Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are prominent in Wi-Fi's design roadmap in 2022, followed by the automated frequency coordination (AFC) system.
www.eetasia.com, Jan. 24, 2022 –
According to Wi-Fi Alliance, the number of Wi-Fi devices in use will reach nearly 18 billion in 2022. The network of companies that manages the Wi-Fi design ecosystem also forecasts 4.4 billion devices to be shipped this year.
For the year 2022, Wi-Fi Alliance has listed four major trends outlined below.
1. Wi-Fi an IoT building block
Wi-Fi, now widely acknowledged as a foundation technology for the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, is reinforcing its position with Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, which employ orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) to improve performance in dense environments. Then, there is target wake time (TWT) technology, which reduces battery consumption and makes Wi-Fi a suitable choice for sensor-based devices.
Add to this the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow, which operates in the sub-1 GHz band and enables long-range and low-power connectivity while providing a robust connection in challenging Wi-Fi environments. It facilitates a variety of power-efficient IoT use cases in retail, agriculture, healthcare, smart home, and smart city environments.
2. Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E in homes and enterprises
Wi-Fi 6 reached 50% market adoption more quickly than previous Wi-Fi generations, according to Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are now being introduced for PCs, notebooks and mesh systems while home networking, automotive and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) applications are next in line.
Wi-Fi Alliance also projects that more Wi-Fi 6E access points will be deployed in home networks to meet the needs of bandwidth-intensive and latency-sensitive applications. Wi-Fi 6E home gateways and access points are likely to become part of the subscription plans offered by smart home and smart building service providers.