What is WiFi 6？

I. Foreword

Although 5G is currently the hottest communication technology, from the national level to major commercial companies to every ordinary consumer, almost everyone is concerned about how the new generation of communication technology can improve the performance of mobile phones, and how can help people make Life is better. 

However, the innovation of network technology is not limited to 5G, there are more technologies to improve the experience together, such as Wi-Fi 6, which has recently been attracting more attention. This latest wireless local area network standard is about to play a role in the future of the further explosion of equipment scale, and has become the preferred technology for building wireless networks in homes, offices, and public places.

II. What is Wi-Fi 6

The Wi-Fi 6 standard was officially released in mid-2019. It is the latest version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN standard and provides compatibility with previous network standards. It also includes 802.11n / ac, which is now mainstream. The name defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is IEEE 802.11ax, and the Wi-Fi Alliance, which is responsible for commercial certification, is called Wi-Fi 6 for publicity. The previous 802.11n / ac was also renamed Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 in this rebranding movement. This is of great benefit to equipment manufacturers, no longer need to spend effort to educate users, or come up with fancy marketing vocabulary, simple numbers can explain the pros and cons of the product.

The birth of the Wi-Fi 6 name has brought this technology closer to consumers. It has become an easy-to-understand technical term like 5G. Wi-Fi has also begun to transform into a consumer-oriented commercial brand, which is no longer a pure technical standard, and has a broader prospect on the road of network technology evolution. Wi-Fi 6 introduces a number of new technologies, which have greatly improved the communication quality, transmission efficiency, energy consumption performance, and multi-device accommodation of wireless networks. The theoretical maximum rate through 160MHz channels can reach 9.6Gbps. The introduction of OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) makes the data content in transmission no longer rigidly occupy the entire channel, divides the data into more detailed resource blocks for management and transmission, and realizes more efficient use of the network. It is like a large truck, from one car to one car regardless of size to a reasonable distribution. Each truck is filled to maximize the single transportation.

TWT (Timed Wakeup) makes Wi-Fi 6 more power-saving, which is helpful for mobile devices such as mobile phones and Internet of Things devices. The connection between the device and the wireless router will sleep and wake up regularly, which is equivalent to the combination of work and rest instead of working all day, which improves the power consumption performance and transmission efficiency on both sides. The modulation method enhanced to 1024-QAM makes the data transmission and reception process more compact, and more information can be transmitted under the same signal. 

Compared with Wi-Fi 5's 256-QAM, the speed can be increased by 25%. Wi-Fi 6 also uses two frequency bands, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and multi-band transmission and reception reduces the embarrassment of being idle while the network is congested. BSS Coloring allows the signal source to have its own "color". Up to 63 "colors" give mobile phones and other terminals an efficient way to find routers. Similar to the different theme colors of different take-out services, after dyeing, the router and terminal equipment can find each other more accurately and efficiently, and the communication power and time are reduced. Wi-Fi 6 uses MU-MIMO technology in both uplink and downlink, allowing routers to use multiple antennas to communicate with multiple terminal devices at the same time, so as to achieve "multi-purpose". Compared with the design that only single antenna and single device can communicate at the same time in the past, MU-MIMO is more capable of increasing network speed and connecting more devices.

III. Why is the era of Wi-Fi 6 coming

A new standard becomes the product standard and is popularized in the market. It often needs to go through the process of the standard release, related component follow-up, product listing, and finally cost reduction and price acceptance by consumers. It is less than half a year before the official release, and the Wi-Fi 6 has been released in the early version for almost two years. How can it usher in its own time so quickly? 

Although the router is a product that has not changed its power for a long period of time, most consumers have not realized the value of high-priced products, and the routers as the first Wi-Fi 6 products are high-end products at a price of 3,000 yuan. , And did not launch low-end and mid-range products anytime soon, and the popularity seems far away. The important reason for the acceleration of Wi-Fi 6 is actually the enthusiasm of mobile phone manufacturers in introducing new standards, and high-end products have played a pioneering role in the entire market. The two flagship mobile phone products in 2019, the Galaxy S10 series and the iPhone 11 series, took the lead in applying this technology so that a larger consumer base itself has noticed Wi-Fi 6. At the same time that market attention has been achieved, the Wi-Fi 6 standard has also been officially released, allowing related products of upstream manufacturers to enter the market one after another. The introduction of router chips, PC network cards, mobile phone chips, and other products has enabled the Wi-Fi 6-based ecosystem to be built, covering high-end, low-end positioning, and promoting the explosion of terminal products. Personal terminal products mainly based on mobile phones and notebooks have shown consumers' demand for network improvement, forcing router manufacturers to follow up related products. 

Consumers are waiting for wireless network upgrade The changes in the network environment are also the factors driving Wi-Fi 6's attention. The speed and quality of the network brought by the 5G network are unforgettable for those who have experienced it. However, the monthly traffic limit and 5G coverage prevent people from getting the same network performance at home or other indoor environments. At the same time, Gigabit networks have begun to spread throughout the country, and they have entered more homes in the context of growth and fee reductions. In Shanghai, they only need a 199-month fee to use Gigabit networks. There are not many routers that can release Gigabit network capabilities, and this is precisely the scenario where Wi-Fi 6 matches the theoretical performance.

IV. Wi-Fi 6 coming in the first year

It can be said that2024 will be the 6th year of Wi-Fi. Although the first batch of products did not enter the market this year, it has really spread to the masses of consumers and related products of different consumption levels are expected to become the mainstream of sales in the market this year. We will continue to pay attention to what kind of performance Wi-Fi 6 will bring and what new direction it can lead.