What Are the New Features of Wi-Fi 6?
WiFi is a family of portable wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. They are most commonly used for local area networking (LAN) of digital devices and Internet access. They allow digital devices located nearby to exchange data through radio waves. This means that your laptop, phone, or tablet can be connected to the Internet.
8×8 uplink/downlink
8×8 uplink/downlink for WiFi provides 4x more network capacity than Wi-Fi 5. The new standard also supports multiple client devices on the same WiFi band. This technology is also known as MU-MIMO, which helps routers communicate with many different devices at the same time. Nearly all new Wi-Fi 6 client devices support this technology.
An 8×8 AP has a higher throughput than a 4×4 AP because it can simultaneously transmit two streams of data, one to four and one to eight Wi-Fi 6 2×2 clients. In addition, this technology allows for spatial diversity, which is an important factor in modern enterprise portable WiFi deployments.
MU-MIMO
MU-MIMO is a technology for wireless networks that allows multiple devices to access the network at the same time, ensuring that all devices get an equal speed. This is especially important for devices that have more than one transmitter and receiver. Regular MIMO would only allow one user to use a portion of the available bandwidth, but MU-MIMO can allow up to four devices to access the network at the same time.
MU-MIMO WiFi can be extremely beneficial for wireless networks. For instance, a router that supports 3×3 MIMO can communicate with three devices simultaneously. This can dramatically increase the speed and range of wireless networks.
OFDMA
OFDMA, or OFDMA for short, is a form of wireless network technology that allocates bandwidth to multiple clients using the same channel. It can be used to reduce latency and increase the speed of network communications. The technology works by dividing the channel into smaller frequencies, called resource units (RUs). In practice, this means that an access point can communicate with multiple clients simultaneously while still achieving high data throughput.
OFDMA divides a channel into smaller sections called Resource Units (RUs), and allocates them to clients based on their bandwidth requirements. RUs are assigned on both the uplink and downlink, and clients transmit their data on those RUs. The result is that a single 20MHz channel can support as many as nine simultaneous users.
OBSS
OBSS for wifi is an important concept in wireless networks. This technique enables the coexistence of two entities on the same wireless network, while limiting the overlap between them. It has been used for many different scenarios, from different species living together to different organizations or religions sharing the same space. Though the concept may seem difficult to grasp, it is crucial for building successful communities and organizations. When the two entities cannot coexist, they will interfere with each other’s signals. Luckily, if both sides are willing to work together, they can achieve OBSS coexistence.
When the two BSSs are overlapping, the two BSSs have a different bandwidth. This means that the combined network throughput is less than the sum of both. Fortunately, this problem can be solved by manually setting the bandwidth thresholds.
BSS Color
BSS Coloring is a new feature introduced in Wi-Fi 6. It adds an identifier to every frame that is transmitted by an AP. This helps APs decide how best to serve their clients, making the system more efficient. There are several methods for BSS coloring, and it will be important to choose one that is right for your needs.
An AP may detect a change in BSS color and respond with an ACK frame. The ACK frame may contain an enhanced BSS color, which can contain information about the BSS in which the transmission originates. It may also indicate the scheme and direction of the transmission. The AP and STA may then adapt their transmission scheme to the new BSS color value.