The 802.11ac wave 2 standard will effectively double bandwidth
The new MU-MIMO feature was also introduced
Wi-Fi Alliance expects 96 percent devices to be dual-band by 2020
Wi-Fi Alliance, an association that approves Wi-Fi products and
maintains industry standards, on Wednesday announced new features of the
'Wi-Fi Certified ac' programme with an aim to improve the performance
of the mobility experience.
The body has announced the new
"802.11ac wave 2" standard, claimed to enable Wi-Fi to "more efficiently
handle high-bandwidth applications" from an increasing number of
smartphones, tablets, TVs, and other products simultaneously connected
to Wi-Fi networks. The doubling of bandwidth per channel should in ideal
conditions should double performance, including speed.
Another
new feature added in the new 802.11ac wave 2 standard is Multi-user
Multiple Input Multiple Output or MU-MIMO which is touted as one of the
most anticipated new features. It allows more devices to operate
simultaneously on the same network without "sacrificing speed or
performance."
"Networks with MU-MIMO are capable of multitasking
by sending data to multiple devices at once rather than one-at-a-time,
improving overall network efficiency and throughput," points out Wi-Fi
Alliance.
With the new spec update, Wi-Fi Certified ac increases
the maximum channel bandwidth from 80MHz channels to 160MHz channels and
also extends 5GHz channel support. The organisation expects that 96
percent of devices will offer dual-band connectivity by 2020, says the
access points supporting new features will dominate the market within
the next five years.
Some of the Wi-Fi Certified ac products to
support the new features include Broadcom BCM94709R4366AC, Marvell
Avastar 88W8964, MediaTek MT7615 AP (Reference Design), and MT6632 STA
(Reference Design), Qualcomm IPQ8065 802.11ac (4-stream Dual-band,
Dual-concurrent Router), and Quantenna QSR1000 (4x4 802.11ac Wave 2
Chipset Family).
Announcing the new standard, Edgar Figueroa, President and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance said, "In
today's world, people have more Wi-Fi devices per person and per
household, and those devices require significantly more bandwidth. Wi-Fi
Alliance updated the Wi-Fi Certified ac program to meet increasing user
demands and to stay ahead of emerging applications, while preserving
interoperability."
SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launches 28 Starlink Satellites to Orbit From Florida9 May 2025
Search
![[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+: A Game-Changer for Students](https://c.ndtvimg.com/2025-05/hkk372hk_image_160x120_03_May_25.png?downsize=180:*)
