Wi-Fi 6\/6E is a significant evolution of the Wi-Fi standard that boosts throughput and reduces latency to make it better for high-capacity applications as well as for emerging applications such as AR\/VR, ultra-high definition video streaming, 5G offload and others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These changes and the new opportunities they open up were the focus of a recent webinar hosted by RCR Wireless\u2019 Catherine Sbeglia featuring LitePoint\u2019s Adam Smith and Kevin Robinson from the Wi-Fi Alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wi-Fi 6 shipments have taken off surpassing 50% market share in terms of shipments in three years \u2013 a feat that took Wi-Fi 5 four years to achieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wi-Fi 6 has a fundamentally different way of operating, using new technologies including orthogonal frequency division, multiple access (OFDMA) channel access method and 1024 QAM modulation to get this performance. With Wi-Fi 6E, the technology pushes into the 6GHz frequency band for the first time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of this sets the stage for understanding the new technologies that will impact the test strategies used to ensure the quality of Wi-Fi 6\/6E products. Here are a few key points brought up by Adam during the webinar about the technologies and capabilities involved with Wi-Fi 6 and beyond:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Wi-Fi 6E, systems need to support very wide spectrum \u2013 the 6 GHz band adds a total of 1.2GHz of additional spectrum over the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. The RF front end will not be able to do this with a single filter bank or amplifier. This results in more complex RF front ends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other big factor with the RF front end will be band separation as the possibility exists that in a tri-band router that is transmitting in the 5GHz band could desensitize the receiver in the 6 GHz band. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The switch to OFDMA allows multi-user operation, enabling multiple users to transmit\/receive simultaneously, making more efficient use of the channel. In Wi-Fi 6\/6E, OFDMA allows the router to divide a channel into subchannels that can each support a user. This will require devices to have low frequency errors so as to not override a neighboring subchannel. Tight timing is also important to enable simultaneous transmissions so that all the client station devices respond to the access point within their allotted times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if that isn\u2019t enough, Wi-Fi 7 is in the standards process and is offering all the efficiency of Wi-Fi 6\/6E with extremely high throughput including 4096 QAM, 16 user streams and 320 MHz channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n