Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the worldwide industry body dedicated to improving Wi-Fi services and standards, has concluded five trial deployments of Wi-Fi 6 across diverse markets. The deployments show that 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.
According to the WBA, Wi-Fi 6 is also now proven to 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 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 around the world. This lays the foundation for deployment of Wi-Fi 6 in enterprises, homes, schools, transportation hubs, travellers and the Internet of Things (IoT).
WBA members including network providers, infrastructure vendors and device vendors set up the trial environments and executed the test cases in end-to-end real-life networks. 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%, 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% 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. Following the SNA deployment, 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 incredibly fast speeds and low latency to passengers.
“These successful deployments prove the strength of Wi-Fi 6 technology to achieve better throughput, lower latency, enhanced reliability, improved network efficiency and better user experience,” says Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of WBA. “Ultimately, they 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.”
In a recent WBA survey, it was found that more than 65% will have deployed Wi-Fi 6 by the end of 2021. For many WBA Members, Wi-Fi 6 is now moving rapidly to commercial deployment.
Dr Derek Peterson, chief technology officer Boingo Wireless comments, “Wi-Fi 6 is a strategic 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 broad range of connected use cases in dense environments with greater capacity, speed and scalability. We are pleased to be among the first to put Wi-Fi 6 in action and move the technology from lab to real-world launch.”
“Wi-Fi 6 is one of the fastest-adopted technologies across numerous device categories and has amassed more than 500 million chipsets shipped. Its success across a wide range of environments is why it has become an essential feature in new smartphones and access points,” according to Gabriel Desjardins, director of product marketing, Broadcom Inc.
“At Intel, we are committed to driving adoption of Wi-Fi 6 across industries, localities and public spaces. 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,” says Eric McLaughlin, VP, client computing group, and general manager wireless solutions group at Intel Corporation.
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