In a smart home or smart building, there could be anywhere between 50 to 100 connected devices. With more and more Wi-Fi-enabled devices being designed and manufactured, there has been widespread adoption of the Wi-Fi 6 standard driven by the need for enhanced capacity, improved performance and greater efficiency in today’s connected world.
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) delivers significant improvements in network capacity, performance and efficiency over the previous generations. This includes faster data rates, reduced latency and multiple device support in dense Wi-Fi environments. With its wide device compatibility and established market presence, Wi-Fi 6 remains relevant and continues to proliferate in the Industrial and Consumer markets, even as newer generations emerge.
The stand-out improvements in capacity, performance and efficiency are due to some key technical advancements that were introduced with the Wi-Fi 6 standard. These new technologies include:
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) splits the Wi-Fi channel into subcarriers that can be allocated to simultaneously transmit data packets of varying sizes. This is beneficial in high-density networking environments such as offices, apartment buildings or other crowded areas, supporting multiple Wi-Fi users with different requirements. OFDMA is especially effective in handling multiple, small data packets that are transmitted by Smart Home and IoT devices. The channel subdivision and simultaneous transmissions also enable reduced latency, making Wi-Fi 6 suitable for online gaming, home and industrial control, or other time-critical applications.
Multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) allows a single access point (AP) to communicate with and transmit data to multiple devices at the same time. It increases capacity for APs and peak throughput per device. Even though MU-MIMO was first introduced in the Wi-Fi 5 standard, its capabilities have been improved in the newer Wi-Fi 6 standard. MU-MIMO in Wi-Fi 5 only supported 4 devices for downlink transmissions while Wi-Fi 6 can concurrently support 8 devices for uplink and downlink transmissions, allowing multiple devices to transmit and receive data to and from an AP. Similar to OFDMA, MU-MIMO reduces latency and increases network efficiency by serving multiple users at the same time.
Beamforming directs wireless signals toward specific devices, focusing transmission by using an antenna array to “point” a signal to a designated target. This improves signal strength and creates a more reliable connection while minimizing interference since the signal is not widely broadcasted. Working alongside MU-MIMO, beamforming also allows multiple devices to receive targeted signals simultaneously.
A basic service set (BSS) is a group of devices that communicate with each other through an access point (AP). BSS coloring is used to differentiate and reduce interference between overlapping BSSs that operate on the same RF channel. This method assigns a unique value or color to each BSS and allows devices to easily identify whether a data packet received belongs to their own BSS or an overlapping BSS. This helps avoid interference while multiple BSSs share the same channel, increasing channel capacity.
Wi-Fi 6 delivers extended range (ER) with better signal strength and improved performance in devices far from an access point (AP). Dual carrier modulation (DCM) replicates the same information on different subcarriers to improve reliability. The duplicated signal is more resilient—if one subcarrier becomes affected by interference, the other can still be decoded. With ER and DCM, stable connectivity can be maintained between devices that are deployed over long distances or in environments with obstacles and potential for interference.
NXP’s latest Wi-Fi products provide a scalable portfolio of Wi-Fi 6 solutions for Industrial and IoT, including the RW61x Tri-Radio Wireless MCU, the high performance IW61x Tri-Radio SoC, and the IoT-optimized IW610 Tri-Radio SoC.
NXP offers a broad Wi-Fi 6 Tri-Radio portfolio. Start developing today with the FRDM-RW612 or the onboard IW612 module included in the FRDM-IMX93.
Haley Vu is a Wireless Connectivity Product Marketer specializing in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 802.15.4 solutions for Industrial and IoT applications. Drawing on her experience with the NXP Technical Sales Team, Haley brings support and enablement to the broad Mass Market. She holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UC Davis and is based in the Silicon Valley.