Led by the Wireless Broadband Alliance and carried out in a space factory, the first phase demonstrated that Wi-Fi 6 can work effectively in an environment with a lot of noise and interference.
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Wi-Fi 6 has passed the first major test on IoT devices (Network of Things) in a challenging factory environment.
On Thursday, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced the successful completion of phase 1 trial testing of its Wi-Fi 6 infrastructure and services at the Mettis Aerospace plant in the UK.
Designed to analyze how the latest taste of mobile WiFi can handle IoT devices in a mixed and busy environment, the trial was the first of its kind worldwide and is considered by the WBA as an important part of its Wi-Fi 6- test and development program.
SEE:
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax): a cheat sheet
(TechRepublic)
Wi-Fi 6 is already available in the latest routers, mobile phones, and other consumer devices and is the user-friendly name that has now been taken over by the WBA to describe what is technically known as 802.11ax, the successor to 802.11ac (now remristed Wi – Fi). Fi 5).
Wi-Fi 6 offers higher speeds and lower latency than its predecessors, but promises better performance with multiple devices that all compete for attention on the same network. That makes it ideal for factory conditions and other settings with IoT devices and other equipment that all require a significant amount of bandwidth.
Run at the 27-hectare Mettis Aerospace facility in the West Midlands between October 2019 and December 2019, the phase 1 test was a challenge for Wi-Fi 6, according to the WBA.
The new version of Wi-Fi had to prove that it could offer total connectivity for machines and equipment with centralized monitoring and control systems. The technology was expected to deliver real-time, high-bandwidth networks with very low latency and clear data priorities on a large factory floor with a lot of interference, noise and other barriers.
Also, previous implementation tests with WiFi did not work in the factory environment of Mettis, the WBA added. A few years ago, Mettis had performed tests using Wi-Fi 4 or 802.11n, in one of the other on-site facilities with two access points and laptops. The connectivity only worked intermittently, but not enough to provide a reliable Wi-Fi network.
Using smartphones, tablets, laptops and webcams that are all equipped with the Broadcom and Intel Wi-Fi 6 chipset, the tests in phase one related to various tasks, including:
- 4K streaming from a webcam on machines in the factory.
- 4k YouTube streaming from a laptop with the Intel AX200 chip.
- Uploads of very large video files via WiFi.
- Roaming, latency and persistent connectivity during Wi-Fi video calls with smartphones.
- Augmented reality testing of machines with devices with a Wi-Fi 6 chipset.
During testing, Wi-Fi 6 technology generated speeds of 700 Mbps using 80 MHz channels, while applications such as video calling and video streaming achieved low latency results below 6ms, the WBA said.
In a specific machine monitoring test, a tablet was placed near a machine and he could immediately read the real-time pressure and performance of that machine.
“The completion of this first phase marks an important milestone for the introduction of Wi-Fi 6,” WBA CEO Tiago Rodrigues said in a press release.
“The Mettis facility is a particularly challenging environment for wireless communication with ovens, presses and heat, many moving heavy machines and the presence of dust and particles in the air. Nevertheless, field tests in this highly charged atmosphere have proven that Wi-Fi 6 technology works well and can play a vital role within the industrial enterprise and the IoT ecosystem. If Wi-Fi 6 can deliver highly reliable, high quality and high bandwidth communication in this type of factory environment, it can deliver it almost anywhere. ”
The pilot phase was carried out by the WBA in collaboration with member companies Broadcom, Cisco, iBwave and Intel, as well as Concurrent Engineering and Keysight. In phase two of the trial, which will last a maximum of two months in 2020, the focus will be on further testing of mixed-reality applications and IoT detection of important assets.
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