The 802.11ax (“Wi-Fi 6”) Standard was published in May 2021. This latest generation of Wi-Fi was designed to address the problem of low efficiency resulting from the massive increase in the number of devices accessing the Internet over the past decade. Wi-Fi 6 addresses this problem by increasing the average throughput per user by four and the number of concurrent users by more than three in high density scenarios (e.g., offices, campuses, airports, stadiums, etc.) when compared to Wi-Fi 5, and provides other improvements such as extended wireless range, longer battery life, and coexistence with legacy Wi-Fi devices.
Such significant technical improvements are enabled through the addition of more than 40 core features: the innovations covered by the Wilus’ Portfolio contribute to about 90% of them.
The improvement evolution of certain technical features from Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 6, that makes possible this accommodation of modern-day wireless connectivity, is illustrated below.
| Features | Wi-Fi 4 | Wi-Fi 5 | Wi-Fi 6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IEEE 802.11n (HT) - High Throughput | IEEE 802.11ac (VHT)- Very High Throughput | IEEE 802.11ax (HE) - High Efficiency | |
| Frequency bands [GHz] | 2.4,5 | 5 | 2.4, 5 and 6 |
| Channel widths [MHz] | 20, 40 | 20, 40, 80, 160(80+80) | 20, 40, 80, 160(80+80) |
| OFDM numerology | 64 tones / 20 MHz | 64 tones / 20 MHz | 256 tones / 20 MHz |
| OFDM symbol duration | 3.2 μs (GI = 0.4/0.8 μs) | 3.2 μs (GI = 0.4/0.8 μs) | 12.8 μs (GI = 0.8/1.6/3.2 μs) |
| Modulations | BPSK, QPSK, 16/64-QAM | BPSK, QPSK, 16/64-QAM, 256-QAM | BPSK, QPSK, 16/64/256-QAM, 1024-QAM |
| Forward Error Correction | BCC mandatory, LDPC optional | BCC mandatory, LDPC optional | BCC mandatory, LDPC mandatory |
| MU transmissions | SU-MIMO | SU-MIMO DL MU-MIMO |
DL & UL SU/MU-MIMO DL & UL OFDMA |
| OFDMA (RU sizes, subcarriers) | - | - | 26, 52, 106, 242, 484, 996, 2x996 |
| MU-MIMO stations | Up to 4 STAs (4SS) | Up to 4 STAs (8SS) | Up to 8 STAs (8SS) |
| Max. throughput | 600 Mbps | 6.933 Gbps | 9.607 Gbps |
Wilus has been actively participating in and contributing its innovations to the Wi-Fi 6 standardization process since the very beginning of its development in 2014, featuring among the top technical contributors to the Standard.
The standard essential Wi-Fi 6 patent portfolio covering these innovations comprises more than 500 individual patent assets and is growing.