WBA: New WiFi iteration will be “revolutionary”

The Wireless Broadband Alliance has published a white paper highlighting the ways in which it believes the next generation of WiFi –802.11ax – will “revolutionise the industry.”

The paper, which is called ‘Enhanced Wi-Fi – 802.11ax decoded’ illustrates benefits in relation to WiFi itself, as well as the early delivery of 5G use cases. These include multi-user MIMO uplink and downlink to increase channel capacity when servicing multiple, simultaneous devices (for instance, in large public venues), and dual band frequencies supporting 2.4 GHz and 5GHz to expand spectrum usage possibilities.

The latter – according to the organisation - includes the extension of support to the 6GHz band, “enabling new swathes of spectrum to be leveraged to deliver improved performance whilst maintaining support to all previous WiFi generations, creating access to wide market.”

Tiago Rodrigues, general manager at the Wireless Broadband Alliance, said: “Investment in 802.11ax offers operators and enterprises a compelling proposition to dramatically accelerate the delivery of 5G use cases, at a much lower cost. However, it shouldn’t be viewed as ‘just the next evolution in Wi-Fi technology’ that can complement cellular.