A twenty-year old tale of the Wi-Fi (R)evolution

Ana Mata

9월 06, 2022

Wi-Fi技术必须不断发展，才能跟上设备大量增加所带来的接入需求.

When Wi-Fi, 一项新的无线技术于1999年推出，没有人能预见到它对社会的巨大影响. In the two decades since the first IEEE 802.11b standard was ratified, Wi-Fi已经成为大多数企业“事实上”的连接方式, and a must have for residential and consumer users.

Wi-Fi现在如此流行，以至于Wi-Fi联盟用非技术术语重新命名了这个标准，让每个人都能更容易地使用它. And so, the sixth generation of Wi-Fi, the IEEE 802.11ax, is simply named Wi-Fi 6.

Since the early days, users, 大规模地接受了Wi-Fi带来的移动性, requiring more and more applications for their mobile devices, 每次新的Wi-Fi标准的发布都将技术推向了极限. 例如，在2000年至2005年期间，每年销售的设备超过1亿台. 这意味着Wi-Fi必须不断发展，以支持越来越多的设备，并在任何可能的情况下提供更好的性能，包括:室内办公室和室外工业部门, in high-density environments, supporting IoT networks and real-time applications, for enterprises, as well as open public networks.

今天，在Wi-Fi问世20多年后，它仍在不断发展壮大. In the last few years, the rate of adoption has been exponential, 预计到2022年底，将有近180亿个Wi-Fi设备投入使用. This is more than twice the global population of the world!

Wi-Fi 6: Not without challenges

Wi-Fi的最新发展是Wi-Fi 6，以满足我们当前的需求, certified in 2019 and known as high-efficiency Wi-Fi. To add even more capacity to Wi-Fi networks, Wi-Fi 6很快在2021年获得了Wi-Fi 6E的认证.

与Wi-Fi 5相比，Wi-Fi 6引入了许多新的技术改进, such as 8x8 MU-MIMO, OFDMA, 1024-QAM, TWT and WPA3, to name a few. 这些特性使新的业务应用程序具有卓越的体验质量，并在高密度区域中表现更好. Wi-Fi 6 also supports IoT proliferation with extended battery life, better outdoor coverage and advanced security.

Wi-Fi的部署正在全球范围内的大型办公和住宅建筑中增加, public arenas, education campuses and mass transportation hubs. In parallel, 电子学习的虚拟现实和增强现实等新兴应用激增, 8K ultra-HD video applications in healthcare, as well as the advent of metaverse technologies.

所有这些都意味着Wi-Fi再次面临挑战，要在支持高密度环境的同时提供更高的带宽和更低的延迟.  Additionally, Wi-Fi is facing a spectrum shortage. The 2.4ghz频段早已被微波等普通电子设备饱和. In the 5 GHz band, there are portions where Wi-Fi usage is restricted, 而带宽密集型应用程序所需的宽信道的可用性是有限的, for example; the band has capacity to allocate only two super-wide 160 MHz and seven 80 MHz channels. 此外，5ghz的可用频谱与较慢的传统设备共享. In this highly congested spectrum scenario, 新的Wi-Fi 6认证设备无法真正发挥Wi-Fi 6的全部潜力.

Wi-Fi 6E unleashes Wi-Fi 6 potential

Enter Wi-Fi 6E. To describe it as succinctly as possible, Wi-Fi 6E将Wi-Fi 6的特性和功能扩展到6 GHz免授权频段.

这意味着Wi-Fi流量将有一个新的大而不拥挤的频段. 总的来说，Wi-Fi 6E在6 GHz频段提供了新的1200 MHz连续频谱. This basically triples the combined spectrum available in 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. 这种新频谱的增加有助于缓解与拥塞相关的问题，并促进Wi-Fi的增长，提高性能.

另一个重要的优势是，只有Wi-Fi 6E认证的设备才允许在6ghz频段使用，这意味着来自传统设备的开销和流量不再是一个问题, resulting in better connectivity and less interference. Additionally, access points have more, wider channels to accommodate more devices at higher throughput. Wi-Fi 6E可以在6 GHz频段使用多达14个80 MHz频道和7个超宽160 MHz频道来实现高带宽, low-latency applications, such as high-definition video streaming and virtual reality.

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, 更低的延迟，并提供更大的容量，以解决Wi-Fi设备和下一代用例的激增.

To address market demands, our Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess® Stellar WLAN solutions are evolving in step with today’s Wi-Fi standards. 除了OmniAccess Stellar 1200系列Wi-Fi 5认证接入点之外, 在过去的两年里，我们推出了全面和有竞争力的OmniAccess Stellar 1300 Wi-Fi 6接入点. 本产品系列包括企业室内接入点的基本配置, standard and demanding Wi-Fi requirements; three models of hardened access points for outdoor deployments, 还有一个专为酒店等火狐体育手机设计的室内接入点, education and healthcare.

我们最近还宣布了一个扩展与新的投资组合 OmniAccess Stellar 1400 family of Wi-Fi 6E certified access points. We will be introducing a high-end Wi-Fi 6E access point, the OmniAccess Stellar AP1451, in September, followed by the AP1431, a mid-range access point, by the end of this year.

请关注我们即将发布的博客，我们将在那里讨论何时是迁移到Wi-Fi 6E的最佳时机. Don’t miss it!