Project to test Wi-Fi HaLow use cases

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), an organisation that promotes cooperation between service providers and technology companies on commercial and technical issues associated with the Wi-Fi standard, has announced a new phase of the “Wi-Fi HaLow for IoT” programme that will present real-world use cases, including industrial IoT (IIoT), smart cities, building automation and agricultural technologies.

Over the coming months, the project team will test use cases and applications to demonstrate the benefits and performance of HaLow Wi-Fi in practice, including metrics such as coverage area, data transfer rate and signal reliability. A detailed analysis of the tests will serve as a deployment guide, helping the industry in general to successfully implement IoT solutions.

The main use cases that will be covered include:

• Smart cities – Focus on monitoring infrastructures, public services and traffic management, highlighting the benefits of wider coverage, high data transfer, higher device density and low maintenance costs.
• Smart building automation – Testing smart building applications such as physical security, surveillance, access control, security alarms and water sensors.
• Industrial IoT – Testing industrial applications such as asset tracking, infrastructure monitoring, remote control of equipment, security automation.
• Agricultural technologies – Testing applications in intelligent agriculture or precision agriculture systems, such as environmental, soil and vegetation health monitoring and data collection for genetic improvement.
• Smart retail – Using HaLow Wi-Fi to improve consumer satisfaction and boost productivity for retailers and partners, covering the use of scanners, readers, point-of-sale equipment, asset tracking, security monitoring and warehouse robots.
• Smart homes – Evaluation of HaLow Wi-Fi compared to traditional Wi-Fi in security cameras, air conditioners, home appliances, solar energy systems, power generators and electric vehicle chargers.

A new “Wi-Fi HaLow for IoT” white paper also provides an overview of the features, expected use cases and markets for Wi-Fi HaLow.

The Wi-Fi HaLow (802.11ah) specification was developed especially for the IoT market and operates in the sub-1 GHz spectrum and offers long-range connectivity and low power consumption. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, these characteristics make it possible to reach devices up to 1 kilometre away from the access point, which is particularly useful, for example, in applications in smart cities and rural environments, among other scenarios.

According to Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of WBA, each scenario will highlight how Wi-Fi HaLow solves connectivity problems that could previously require proprietary radio frequency technologies or incur higher ownership costs.

3 kilometres away

Vendor Morse Micro has carried out a field demonstration of HaLow Wi-Fi technology, making a long-range video call in San Francisco to show the ability of sub-GHz signals to reach long distances in challenging real-world conditions, reaching a record distance of 3 kilometres, according to the company. Morse Micro’s HaLow SoC with wireless capabilities for IoT applications was used in the test.

“Our successful demonstration of Wi-Fi HaLow video calling over 3 kilometres in a tough, real-world urban environment is an important milestone for Wi-Fi connectivity, showing incredible range. Wi-Fi HaLow is a transformative technology that pushes the boundaries of current wireless connectivity. With its unrivalled coverage, exceptional low power consumption and superior performance, it stands out in the IoT landscape. This is the wireless connectivity of the future and it’s already available here today,” says Michael De Nil, co-founder and CEO of Morse Micro.

Evolution of Wi-Fi HaLow

According to Transforma Insights, the total number of connected IoT devices worldwide is expected to reach almost 30 billion by 2030. In 2020, it is estimated that this figure was almost 10 billion, with more than 7 billion using short-range wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee.

Specifically, Wi-Fi technology based on the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard was created more than 25 years ago and has developed over this period to offer connectivity with higher data rates and more security in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequency bands.

With Wi-Fi HaLow technology, it surpasses previous limits on range and power consumption. Operating in the sub-1 GHz spectrum and using narrower bandwidth channels, Wi-Fi HaLow extends the limits to 100 times the area and up to 1,000 times the volume of a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network. In addition, the number of stations addressable by a single access point has grown to 8,191.