Secure, interoperable Wi-Fi expands connectivity for more IoT applications
Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow – the certification program for products incorporating IEEE 802.11ah technology – to expand Wi-Fi applications for the Internet of Things (IoT). Wi-Fi HaLow™ operates in the sub-1 GHz band, enabling long range and low power connectivity, while providing a robust connection in challenging Wi-Fi environments. Wi-Fi HaLow will enable a variety of new, power-efficient use cases for IoT and Industrial IoT (IIoT) environments, as well as retail, agriculture, healthcare, smart home, and smart city markets.
Wi-Fi HaLow enables low power connectivity necessary for applications including sensors, personal wearable devices, and utility meters that require multi-year battery operation. Wi-Fi HaLow supports applications such as streaming compressed video from security cameras, even in challenging environments where the ability to penetrate walls or other barriers to provide a robust connection is an important consideration. In agriculture or logistics monitoring applications where long range is a priority, Wi-Fi HaLow delivers data at ranges exceeding one kilometer. Wi-Fi HaLow adopts existing Wi-Fi protocols to deliver many of the benefits that consumers have come to expect from Wi-Fi, including multi-vendor interoperability, strong WPA3™ security, easy setup, and seamless integration into IP networks.
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“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow further extends Wi-Fi’s leading role in IoT to address a new range of secure and interoperable use cases that require longer range and lower power. Wi-Fi HaLow is a compelling addition to the Wi-Fi portfolio, making the full range of Wi-Fi capabilities an unmatched connectivity offering,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance. “There are growing opportunities to streamline connectivity in the growing IoT market, and Wi-Fi HaLow builds on a universally trusted Wi-Fi foundation to pave the way for emerging IoT applications to benefit homes, businesses, and industries.”
Wi-Fi’s expanding IoT portfolio
IoT connected devices in use worldwide are projected to exceed 30 billion units by 2025, more than doubling from 13.8 billion in 2021.1 The smart home IoT use case is a rapidly growing market, and more than 29 percent of businesses also use IoT technology to streamline processes and increase efficiency.2 Wi-Fi Alliance has a strong portfolio of technologies delivering low power, high performance, and secure Wi-Fi for a wide variety of IoT environments. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ is a strong complement to Wi-Fi HaLow for commercial, industrial, and residential IoT applications requiring fast data rates and low latency, such as AR/VR, home security systems with high-resolution video feeds, medical telemetry monitoring, and remote surgery. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Easy Connect™ reduces the complexity of connecting devices to Wi-Fi networks, including the many IoT devices with little to no user interface, while simultaneously incorporating the highest security standards. All Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ devices support WPA3, providing cutting edge security protocols to protect sensitive data and provide strong protections to users.
1 Statista, March 2021
2 Statista, May 2021
“Wi-Fi HaLow devices such as security cameras and tablets are being used in industrial environments today, and we expect devices to soon make their way to smart home environments allowing consumers to take advantage of its 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 years and we expect shipments to break 10 million in 2022, with adoption expanding from industrial to include smart home, smart city, and retail markets.”
Member companies providing interoperability test bed devices that are among the first Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow products include Methods2Business, Morse Micro, and Newracom.
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Industry support for Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow:
“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow is the best choice for sensor communication and video feeds in RF challenged environments, such as manufacturing floors, construction sites, and commercial buildings. Operating in the ISM sub-GHz band, Wi-Fi HaLow brings exciting new features and Wi-Fi Alliance certification is of key importance to the IoT marketplace. Wi-Fi HaLow delivers longer range (more than 1 kilometer), higher throughput, large scale station deployments due to grouping and scheduling, lower latency, and long battery lifetime. Additionally, as part of the Wi-Fi family, Wi-Fi HaLow capitalizes on existing Wi-Fi infrastructure and robust end-to-end security, with multicast, and broadcast capabilities that allows for field software upgradability.” – Michael “Mac” McNamara, CEO, Adapt-IP
“Methods2Business is proud to play an active role in the availability of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow. Our company is excited to be one of the Wi-Fi HaLow certification test bed providers. Wi-Fi Alliance is delivering great value to the industry, enabling us to develop one of the first certified, interoperable, Wi-Fi HaLow products. Our customers believe that Wi-Fi HaLow will play a substantial role in the revolution of Industrial IoT and IoT for the Smart Home. It will serve these rapidly emerging markets with its unique advantages of a longer range (more than a kilometer) Wi-Fi with ultra-low power consumption and high security standards.” – Marleen Boonen, CEO & Founder, Methods2Business
“The ground-breaking potential of extending the already transformative characteristics of Wi-Fi into the sub-1 GHz band is hard to overstate, and we applaud Wi-Fi Alliance’s leadership in unleashing a new era of long range, low power and high-capacity Wi-Fi HaLow experiences for consumers. As a leading Wi-Fi HaLow innovator, we have invested heavily in R&D to ensure the market is ready with SoCs and modules that deliver unmatched benefits unlike any Wi-Fi or LPWAN technology available today. The addition of sub-1 GHz Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow to the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED portfolio will be a game changer for consumers and enterprises, from smart home, building automation, smart city, and industrial markets – and everything in between.”
– Michael De Nil, co-founder and CEO, Morse Micro
“We are incredibly excited to witness Wi-Fi Alliance’s announcement of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow program. Today marks a significant milestone for Newracom, Wi-Fi Alliance, and the industry as a whole. With long range, lower power consumption and massive deployment capabilities, Wi-Fi HaLow extends the inherent goodness of Wi-Fi to accelerate the next generation Internet of Things applications.” – Zac Freeman, Vice President, Newracom
“Palma Ceia SemiDesign salutes Wi-Fi Alliance on the launch of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow program. This launch represents years of work by members of Wi-Fi Alliance to achieve a truly testable and compliant standard. Wi-Fi HaLow will provide users with a unique combination of range, throughput, network density, and power efficiency with WPA3 security. Palma Ceia will deliver Wi-Fi HaLow solutions and network support services to consumer and industrial clients. We look forward to the positive impact Wi-Fi HaLow and the collection of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow products will have on the IoT market and the expanded user applications that will benefit from Wi-Fi HaLow’s outcome-based network deployments.” – Kevin Walsh, Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Palma Ceia SemiDesign
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