The Wi-Fi Alliance has introduced two new versions of Wi-Fi with significant improvements in performance, efficiency, latency and other key areas: Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. Since Wi-Fi is a pervasive technology in IoT designs, there are always concerns about changes to this core connectivity technology.

In this article, common misconceptions about the capabilities and impact Wi-Fi 6 and 6E will have on IoT designs will be dispelled.  

By dispelling misconceptions, it becomes clear that these new versions of Wi-Fi provide a stronger foundation for consumer smart devices, IoT networks, and a wide range of enterprise and industrial use cases.

1. This is a small update to Wi-Fi - it really only makes sense for niche applications.

It's no exaggeration to compare Wi-Fi's upgrade to the leap from 4G to 5G in the cellular world. Wi-Fi 6 and 6E will deliver significant advancements in performance and functionality, allowing them to have a huge impact on the full range of IoT devices.

2. It looks faster - this is the biggest upgrade.

"Faster" just scratches the surface of why Wi-Fi 6 and 6E are better options. Higher device densities and increased spectrum provide engineers with greater flexibility, reliability and performance, making it the most efficient version of Wi-Fi ever built. And there are gains in energy efficiency, latency, and capabilities to support existing and new use cases.

3. The speed talk is like hype - it would be foolish to compare this to the performance jump in cellular networks from 4G to 5G.

Claims about speed in marketing materials are always dubious, but the increase in speed is justified. And the test results of well-known people in the industry have increased the download speed by 10,000%. Wi-Fi-6 does this in part because of its advertised low power consumption, so download times and power don't waste energy.

There is a long list of data-intensive IoT use cases that benefit greatly from this increase in speed. Factory and building automation is key. The same goes for automation systems in industrial environments and use cases where high-quality video and audio are important requirements.

4. MIMO technology may be the main driver of this speed increase.

The addition of MU-MIMO is a major factor, but just believing in the technology underestimates the importance of this upgrade in Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. In addition to doubling the number of spatial streams using MU-MIMO, using beamforming also significantly improves the performance of these streams. Adding the ability to implement bidirectional MU-MIMO Wi-Fi 6 is the first version of Wi-Fi that allows users to access the full benefits of beamforming in noisy environments. Wider channels, encompassing the 6-GHz spectral space, also contribute significantly to the speed increase.

In addition, Wi-Fi 6/6E is a significant extension of the quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) architecture. It's the equivalent of putting a more powerful engine in Wi-Fi, making a huge increase in speed possible.

5. Wi-Fi 6 is faster, but latency is still an issue.

Wi-Fi is not yet suitable for ultra-low latency applications such as medical equipment. In these applications, latency is very important. But that doesn't mean Wi-Fi 6/6E's latency improvements aren't significant.

Latency is about 3 times lower than previous versions of Wi-Fi, and probably not yet for real-time applications, but it's pretty close. Equally valuable is how the new version of Wi-Fi manages packets more efficiently, eliminating white space and allowing network utilization to approach 100 percent. These two factors make it a significant upgrade for latency-sensitive applications such as robotics, lighting control, machine control, and more.

6. IoT devices don't have a lot of data to transmit and don't need real-time data transmission, so latency improvements don't matter.

The lower latency of Wi-Fi has an unexpected benefit for battery-powered IoT devices: longer battery life. The faster speeds and lower latency of Wi-Fi 6/6E reduce the time and energy required for devices to send and receive data. Even when sending and receiving small batches of data, these small energy savings add up over time.

Hopefully, further testing will show that these performance upgrades to Wi-Fi will add months or even years to the lifespan of some of the most common low-energy IoT devices.

7. Higher device densities are ideal for consumer environments.

Every Wi-Fi network experiences congestion, which often creates performance issues. These problems become frustrating in high-density RF environments such as healthcare facilities, airports, and schools.

By using MU-MIMO, beamforming, OFDMA, more efficient packet management, BSS coloring, and other features, the network can support more devices in a given physical space, while also reducing the problems that have plagued high-density environments in the past. RF noise and interference. This also saves the cost of infrastructure deployment as it requires fewer access points to support a large number of clients.

8. The most important thing about the new version of Wi-Fi is speed. Hopefully there will be more focus on battery life in the next release.

No need to wait for a more battery-friendly version of Wi-Fi. This version achieves that for the most part.

This is the most efficient version of Wi-Fi. But Wi-Fi 6 and 6E also feature a redesigned architecture that utilizes Target Wake Time (TWT) technology to manage sleep and wake cycles in a more energy-efficient manner. Additionally, TWT allows application power and performance to be adjusted at the individual device or group level across the entire network, rather than the traditional single entry point of access or network level.

It does not matter if existing technologies such as PS-Poll (DTIM) and WMM (APSD) are used. Both are still available. But TWT is an important step forward because it provides the client with a longer sleep time. These clients can conserve battery power by staying inactive for long periods of time while remaining connected to the network.

9. The marketing of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E talks a lot about the 6-GHz spectrum, but that's only relevant to senior wireless engineers.

Discussions about radio frequencies and spectrum bands may soon fade away, but the 6-GHz spectrum is big news for designers of every IoT device.

Wi-Fi 6 and 6E allow engineering teams to give their networks more wireless headroom, allowing them to optimize device performance. Want to have a low-latency application that doesn't compete for bandwidth with other devices? Allocate it a segment of spectrum dedicated to that use case and keep other devices in other available Wi-Fi spectrum segments.

An advanced degree in radio frequency engineering is not required for this process. The new version of Wi-Fi makes it simple to place the network on the frequency band that best suits the application and preference.

10. These features may sound great, but the antenna will undoubtedly lag and hinder actual deployment.

Generally speaking, the antenna is in the lead. Antenna manufacturers have foreseen the use of technologies such as MU-MIMO and beamforming, which lay the groundwork for Wi-Fi to use the 6-GHz spectrum. The most common form factors for IoT devices are available in a variety of options, including a flexible planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA). The most important thing is that the availability of the antenna will not hinder the deployment plan.

11. This version sounds plug-and-play without much modification to the design.

Any engineer who has ever used Wi-Fi will feel comfortable using Wi-Fi 6/6E, but there are a few caveats. Compared with the previous version of Wi-Fi, the hardware interface and logical interface have changed a few times. On the bright side, though, it offers broader OS support for Linux, Android, and RTOS, and full support for the latest Bluetooth versions and features.

Using Wi-Fi 6/6E will mean changes in some details of the engineering project. But the dramatic improvements in speed, latency, performance, battery efficiency, and more make the adjustments needed to incorporate this new connectivity technology into an IoT strategy well worth it.