A new Wi-Fi technology with a range of up to 1 km has been created

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been developing by leaps and bounds in recent years. Smart home systems, sensors, cameras, medical devices and many more gadgets have appeared that are networked and interact without human intervention. For their correct operation, a stable Internet connection is required, which is unprofitable to provide with the help of LTE networks – you can’t get enough of SIM cards. To solve this problem, scientists have developed a new Wi-Fi technology called Wi-Fi HaLow .

The new technology has three key benefits. Firstly, the low power consumption , for which it competes with Bluetooth, while providing faster data transfer rates and wider range of coverage. The range of HaLow Wi-Fi can reach a radius of 1 kilometer , and provide connectivity for thousands of iOT devices at the same time.

In addition, HaLow Wi-Fi is compatible with current Wi-Fi protocols and can be deployed now at any scale, with existing routers and infrastructure. The technology has been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, the main organization responsible for the development and distribution of wireless networking standards around the world.

How does Wi-Fi HaLow work?

The standard Wi-Fi networks we use in homes and offices usually operate on a radio frequency between 2.4 and 5 GHz. Thus, they have the best bandwidth – they can transfer large amounts of data in a short period of time, but this comes with significant power consumption and limited coverage. The recently launched Wi-Fi 6 further increases the technology’s emphasis on faster connection speeds.

Wi-Fi HaLow, on the other hand, uses a 0.9 GHz sub-gigahertz channel, which has longer wavelengths and can provide a range of 1 km, if not more, but is seriously inferior in speed to its counterparts. Since iOT devices transmit minimal traffic volumes, the low-power and long-range HaLow is ideally suited for IoT applications. In addition, this range does not require special licensing in almost all countries of the world.

The new development will be useful in the future, for example, when creating smart cities, where the entire infrastructure will consist of smart devices that exchange information with each other. It can be used in other areas as well. In agriculture, the increased range of Wi-Fi will allow workers to remotely monitor sensors located in the fields, the same applies to various security systems in homes, offices, and cars. In other words, the world around us is gradually turning into the “Internet of Things”, and Wi-Fi HaLow will become a serious help for machine-to-machine communication.