Wi-Fi HaLow—Born for the Internet of Things

The development of IoT and M2M networks has created new opportunities in many markets. According to Statista, the number of IoT devices will increase from 13.8 billion in 2021 to more than 30 billion in 2025. Many of these applications require connecting devices or sensors over long distances, thus requiring high energy efficiency and long battery life.

Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) is the preferred Internet connection technology for home and small business applications. Based on the success of Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi Alliance has launched another new standard - Wi-Fi HaLow . This is a secure and energy-saving star network topology that can achieve communication over a distance of more than 1 km. Wi-Fi HaLow uses Wi-Fi technology to achieve the powerful performance of medium- and short-range high-speed video streaming and long-distance data transmission.

What is Wi-Fi HaLow?

The idea of ​​expanding the scope of Wi-Fi technology has been supported by many industry pioneers and solidified with the approval of the IEEE 802.11ah standard. Supporters are committed to using Wi-Fi HaLow and developing a certification program to accelerate market adoption and popularity. This effort has paid off. The Wi-Fi Alliance launched the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow™ program to meet the growing needs of the Internet of Things and Industrial Internet of Things. Morse Microelectronics is providing the first Wi-Fi HaLow CERTIFIED development platform to support the launch of the program.

“Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow further extends Wi-Fi’s leading role in the IoT to address a host of new applications that require secure interoperability at greater distances and lower power,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi HaLow is an amazing addition to the Wi-Fi portfolio, bringing the full range of Wi-Fi capabilities to unmatched connectivity; opportunities to simplify connectivity are increasing in the growing IoT market, and Wi-Fi HaLow builds on the universally trusted Wi-Fi foundation to pave the way for emerging IoT applications that benefit homes, businesses and industries.” 

Wi-Fi HaLow is an open standard wireless networking technology that operates in the 850-950 MHz range, commonly referred to as the sub-GHz range. The advantage of operating at lower frequencies is that the signal can travel greater distances and can penetrate walls and obstacles that cannot be penetrated at higher frequencies. Standard Wi-Fi uses radio waves at higher frequencies (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6GHz) to enable high throughput data transmission over short distances. The new Wi-Fi HaLow technology extends the range of Wi-Fi and, more importantly, consumes very low power, thereby extending battery life. This will significantly reduce operating and maintenance costs in remote or hard-to-reach areas.

Key Benefits of Wi-Fi HaLow

•Based on IEEE 802.11ah open standard

•Star network topology operates in the sub-GHz range

•Supports long-distance transmission, up to 1 km; this distance is 10 times that of current Wi-Fi

•The signal can penetrate walls and obstacles

•Depending on the application, the battery life can reach more than 5 years

•No proprietary hub or gateway required to access the Internet

•Built-in security with WPA3 and Wi-Fi Enhanced Open™

•Link data rates range from 150Kbps over long distances (>1Km) to as high as 86.7Mbps over short distances (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Wi-Fi HaLow demonstrates strong performance, with data rates ranging from 150 kbps at long range to 86.7 Mbps at close range (Source: Wi-Fi Alliance white paper)

safety

Wi-Fi HaLow leverages the evolution of the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security standard. This technology encrypts user data to protect wireless networks from external threats. The standard is now in its third generation. All new Wi-Fi certified devices, including Wi-Fi HaLow, are required to pass Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WPA3™ requirements.

WPA3 uses "Simultaneous Authentication of Peers" (SAE) to fix vulnerabilities and mitigate threats of older security protocols, supporting longer encryption keys and personalized data protection, thereby ensuring the individual security of data traffic between each client and access point to prevent one client's data from being decrypted by another client connected to the same network. This latest security protocol makes it more difficult for attackers to break into the network by guessing passwords, and even if the network key (password) is cracked, past data cannot be decrypted. 

Compared

Wi-Fi HaLow stands out from the crowd of other low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) on the market. As shown in Figure 2, Wi-Fi HaLow’s data rates reach tens of Mbps, making it the only protocol capable of streaming video over the network.

