My colleague Kwame owns a laptop, a tablet, a smartphone, and a smartwatch; four personal devices (also called endpoints) that he will likely connect to any Wi-Fi network whenever possible.
Let us imagine a small organization of 10 users that are like Kwame. These 10 users are likely to connect 30-50 endpoints to the Wi-Fi network. Furthermore, let’s add all the additional devices that will join the network wirelessly due to our new technological advancements. Suddenly, our 10-user organization finds itself needing to provide permanent wireless connectivity to close to 100 endpoints with diverse power requirements which affect their ability to communicate on the network.
Another issue that faces wireless administrators is the increased adoption of real-time applications in augmented, mixed, and virtual reality where consistent Mbps+ speeds and low latency (for eg, <10ms) may be prerequisites for optimum functionality. We did not even speak about the new online gaming platforms that intends on streaming the games from cloud-based servers and transporting users’ game controller responses over the network while still providing a perfect reaction time (Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, etc.)
According to Gartner’s report, as of 2020 internet-connected devices across all technologies surpassed 20.6 billion (about 3 times the world population). The proliferated number of devices, connections, and bandwidth-hungry applications, entangled with a voracious requirement to reduce latency, has called for the evolution of Wi-Fi technology once again. Get ready, Wi-Fi 6 comes to save the day.
The speedy wireless network that we know today and have come to trust so much that we even associate with the Internet connection, has gone through multiple iterations over the years. Improvements were made in power requirements, channel management, signal deconstruction and reconstruction, simultaneous streams, error detection and correction, encryption and security, and much more.
This brings us to today’s topic, the 802.11ax standard which is the 6th Generation, hence the term Wi-Fi 6. It is a simplified term coined by the Wi-Fi Alliance for easy understanding and reference of this complex standard. Wi-Fi 6 comes as a significant enhancement to the already great 802.11ac standard which was a big improvement to the older standards 802.11a/b/g/n that preceded it. Take a quick look at the evolution of the standards below and a key feature they improved on.
The air we use for wireless connectivity is subdivided into frequency bands called channels. Similar to your FM radio being able to pick up a radio signal to listen to voice and music, various ranges of the wireless spectrum are allocated to various technologies. In most countries, the Wi-Fi we know works at 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Those major frequency ranges are again subdivided into smaller chunks called a channel.
Look at each channel as a road and your data as the cars on that road. Each car gets onto the road and comes out before the one behind it. Right off, our friend Kwame has 4 cars on the road permanently. How bad is that? To improve traffic, we either have to reduce the size of the cars so more cars can pass on the same road at any given time (Compression, Multiplexing) or increase the size of the road by creating more lanes so that more cars can pass in parallel or allow bigger cars (Bigger Channel Size, MIMO). This is an oversimplification of the complex algorithms that make our Instagram feed load beautifully fast but am sure you get the point
Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) was introduced as part of the 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) standard which allowed 80MHz (Channel Size) and even 160MHz transmissions and utilized 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). Now, Wi-Fi 6 enabled access points with MU-MIMO can transmit as many as 8 data streams at once from separate antennas instead of four, leveraging a much higher 1024 QAM technology. The result of these improvements is a theoretical 9.6Gbps throughput per radio, up to four times more than 802.11ac. All of a sudden, the busiest road you take to work every day now has four times the amount of car lanes. That would be amazing, wouldn’t it?
Taking advantage of better and faster processing components and more efficient algorithms, Wi-Fi 6 utilizes the same airspace whilst granting us more speed and better latency.
OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) leverages OFDM and makes the channel utilization dramatically better.
It works by dividing a wireless channel into smaller subcarriers and even further separating those subcarriers into smaller resource units (RUs). These chunks of bandwidth with varied sizes are then dedicated somewhat proportionally among multiple users simultaneously. Wastage is greatly reduced, and this makes OFDMA a very useful feature of Wi-Fi 6 within high-density areas.
Look at it this way. Not only do we multiply the number of lanes on that busy road by four, we also provide carpooling in every single vehicle.
IoT devices have a major constraint. They usually have a small battery that must last as long as possible. Wi-Fi technology is predominantly wasteful in terms of power. The challenge Wi-Fi 6 undertook was to provide a way for all IoT devices to communicate whilst expending the tiniest amount of energy.
Using OFDMA technology reduces transmission energy and a concept referred to as the Target Wake Time (TWT) was introduced. It facilitates stations or devices’ sleep periods up to 5-years without losing connectivity with their access points. Yes, you got it right. A device may remain connected for up to 5-years.
TWT coupled with Dual Subcarrier Modulation (DCM) allows IoT objects to send frames in redundant mode using more economical single modulation. Using this approach is cheaper and solves the IoT nightmare of retries. All these features make 802.11ax ready for high-density, real-time, and IoT environments. A wireless standard made to accommodate our increasing need to connect everything.
Wi-Fi 6 has been around for a while now and technology only goes in one direction, the good one, the enhancement one, the Wi-Fi 6E one
The 2.4GHz band is not unique to Wi-Fi and is usually prone to so much noise and interference. Not just that, there is a lot of contention in that space. That is why the Wi-Fi is always bad in those huge apartment buildings.
Wi-Fi 6E extends all the goodness of 802.11ax to the 6GHz band. As we keep demanding more connectivity, we are getting to the point where even the 5GHz band is getting choked since the spectrum within which it operates is very small.
With the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opening up the 5.9GHz to 7.1GHz spectrum for unlicensed use, Wi-Fi now adds on a whooping 1200MHz range as opposed to the combined 400MHz used by the 2.4GHz and 5GHz, making room for all the perks of the 802.11ax standard to operate in a much larger spectrum.
