Wi-Fi Alliance today announced that a new wireless standard which extends the reach of Wi-Fi to 900 MHz band would keep the family of 802.11 at the center of IoT development.
This new standard 802.11ah is a combination of lower frequency and lower power requirements, which means that the propagation of the signals is better. As compared to current Wi-Fi standards operating on 5GZ and 2.4GHz frequencies, this new standard offers an effective range. This new technology is sure to penetrate doors and walls very easily.
802.11ah is also referred to as HaLow and is very well suited to various new connected devices that are soon to be used in various areas including retail, industrial, smart home, auto and others.
Moreover, HaLow would be interoperating with existing 802.11x devices and would bring IoT things firmly into the strong Wi-Fi devices’ ecosystem. Just like existing standards, 802.11ah would provide IP based connectivity and would allow devices to have good connection with wide range of hardware.
There has been lot of gossip surrounding IoT as you all know. Phil Solis from ABI Research states that programs of Wi-Fi Alliance have been quite instrumental when it comes to guiding the industry and shaping it. With Wi-Fi HaLow, the existing Wi-Fi technologies are complemented and the overall portfolio is expanded with a low power solution which enables Wi-Fi to be a critical part of IoT. In particular, a simple and a secure way is being developed so that devices can be configured and connected with an input or display mechanism.
