As Field Trials Are Conducted and New Products Arrive, Is Wi-Fi HaLow Finally Ready to Transform the IoT Connectivity Space

By Andrew Zignani | 3Q 2024 | IN-7510

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Wi-Fi HaLow, also known as 802.11ah, is an extension of Wi-Fi technology into the sub-1 Gigahertz (GHz) bands. The technology can offer robust, extended range wireless connectivity, alongside reduced power consumption, high scalability, flexible data rates, and simplified installation and management, placing it in a unique position when compared to the alternative short-range, Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN), and cellular Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity technologies. These unique characteristics can help solve several of the current challenges that are slowing down digital transformation across home, enterprise, and industrial environments alike. In July 2024, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) made available its Wi-Fi HaLow for IoT: Field Trials Report, demonstrating the effectiveness of Wi-Fi HaLow across a range of environments, including smart home, industrial, warehouse, connected agriculture, smart city, and smart building environments. The findings from these trials validated HaLow's enhanced range, signal penetration and robustness, high scalability, and reduced power consumption. In addition, in recent months, there have been various other new product launches and trials of the technology, demonstrating growing momentum for the ecosystem. Combined, these trials, alongside the development of a growing HaLow ecosystem, are critical steps along the pathway to success for the technology.

Regarding the WBA trial results, for smart home applications, it was found that a single Wi-Fi HaLow Access Point (AP) could provide whole home coverage, while also extending the reach beyond the walls to enable outdoor equipment such as security cameras to be connected. In warehouse environments, a single AP could cover a large distribution center, with supported data rates of up to 22 Megabytes per Second (Mbps). In smart city tests, the technology was able to support greater than a 1 Kilometer (km) range. In an office building trial, it was found that just four HaLow APs could support all the required building automation services. Finally, in an industrial setting, despite the difficult environment, HaLow was able to effectively cover all areas of the building, while the entire outdoor area was able to be serviced by just two APs. Earlier this year, Morse Micro also demonstrated the ability to conduct HaLow video calls over distances of 3 km, while a recent trial in Joshua Tree National Park achieved 2 Mbps throughput at distances of nearly 10 miles. These capabilities can also help reduce deployment complexity when compared with conventional Wi-Fi, requiring fewer APs, mesh nodes, gateways, or repeaters, alongside less complexity in configuring and optimizing the network.

The year 2024 has also seen a number of significant developments for Wi-Fi HaLow technology. IoT solution provider Milesight and leading HaLow chip vendor Morse Micro recently announced the availability of the Wi-Fi HaLow X1 Sensing Camera, VS135 Ultra ToF People Counter, and the HL31 Wi-Fi HaLow Gateway. In June, Silex Technology announced the availability of two HaLow AP solutions, the AP-150AH-US and EX-150AH-US, providing up to 32.5 Mbps over 10X the distance of conventional Wi-Fi solutions. Meanwhile, availability of new Wi-Fi HaLow modules from Askey, AcSip, ALFA Networks, AzureWave, Teledatics, MegaChips, Vantron and Quectel are positive signs for wider adoption.

In addition to the WBA and Wi-Fi Alliance, other regional consortia such as the 802.11ah Promotion Council (AHPC), which seek to help accelerate the commercialization of HaLow in Japan, are also becoming more active in promoting the technology.

The realization of Wi-Fi HaLow's potential will hinge on the ability of the technology to overcome a number of challenges and to create a compelling value proposition, ecosystem, and regulatory environment for the technology.

Arguably the biggest challenge for Wi-Fi HaLow technology to overcome is the regional divergence in sub-1 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum availability, transmit power, and duty cycle restrictions. This not only potentially adds complexity to product design, but also means that some of the major higher throughput benefits and use cases for HaLow may not apply to all regions, limiting the utility of the technology. However, work is ongoing to increase the spectrum availability for Wi-Fi HaLow around the world, and various regions are currently exploring options for additional sub-1 GHz spectrum.

Given its relative immaturity, Wi-Fi HaLow is not yet a household name. Significant work still needs to be done to increase awareness of the technology and the benefits it can provide in relation to the competition. More effort also needs to go into showing how Wi-Fi HaLow is an extension of Wi-Fi technology into the sub-1 GHz band and not just another IoT technology adding complexity to an already crowded ecosystem. The HaLow ecosystem should also look to foster additional vertical-level partnerships to help accelerate adoption of the technology within the smart home, commercial building, industrial, and other key sectors that can benefit from the technology.

Wi-Fi HaLow has also entered a hugely competitive landscape of IoT wireless connectivity technologies. This includes Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE), Zigbee and Thread, Z-Wave, proprietary 2.4 GHz, and sub-1 GHz, Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), LoRa, and Sigfox, and 5G Reduced Capability (RedCap), among others. In addition, with the continued proliferation of low-cost Wi-Fi 4 and low-power innovation from Wi-Fi 6, some of the greatest competition is coming from within the Wi-Fi ecosystem itself. These solutions, regardless of the development of Wi-Fi HaLow, will continue to exist in the years to come. Wi-Fi HaLow advocates should, therefore, continue to emphasise and promote the unique differentiators of Wi-Fi HaLow such as extended range capabilities, superior robustness and building penetration, and scalability both in terms of the number of end nodes and the number of use cases that can be supported. Furthermore, while HaLow may not be as low-cost as some alternatives, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of deploying HaLow technology can be considerably lower due to the ease of deployment through reduced installation and maintenance costs, the use of subscription-free unlicensed spectrum, simplified integration into existing buildings, and the extended range of star topology, which requires less additional costly infrastructure to be deployed compared to the alternatives.

Annual shipments of Wi-Fi HaLow-enabled devices are expected to grow from approximately 7.5 million in 2023 to nearly 108 million by 2029. ABI Research expects this to be driven by significant adoption within smart home, smart building, asset tracking, and inventory management applications, alongside a whole host of other IoT applications, including video surveillance, industrial sensors, Point of Sale (POS) terminals, connected agriculture, smart metering, smart street lighting, smart parking, and healthcare patient monitoring. However, much will also depend on the timeline of integration of Wi-Fi HaLow within residential and enterprise WLAN infrastructure. If the adoption of Wi-Fi HaLow technology within Wi-Fi APs, mesh nodes, and enterprise APs and IoT gateways is swifter, then ABI Research expects wider Wi-Fi HaLow end node device adoption to occur more rapidly. Similarly, new entrants to the chipset and module ecosystem, adoption from leading consumer device manufacturers, and integration into other potential hub devices such as smart speakers could also further accelerate HaLow's adoption.

Now that these trials have proven the viability of the technology, the continued development of Wi-Fi HaLow technology, growing awareness of the technology, and the formation of a global Wi-Fi HaLow ecosystem will be crucial next steps in determining the future success of the technology. To achieve this, advocates for HaLow technology across different regions, alongside the broader Wi-Fi ecosystem, must come together to help ensure the long-term viability of Wi-Fi in the sub-1 GHz band.