It will definitely take time for routers and endpoints to catch up, but the future of Wi-Fi looks bright.
Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E bring a lot of excitement into our wireless networks, meeting the requirements of IoT devices, providing a faster, more efficient, more secured, and ultimately more resilient connectivity. Just as 5G promises smart cities and smart everything, 802.11ax technologies provide the counterpart in our homes and organizations.
Apotica deploys a large portfolio of Next-Generation and advanced technologies and is uniquely positioned to advise on the next steps to help with your wireless planning, design, and setup. You can request a free consultation here. To enquire about any equipment or software, call us on +233.54.431.5710 or write to sales@apotica.net.
Matilda, a Chartered Accountant, joined Apotica in May 2023. With over 12 years of experience in banking, insurance, pensions, accounting and finance, she is responsible for the company’s financial control, strategic planning, management reporting, and overall financial performance.
She holds a BSc degree in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Ghana Business School and an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the same institution. Matilda is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana.
Matilda has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management at the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars around the world.
Peniel Korley is Head of Marketing for Apotica, designing and implementing comprehensive marketing strategies to create awareness of the company’s business activities.
Peniel joined Apotica in April 2019 and has helped build our market presence through an adept combination of traditional marketing and digital marketing techniques, executing and monitoring corporate promotion campaigns, and conducting market research to help us stay abreast of trends.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Ghana and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from the University of Ghana Business School. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
As Head of Projects, Sylvester Kyeremeh is responsible for coordinating people and processes to ensure that our client projects are delivered on time and produce the desired results. He leads this function within the confines of our quality management and information security management systems.
Sylvester joined Apotica in 2017 as a Systems Engineer, before moving on to join our project management practice a year later. His calm and collected approach to interpersonal engagements, impressive sense of planning, and excellent communication skills continue to receive the plaudits of our customers.
Sylvester received his B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s a Certified Information Systems Auditor, a Cisco-certified professional, an ISO 27001 Lead Implementer, and a member of the Project Management Institute with PMP and Scrum Master qualifications.
At 25, Millicent is currently the youngest head of department at Apotica, taking up this role in August 2020. She’s responsible for managing all aspects of risk to the organization, employees, clients, assets, reputation, and interests of stakeholders. Millicent also works with the leadership of the organization to embed and maintain a risk-aware culture in the organization.
Before joining Apotica, she worked as a broadcast journalist at Radio Universe – a popular media house in Accra. Millicent holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has attended the Executive Education course in Personal Leadership at the Maastricht School of Management, Netherlands.
She’s a Certified Governance, Risk, and Compliance Professional (GRCP) and a qualified ISO 9001 Lead Implementer.
Elom Kutsienyo is the Chief Technology Officer at Apotica. A technology enthusiast and Apple nerd, he is responsible for the development and maintenance of our excellent technical services capabilities and enabling our engineering teams to become adept at industry best practices relating to enterprise solutions design, deployments, and support.
Since taking up the CTO role in August 2019, he has strategically grown our product offerings through strong channel partnerships with leading ICT vendors. Elom’s extensive experience in product sales, project management, service delivery, and field engineering also helps as he oversees company webinars, product demos, proof-of-value activities, and technical proposals for clients.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Telecom Engineering from Ghana Technology University College and has attained several professional qualifications including the coveted Cisco CCIE certification as well as certifications from Microsoft, VMware, NetApp, HPE, and Nutanix.
Clifford leads the Customer Experience practice at Apotica which encompasses our consulting, technology, support, and learning services.
Prior to his position at Apotica, Clifford was the senior manager of IT Infrastructure at Stanbic, a leading commercial bank in Ghana. He has also previously held roles in field engineering, service delivery, and customer support at organizations including Huawei, IBM, Tech Mahindra, and Zenith Bank.
Clifford is PMP-certified and holds a Bachelor’s in Information Technology, as well as several industry certifications from Microsoft, VMware, and Amazon.
Dzigbodi Amekoudi oversees company business in Benin and the countries in French West Africa. As Country Manager, his primary responsibility is business development, which involves helping to define and introduce the right go-to-market strategies and making sure our business operates profitably in the territory. He’s also responsible for establishing operating budgets and managing company employees in his region.
During his tenure, Dzigbodi has led Apotica’s expansion into other countries including Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, Mali, and Niger. Additionally, he works with our technical services leads to ensure successful post-sales delivery of customer projects.
Dzigbodi started his career in engineering and project management, before joining Apotica as a key accounts manager in January 2020.
He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Telecommunications from Ghana Technology University College and a Master of Science degree in International Management from Franklin University Switzerland. He’s a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
Emmanuel Nketia is responsible for managing all sales functions at Apotica and oversees other departments, including marketing, operations, and client renewals. An excellent salesman and negotiator, he brings with him 20 years of experience in logistics, accounting, business development, and customer relationship management.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He’s also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and an MBA Marketing candidate at the University of Ghana Business School.
Emmanuel has attended the Executive Education course in Strategic Management from the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and participated in other leadership seminars in the USA.
At Apotica, we are on a mission to help clients grow and serve their customers better. As CEO, Felix Nkansah works closely with our Sales, Services, and Operations leadership to identify customer and industry transitions and determine our strategies to address them.
Felix joined Apotica in January 2017 and brings more than 18 years of experience across executive leadership, systems engineering, customer support, and sales functions with some regional conglomerates and information technology companies.
He has a background in computer science and holds expert-level professional certifications in networking, security, and systems design.