Hi, everyone!
INTRODUCTION
Why is Wifi6 required?
There once was an almost 10-fold increase in bandwidth requirement. More advanced and high bandwidth-hungry applications were lagging on Wifi4 and Wifi5 (ac/ac wave2), so it was mandatory to increase the speed to catch up with the new application requirements. 100 Mbps for each user at each location was missing and users were facing issues in mobility, since their applications were lagging.
Another factor is that a lot of enterprise users are now relying heavily on the stable, secure and ultra-low-latency network and they can’t afford dysconnectivity or lag.
Experience assurance in the case of environment changes is mandatory. Users want a committed high-quality experience even when everything around them is changing. User’s devices, office environment, their mobility requirement, all are changing based on the requirements. However, one thing they will always want is a stable, jitter-free connection.
HIGHLIGHTS OF HIGH-BANDWIDTH APPLICATION
The following are highlights of some of the high-bandwidth applications:
Source: Huawei WIFI 6 whitepaper
VR/AR
VR requires at least an 8 Mbps, lag-free bandwidth for a stable 1080p full-HD experience. And now that everything is moving to 4K, this requirement has exceeded even more. And in augmented reality, if there is any latency, the whole experience trembles down. So, it is absolutely necessary to upgrade the network to Wifi6.
4K smart cameras
Legacy cameras are not sufficient for surveillance anymore, as they can’t get details and lack intelligence features. So, in the new 4K cameras, a higher bandwidth is required to transmit data at an even greater speed for timely processing and information gathering.
Electronic Shelf label
A new concept of WIFI+IoT has been introduced in Electronic Shelf labeling, where product tags, marketing materials, etc. are updated remotely. This doesn’t require a high bandwidth, but the ability to incorporate 3rd party information and transfer information steadily improves the overall business experience of users.
Factory AGV
Another application of WIFI+IoT is in factory-automated, guided vehicles, where driverless vehicles are used for different purposes. If there is a lag or any latency, they might not produce the same results as is expected of them. So, ultra-low latency network is absolutely required for this scenario.
Energy efficient management
Given the concept of smart-building, energy efficiency is an added advantage. To achieve this, IoT censors need to communicate with their controller over a stable connection so they can send and receive the next set of commands.
Enterprise apps on the Cloud
Now that a lot of organizations have moved their enterprise apps to the Cloud, is a must to achieve a LAN-like experience over a fast, stable, low-latency, jitter-free network.
FUNCTIONALITIES OF HUAWEI APs
To meet these high-level requirements, customers are advised to move to Wifi6 to enable Access Points. I would recommend Huawei APs based on the following rich range of functionalities:
· built-in and extended IoT modules;
· 12 x 12 ultra-standard smart antennas;
· large-capacity and wide coverage (claiming to provide 5-radio APs);
· SDR (software defined Radios);
· standalone radio for security scanning;
· all series of products support 3GPP 5G interference resistance;
· built-in IoT chip (RFID/BLE/ZigBee/Thread).
Source: Huawei WiFi6 Whitepaper
Based on these features, Huawei APs can provide:
· the highest Performance with 16x16 MU-MIMO;
· the most stable experience with
o Smart Antennas
o Dynamic Turbo
o SmartRadio calibration algorithm
o Lossless roaming in office/AGV
o Joint Scheduling through MU-MIMO and OFDMA;
· the most comprehensive IoT apps
o two built-in slots for IoT module
o IoT expansion through the USB port
o IoT Chip ready architecture;
· security
o independent radios for rouge AP/interference scanning
o hardware encryption/WPA3
o dual-signature boot.
AIR INTERFACE RESOURCE RESERVATION
Another feature that is often overlooked is the air interface resource reservation for VIP Users. This will ensure the application and network experience for VIP users in congested office environments. This is achieved via HQoS and resource reservation for the VIP users. This can be achieved by determining the priorities for the spectrum resource allocation, that is spectrum resources are allocated depending on the user and service priority. Generally speaking, spectrum resources are preferentially allocated to key services of VIP users in scenarios where both key services (VR, mobile gaming and payment services) and common services (common video and audio services) of VIP users exist.
Generally, in this scenario it is a misconception that resources will be reserved throughout the time. Users' actual requirements for spectrum resources are estimated based on the buffered data volume of users and traffic transmission rate of the air interface (more spectrum resources will be required upon traffic bursts). On the premise that sufficient spectrum resources are allocated to key users and key services, resource waste caused by excessive reservation is reduced to achieve optimal spectrum resource allocation.
ENHANCED SECURITY
Another strong point for Huawei Wifi6 is its security. As highlighted above, Huawei APs support WPA3, which offers the strongest encryption nowadays via its 192-bit enterprise class encryption key algorithm. On top of it, Huawei offers hardware and software encryptions. The following are some of the highlights of the hardware-based encryption:
· independent encryption and decryption module in the CPU - negotiate keys with the peer end and encrypt user data;
· improves user experience without sacrificing the device’s forwarding performance;
· a high protection level against malicious tampering and attacks (no cracking possibility).
With such strong hardware-based encryption, Huawei also offers software-based encryption to make it even more secure. Packet encryption and decryption are implemented through software and resources are shared with other programs, positively affecting the overall performance.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the Huawei WiFi6 solution is a MUST for all enterprise organizations for a stable, robust and fast connectivity and it is the ultimate future for any organization.
