What You Need To Know about WIFI 6

What You Need To Know about WIFI 6
WIFI 6

What is WIFI

Wi-Fi is a wireless networking technology that allows devices to connect to a local area network (LAN) or the internet using radio waves. It is based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, which defines various physical layer and media access control protocols for wireless LANs.

Wi-Fi is commonly used to connect devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and smart home devices to the internet or to other devices in a local network. It is widely used in homes, offices, schools, and public places like coffee shops and airports.

To use Wi-Fi, devices must have a wireless adapter, which is a hardware component that allows the device to communicate using radio waves. The adapter must be compatible with the 802.11 standard and must be able to connect to a wireless access point (AP), which is a device that connects wireless devices to a wired network or the internet.

Wi-Fi has become an essential part of modern life, as it enables people to connect to the internet and other devices without the need for physical cables. It has also made it possible for devices to communicate with each other and with the internet in a variety of settings, from homes and offices to public spaces.

Development of WIFI Technology
Development of WIFI Technology

Why need WIFI 6

Nowadays, fully wireless office enables enterprises with higher communication and collaboration efficiency. Wi-Fi 6 networks bring ultra-high-speed performance of 4K conferencing and cloud-device collaboration in the case of high access concurrency.

In the future, fully wireless production will improve the operational efficiency in scenarios such as warehousing and manufacturing production lines. Wi-Fi 6 networks enable stable experience for a broad range of applications, such as automated navigation vehicles (AGVs), industrial visual quality inspection, and wireless vehicle software loading.


Wi-Fi 6

WIFI 6 Logo
WIFI 6 Logo

Wi-Fi 6, also known asx, is the latest generation of the Wi-Fi standard that provides faster and more efficient wireless networking for devices. It was developed to meet the increasing demand for higher speeds and better performance in crowded and dense networks, such as those found in homes, offices, schools, and public places.

Some of the main benefits of Wi-Fi 6 include:

01. Large bandwidth

02.  High concurrency

03. Low latency

04. Low power consumption

Benefits of WIFI 6
Benefits of WIFI 6

Large bandwidth

One of the main benefits of Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is its large bandwidth, which allows for faster and more efficient wireless networking.

Wi-Fi 6 uses a wider range of radio frequencies than its predecessor, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), and makes use of multiple channels simultaneously to transmit and receive data. This allows it to achieve faster speeds and better performance by reducing congestion and interference on the network.

Wi-Fi 6 uses orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) technology, which allows multiple devices to share a channel simultaneously, rather than waiting for their turn to use the channel one at a time. This increases the capacity of the network, allowing more devices to connect and communicate at the same time.

Additionally, Wi-Fi 6 also makes use of the 5GHz and 6GHz bands, which are less congested than the 2.4GHz band used by Wi-Fi 5 and earlier. This also improves the performance of the network, as there is less interference from other devices using the same frequency.

The large bandwidth of Wi-Fi 6 allows for faster speeds and better performance, making it well-suited for high-bandwidth applications such as streaming video and online gaming, as well as for large numbers of connected devices in a single network.

High concurrency

Another benefit of Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is its high concurrency, which allows for more efficient communication between devices.

Wi-Fi 6 makes use of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology, which allows multiple devices to share a channel simultaneously, rather than waiting for their turn to use the channel one at a time. This increases the capacity of the network, allowing more devices to connect and communicate at the same time.

The high concurrency of Wi-Fi 6 makes it well-suited for environments with a large number of connected devices, such as homes, offices, schools, and public places, and for Internet of Things (IoT) devices that have low-power requirements.

By allowing for more efficient communication between devices and more devices to stay connected to the network at the same time, Wi-Fi 6 improves the performance of the network and reduces the impact of device density on the network, making the network more stable and efficient.

Low latency

Low latency is one of the key features of Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) technology. Latency refers to the amount of time it takes for a device to send and receive data on a network. Lower latency means that the time delay between when a device sends a signal and when it receives a response is shorter, resulting in a more responsive and faster network.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA): This technology allows multiple devices to share a channel simultaneously, reducing the time each device has to wait to use the channel and decreasing the delay between sending and receiving data.

Better scheduling and scheduling optimization: Wi-Fi 6's scheduler can better schedule of devices, allow more accurate and efficient access to the channel, reduce contention and collisions, which decreases the amount of retransmission required, and the amount of time a device has to wait to transmit data.

Low power consumption

Another benefit of Wi-Fi 6 is its improved power efficiency. Wi-Fi 6 devices use less power than their predecessors, which means they can last longer on a single battery charge. This is particularly beneficial for portable devices such as laptops and smartphones, as well as for IoT devices, which often have limited power resources.

Other benefits of Wi-Fi 6 include

Higher speeds

Fi 6 is capable of achieving higher speeds than its predecessor, Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), by using more efficient data encoding and modulation techniques. This means that devices can transmit and receive data faster and more reliably, resulting in faster download and upload speeds.

Better performance in crowded networks: Wi-Fi 6 uses advanced techniques such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and Target Wake Time (TWT) to improve the performance of devices in crowded networks. These techniques allow devices to share the available spectrum more efficiently and reduce interference, resulting in better performance and longer battery life for devices.

Improved security:

Wi-Fi 6 includes security enhancements such as encryption using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and support for the Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) security protocol. These enhancements provide better protection against cyber threats and ensure that data transmitted over Wi-Fi networks is secure.

Better support for Internet of Things (IoT) devices: Wi-Fi 6 is designed to support a large number of devices, including those with low-power requirements, such as IoT devices. It includes features such as TWT, which allows devices to sleep and wake up at specific times, reducing their power consumption and extending their battery life.

By studying the table below you can better understand the about development of WiFi

Wi-Fi Generation  802.11 Standard  Released In  Working Band  Theoretical Rate
 Wi-Fi   802.11  1997  2.4 GHz  2 Mbps
 Wi-Fi 2  802.11b  1999  2.4 GHz  11 Mbps
 Wi-Fi 3  802.11a  1999  5 GHz  54 Mbps
 Wi-Fi 3  802.11g  2003  2.4 GHz  54 Mbps
 Wi-Fi 4  802.11n  2009  2.4 GHz or 5 GHz  600 Mbps
 Wi-Fi 5  802.11 ac Wave 1  2013  5 GHz  3.47 Gbps
 Wi-Fi 5  802.11 ac Wave 2  2015  5 GHz  6.9 Gbps
 Wi-Fi 6   802.11 ax  2018/19  2.4 GHz or 5 GHz  9.6 Gbps

Wi-Fi 6 Technology

Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)


Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) is used to distinguish users by frequency. Compared with the traditional FDMA, OFDMA significantly improves the spectrum utilization. OFDMA enables simultaneous data transmission of multiple users, which increases air interface efficiency, greatly reduces the application latency, and lowers the conflict backoff probability.

Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)
Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)

Four Device ( in the figure) occupy channel resources separately in different timeslots. In each timeslot, one user occupies all subcarriers for sending data packets.

Data of the four users is carried on each RU. Therefore, 802.11ax allows multiple users to transmit data at the same time point when the total time frequency resources remain unchanged.

OFDMA divides a radio channel into a plurality of sub-channels (subcarriers) in a frequency domain, and allocates resources in each radio channel into multiple RUs.


You can get idea about it from the image below.

Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)
Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)
Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)
Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)

Target Wake Time (TWT)

Target Wake Time (TWT): TWT allows devices to sleep and wake up at specific times, reducing their power consumption and extending their battery life. TWT also reduces the time a device has to wait to transmit data, improving the responsiveness of the network.