802.11ax Wi-Fi - Because 802.11ac Is So 2013!
@thebigk
•
Oct 21, 2024
Oct 21, 2024
1.5K
The Wi-Fi alliance is already looking for the next standard in the wireless communications and it's time we look forward to the new 802.11ax standard, the successor to currently popular 802.11ac. It's true that 802.11ac is still finding its ways through various devices and it's only now that the modern phones and laptops have began supporting the standard. The 'ac' offers speeds up to 1300 Mbps and that's really fast, letting you do almost anything you'd like to do. In reality, the 'ac' certified rounters do ~350-400 Mbps, the 'ax' is promising about 2 Gbps!
In the test labs, Huawei has already achieved maximum data transfer speed of about 10.53 Gbps! Beat that? I thought of finding out what exactly is 801.11ax and what are we marching towards in the wireless standards. I discovered quite a lot of interesting information. Here are the salient points-
Reference: <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/computing/184685-what-is-802-11ax-wifi-and-do-you-really-need-a-10gbps-connection-to-your-laptop" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">What is 802.11ax Wi-Fi, and will it really deliver 10Gbps? (updated) | ExtremeTech</a>
In the test labs, Huawei has already achieved maximum data transfer speed of about 10.53 Gbps! Beat that? I thought of finding out what exactly is 801.11ax and what are we marching towards in the wireless standards. I discovered quite a lot of interesting information. Here are the salient points-
- It operates in the 5GHz band like 802.11ac.
- Four 'Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output' aka MIMO spatial streams, each multiplexed with OFDA (orthogonal frequency division access).
- Huawei says that OFDA helps in improving the spectral efficiency by about 10 times.
- The reports in the media say that the aim of the Wi-Fi alliance is to achieve 4x the speed of the current 'ac' standard.
- Assuming a 160 MHz channel, the single stream of 802.11ax will be ~3.5 Gbps. With a 4x4 MIMO; you can expect a total capacity of about 14 Gbps! Blows wind in my hair!
- However, in more realistic terms for consumer products, you should be able to see 600 MBps speeds; enough to transfer your HD collection with a blink of an eye. However, if Huawei succeeds you may be getting about 800-900 Mbps!
Reference: <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/computing/184685-what-is-802-11ax-wifi-and-do-you-really-need-a-10gbps-connection-to-your-laptop" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">What is 802.11ax Wi-Fi, and will it really deliver 10Gbps? (updated) | ExtremeTech</a>