Figure 2: Comparison of Wi-Fi HaLow and other LPWAN technologies (Source: Morse Microelectronics)

Battery Life

The actual life of the battery depends on the application, the amount of data transferred, and the frequency. Nonetheless, different network characteristics can determine how efficiently devices in the network use energy. The faster the network data rate, the faster the radio will transmit data and return to low-power mode. In addition to high data rates, Wi-Fi HaLow also introduces enhanced sleep modes such as "Target Wake Time" and traffic schedulers such as "Restricted Access Windows" that allow each star network device to go to sleep to save energy and ignore irrelevant network traffic. On the other hand, mesh networks, such as those used by Zigbee, Z-wave, or Thread, must receive and retransmit the same data by each node as it spreads between network edges. 

Wi-Fi HaLow implements "listen before talking" to minimize data conflicts and maintain high network utilization. In contrast, the mesh topology requires more devices in the network to cover the same area as Wi-Fi HaLow (Zigbee/Z-wave/Thread nodes cover 20-30 meters, while Wi-Fi HaLow has a coverage range of 1 km). Coupled with the need for each node to retransmit data, it will lead to higher network congestion, more conflicts and shorter battery life.

Figure 3 shows a comparison done by IMEC (Microelectronics Research Center), where Wi-Fi HaLow battery life is compared with other technologies in a usage scenario with a ten-minute transmission interval. In this analysis, Wi-Fi HaLow provides a battery life of 3.15 years, which is significantly longer compared to other LPWANs.

technology

Figure 3: Battery life comparison (Source: Wi-Fi Alliance white paper)

Wi-Fi HaLow Use Cases

The applications of this technology are very broad. They include home and building automation, transportation and logistics, industrial wireless communications, automotive, out-of-band control of mesh networks, solar energy management, healthcare, Wi-Fi HaLow + 2.4 GHz hybrid applications, etc.

Extended range use case – outdoor cameras

The size of the lot that a house sits on varies by location. In a city, a house may be smaller with no yard or a small yard. However, when away from a city center, a house may be larger and sit on a larger lot, making remote camera installation and connection a challenge.

Wi-Fi HaLow technology solves this problem. Low-power cameras can use batteries and be installed in key areas on a wide area of ​​land, where the signal will not be blocked by trees or other obstacles. Image signals or video signals can easily reach access points for local monitoring or cloud access. In fact, Wi-Fi HaLow-based cameras can also benefit apartment buildings, covering hard-to-reach common areas such as underground parking lots or rooftops.

Outdoor camera use cases can also be applied to livestock farming. For example, cameras can be installed at key locations to monitor cattle and help identify if there are signs that one or more cows need special health attention, thereby improving productivity. In addition, cameras can be installed on the outer edge of the fence to monitor approaching intruders, such as wild animals, to help protect livestock and pets.

What’s more, the batteries in these remote cameras last for years, providing convenience and reducing maintenance costs.

Growing momentum

Momentum for Wi-Fi HaLow is building, and the Wi-Fi Alliance is taking significant steps to promote the benefits listed above, expand the scope of existing Wi-Fi standards, and encourage developer participation. The key question is what resources are available to support the development of this technology. Currently, there are quite a few companies leading the way, including Morse Microelectronics. The company's Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow™ platform and the industry's first 8MHz reference design will enable developers to accelerate their design cycles. 

“The potential of extending Wi-Fi’s already transformative properties to sub-1 GHz cannot be overstated, and we applaud the Wi-Fi Alliance for ushering in a new era of long-range, low-power, and high-capacity Wi-Fi HaLow experiences for consumers,” said Michael De Nil, co-founder and CEO of Morse Microelectronics. “As the leading Wi-Fi HaLow innovator, we have invested heavily in R&D to ensure market-ready 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 is a game changer for consumers and enterprises, from smart homes and smart cities to industrial markets and everything in between.”