IoT improvements
What changes did Wi-Fi 6 bring over old versions?
Wi-Fi appears to be the perfect option for wireless networks needing greater range than traditional IoT protocols like Bluetooth LE or Zigbee, but not the huge of range of the WAN technologies. A closer look shows Wi-Fi has some considerable drawbacks for IoT applications. The first challenge is power consumption. Wi-Fi was designed for high throughput with little regard for power consumption. In contrast, IoT wireless technologies typically try to limit on-air time to extend battery life.
Another challenge is congested networks. Especially in larger deployments with hundreds of devices, older Wi-Fi versions tend to struggle.
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) brings several advancements and improvements compared to its predecessor. While the focus of Wi-Fi 6 was on enhancing network performance and capacity in high-density environments, it also introduced several benefits for low-power embedded applications. On this page, we list some key advancements in Wi-Fi 6 that are relevant to low-power embedded devices.