Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) today announced the result of five trial deployments of Wi-Fi 6 across diverse markets.
The deployments of Wi-Fi 6 with wider channels up to 160 MHz, and capacity up to 9.6 Gbps (compared to 3.5 Gbps in Wi-Fi 5), can enable nearly three times faster gigabit data rates.
Wi-Fi 6 will deliver better reliability, lower latency, more deterministic behaviour, and better network efficiency, especially in environments with many connected devices.
Wi-Fi 6 will help with congestion problems, increase densification of the network – helping to connect more devices, and enable new use cases.
The trials of Wi-Fi 6 in live networks covering a range of different verticals and deployment scenarios demonstrates the key capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 in live networks, establishing its readiness for carrier Wi-Fi deployments. This lays the foundation for deployment of Wi-Fi 6 in enterprises, homes, schools, transportation hubs, travellers and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The trials addressed the following deployment in key vertical markets:
Industrial manufacturing
Mettis Aerospace worked with Broadcom, Cisco, iBwave and Intel to deploy Wi-Fi 6 in a dense industrial environment with heavy metal, high temperatures and moving machinery, where previous generations of Wi-Fi did not perform well. The Wi-Fi 6 trial demonstrated much improved reliability, coverage, throughput and lower latency for supporting mission critical applications.
High-density malls
SK Telecom deployed Wi-Fi 6 to improve connectivity for consumers, increase quality of experience (QoE) for densely populated areas and provide high throughput for immersive media services. Wi-Fi 6 reduced latency by 80 percent, reduced throughput fluctuation, and improved service reliability to customers anywhere, anytime, throughout the mall.
Single-family and multi-dwelling units
CableLabs, Intel and Kyrio deployed Wi-Fi 6 in a mixed-use residential area to increase the user experience in a Wi-Fi loaded network. In this trial, Wi-Fi 6 delivered a significant increase in throughput, enabling the delivery of multiple 4K video with higher quality.
Education in rural areas
C-DOT and Intel deployed Wi-Fi 6 in a rural school trial in India to enhance new learning technologies, and improve signal coverage and streaming performance. Wi-Fi 6 improved throughput by more than 50 percent throughout the network.
Transportation hubs like John Wayne Airport
In the U.S, Boingo, Cisco and Samsung worked together to launch Wi-Fi 6 at John Wayne Airport (SNA) to power a next generation connectivity experience and support airport operations.
Boingo has moved its Wi-Fi 6 technologies from trials to commercial operations and most recently, Boingo has announced an airport-wide commercial deployment of Wi-Fi 6 at Sao Paulo / Guarulhos International Airport (GRU), delivering fast speeds and low latency to passengers.
“The trails prove the readiness of Wi-Fi 6 for carrier deployments, and the WBA continues to develop and expand new trials that support Wi-Fi 6 and 6E expansion into new areas in different geographies around the world,” Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of WBA, said.
A recent WBA survey said more than 65 percent will have deployed Wi-Fi 6 by the end of 2021.
“Wi-Fi 6 is a pillar of Boingo’s technology roadmap to elevate wireless performance and equip airports and other large venues with connectivity solutions for the 5G world. Wi-Fi 6 meets key 5G requirements to power a range of connected use cases in dense environments,” said Derek Peterson, chief technology officer of Boingo Wireless.
“Wi-Fi 6 is one of the fastest-adopted technologies across numerous device categories and has amassed more than 500 million chipsets shipped,” Gabriel Desjardins, director of Product Marketing – Broadcom, said.
Mettis, using Cisco wireless technology, used Wi-Fi for game-changing applications. This is a testament to the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 for industrial use cases,Matthew MacPherson, chief technology officer – Wireless at Cisco, said.
“The WBA trials demonstrate how Wi-Fi 6 addresses connectivity challenges in real-world deployments. We look forward to ongoing collaboration with the industry to enable the best connectivity solutions for today and in the future,” said Eric McLaughlin, vice president, Client Computing Group, General Manager Wireless Solutions Group – Intel.
