WLAN Technology Trend in 2016: 2nd wave of 802.11ac finally arrived

WLAN Technology Trend in 2016: 2nd wave of 802.11ac finally arrived

The Wi-Fi field has maintained a high level of innovation. In this article, let's take a look at the trend of WLAN Technology in 2016:

2nd wave 802.11ac is coming

The 2nd wave 802.11ac is generally defined as follows:

Supports more than three MIMO streams-two or three of which are common. The standard specifies up to eight

Channel bandwidth up to 160 MHz

Multi-user MIMO is supported, which allows the Access Point (AP) to send different transmissions to multiple clients at each transmission cycle.

Although not all of these features were implemented by the end of 2015, the expected improvements to Radio Architecture, firmware, antennas, and management software meant that 2nd waves would quickly become a new benchmark for the 2016 technology trend.

The analysis function becomes necessary

Analysis is usually a set of big data-related technologies. You need to use analysis technology when you don't know what you are looking. In the case of Wireless LAN, we can obtain data related to performance optimization, security, application usage, and so on, but using such a large amount of data requires the use of analysis tools. In 2016, the analysis function will become the core requirement. Looking forward to the future, obtaining value from massive amounts of information will allow the management system to automatically optimize wireless performance and promote the development of software defined network (SDN.

2.5/5/10 Gbps replaces 1 Gbps link Aggregation

Driven by the 802.11ac 2nd wave, 1 GbE also comes along. The core debate is whether 2 Gbps link aggregation will be replaced by the 2.5/5 Gbps product that will appear on the market, or whether the next major upgrade will be 10 Gbps-this will eventually be needed. In any case, the era of 1 Gbps ports and switches is coming to an end.

Management in cloud computing and more ......

Given the advantages of lower costs, higher reliability, access anytime, anywhere, and managing global operations through mobile phones while waiting for lunch, it is more meaningful to put Network Management in cloud computing. At the same time, we expect to see more network functions migrated to cloud computing, mainly thanks to SDN, network as a service, improved reliability and fault tolerance capabilities. You only need an AP, several Ethernet power supply switches, and routers locally.

802.11ad/wiggg arrival

In 2016, a considerable number of production deployments eventually collapsed people's misunderstanding of the 60 GHz 802.11ad (the so-called Wiig of the Wi-Fi Alliance. You will see multi-gigabit throughput as well as amazing rate vs range performance in the open office and closed room settings. As many people think, the 5 GHz band does not have a required range, so now 60 GHz is used, and the benefits will certainly last for a long time.

Wi-Fi leads Iot

The Internet of Things (IOT) may only be a simple term for machine and telemetry services based on IP machines, but it has broad market prospects. Analysts surprised by the 2016 technology trend assessment that Wi-Fi would be a wireless link choice for many (if not most) commercial and consumer applications. Products and Components with required specifications, prices, performance, battery life, and cost configurations have now appeared on the market, allowing enterprises to fully utilize their existing infrastructure.

Passpoint and Wi-Fi Alliance simplify our mobile life

The Wi-Fi network connection method by clicking the SSID and then entering the password is about to expire. The Passpoint of the Wi-Fi Alliance changes the Wi-Fi network to a cellular system without clicking. In addition, the pre-separation service discovery of Wi-Fi Aware (Wireless Sensing) will bring new convenience, and many people's views on Wi-Fi have changed from "connect and search" to "not connect, but can receive valuable information ".

Conflict with unauthorized LTE continues

One of the major trends in 2016 is that some mobile operators may deploy unauthorized versions of LTE in the spectrum used by Wi-Fi. This spectrum is certainly not the only field of Wi-Fi. However, the popularity of Wi-Fi, the critical tasks in many settings, and the ability of unauthorized LTE in the latest version to almost destroy Wi-Fi operation all mean that solutions must be found. Please pay close attention to this issue.

Ubiquitous Wi-Fi

Mobile operators have realized that Wi-Fi has become equally important for enterprise users and consumers. In the future, we will see Wi-Fi deployed in cars, airplanes, home appliances, at home, at work, in urban areas, on cruise ships, and anywhere else. In addition, we will also see new public access Wi-Fi services launched by Microsoft and Google. Again, Passpoint will pave the way.

Others

Finally, although the 2nd-wave 802.11ac has brought us a revolution rather than an evolution, innovations in Wireless LAN continue. innovations have been characteristic of Wireless LAN for the past two decades. New standards are being developed at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE), including 802.11ax, which breaks through the amazing 10 Gbps Throughput level in the 5 GHz band; and 802.11ay, this will achieve 20 GHz at 60 GHz. Of course, this performance level is not required by a single user. But remember, it's not about technology, it's about capacity.