAN) (such as Bluetooth/BT5) and more power consumption Between LTE Cat-M/Narrowband IoT, Wi-Fi HaLow has a place

Although previous technological gaps have led to sub-optimal proprietary solutions to meet market needs, the new reality is that these gaps have now been corrected under the protection of the IEEE 802.11 standard: system integrators can take advantage of traditional Wi-Fi The same hardware and software assets developed by Fi Radio enjoy multi-vendor products and benefit from the Wi-Fi Alliance's interoperability testing and certification program. Users no longer need to compromise on range, throughput, power consumption, network capacity, complex mesh network settings, or monthly data charges. As part of the IEEE 802.11 enterprise-level security standard, security is in the first place: Wi-Fi-HaLow uses the latest WPA3 security standard, encrypted messages and unique chip ID technology to achieve a secure boot. The high data rate enables secure wireless firmware upgrades, and supports UDP and TCP/IP protocols. Native IP support means no bridge or gateway is required.

Wi-Fi HaLow use cases

In the initial stage of deployment, Wi-Fi HaLow is expected to be used for indoor and outdoor applications that are not reachable by standard Wi-Fi, such as battery-powered surveillance systems, wireless cameras, and smart home doorbells. Another typical use case is a large site. A HaLow access point can connect thousands of devices, covering 1,000 times the capacity of traditional Wi-Fi, bypassing complex, limited bandwidth and unreliable mesh networks, thus simplifying installation And reduce the total cost. Examples of this can be found in large buildings, warehouses, offices, campuses, shopping malls, and sports venues through access control systems (temperature monitors, mask monitors, room occupancy restrictions, and pedestrian-based object cleaning/disinfection functions-all These are all added together) the advanced connection, it is convenient to configure the camera and sensor to enhance the safety and health of the occupants. Many other fields such as industrial automation, process control sensors, building automation, logistics and asset management, agriculture and environmental sensors, mining, clean energy farms, Electronic signs and retail stores, all require this technology, so that all equipment is increasingly automated Stay connected in your world. In fact, Wi-Fi HaLow stands out because of its diversity of functions.

Products with Wi-Fi HaLow will provide new options for unlicensed frequency bands that support both IP networks and the well-known OFDM modulation mode in the PC ecosystem. In addition, more and more people support the prediction that, in the long run, Wi-Fi HaLow will expand the connection range of mobile devices and personal computers as part of the emergence of the fourth frequency band and support for emerging use cases.

Wi-Fi HaLow is ready to go

HaLow’s innovation is receiving attention. For example, Morse Micro is investing heavily to transform into the HaLow market with its smallest system-on-chip and module solutions. The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced a HaLow certification program, which will be launched in 2021. Many large companies are interested in using Wi-Fi-HaLow silicon chips in new products. Wi-Fi-HaLow is gaining momentum. All features stand out, and alternatives are beginning to lose their brilliance, especially in the field of Internet of Things. The market application of Wi-Fi HaLow will definitely reshape Wi-Fi itself. Therefore, the Wi-Fi that people see will never be the same as before.

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