Next generation WiFi: There is still signal one kilometer away!

[[433169]]

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced on Tuesday the certification of Wi-Fi HaLow, a new feature that supports long-range, low-energy Wi-Fi transmissions in the sub-1GHz spectrum, promising a wall-penetrating range of more than 1 km. The feature is mainly aimed at smart home devices, as the number of cloud-connected devices worldwide is expected to surge to more than 30 billion by 2025, more than double the 13.8 billion IoT devices currently in use.

That’s good news for smart home sensors, security cameras and industrial or agricultural IoT devices, and it’s good news for Wi-Fi, especially as new standards like Amazon Sidewalk and Matter try to gain a significant foothold in the smart home category, said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

“Wi-Fi Certified HaLow further extends Wi-Fi’s leadership in IoT to address a host of new use cases that require longer range and lower power for secure and interoperable connectivity,” Figueroa said in a statement. “In the growing IoT market, opportunities to simplify connectivity are increasing, and Wi-Fi HaLow builds on the universally trusted foundation of Wi-Fi to pave the way for emerging IoT applications that benefit homes, businesses, and industries.”

Wi-Fi HaLow claims longer range and lower power consumption because it sends signals at frequencies below 1GHz, which is much lower than the 2.4 and 5GHz bands used by most home Wi-Fi networks. While higher frequencies are better for moving large amounts of data, lower frequencies offer better range, which makes the sub-1GHz spectrum seem like a good fit for sensors and other devices that might need to send tiny bits of data across a long-distance Wi-Fi network.

Additionally, Wi-Fi HaLow could be a boon for battery life, the Wi-Fi Alliance promises: "low-power connectivity required for applications including sensors, personal wearables, and utility meters that require multi-year battery operation."

"Wi-Fi HaLow leverages existing Wi-Fi protocols and delivers many of the benefits consumers expect, including multi-vendor interoperability, strong WPA3 security, easy setup, and seamless integration with IP networks," the Wi-Fi Alliance added in its press release announcing HaLow certification.

HaLow isn't the only new wireless standard that promises to drastically improve range. There's also Amazon Sidewalk, a low-power IoT network that launched earlier this year that relies on a combination of low-energy Bluetooth and LoRa signals. In this case, devices need to have their own LoRa radio to take advantage of the long-range connection.

With Wi-Fi HaLow, devices only need a standardized Wi-Fi chipset that supports the protocol, and those should be available soon. Analysts note that Wi-Fi HaLow devices are already operating in the industrial sector, and they expect rapid adoption in residential and commercial environments in 2022.

"Wi-Fi HaLow devices, such as security cameras and tablets, are currently being used in industrial settings, and we expect devices to soon find their way into smart home environments, enabling consumers to take advantage of their longer range and lower power for applications such as battery-powered cameras, video baby monitors, and other smart home products," said Phil Solis, research director at IDC. "Companies have been working on Wi-Fi HaLow chipsets for several years, and we expect shipments to surpass 10 million in 2022, with adoption expanding beyond the industrial space to include smart home, smart city, and retail markets."