Transmit through obstructions – One of the biggest issues for wireless connectivity in facilities is signal penetration through the environment. Whether it is walls in an office building or MDU, metal racks in a warehouse, or machinery in a factory, signal obstruction is a major challenge. Operating in a lower frequency band, HaLow can get through. This reduces the need for additional access points (APs) or repeaters, lowering hardware, installation, and
administration costs.
Figure 1: Red Hill Lutheran buildings and parking HaLow Coverage (Source: The Smart School Campus Use Case from WBA’s Wi-Fi HaLow for IoT: Field Trials Report)
Large number of devices – Wi-Fi HaLow can support over 8,000 devices on a single AP. As more systems are connected for monitoring and control, networks are growing in scale. HaLow is ideal for managing these large networks.
Mesh networks – HaLow supports the Wi-Fi mesh standard (802.11s). This allows the network to be extended and directed around obstacles, ensuring good connectivity throughout the facility.
Security – Security is paramount in today’s wireless infrastructure and Wi-Fi HaLow delivers. Building on the long tradition of Wi-Fi, it offers the latest in wireless security.
Ease of installation – Wi-Fi HaLow offers better range and penetration through the environment, and more devices per AP, so it requires less hardware to install.
Ease of Maintenance – Wi-Fi HaLow is Wi-Fi and is maintained just like a traditional Wi-Fi network. It uses all of the same tools that are familiar to network administrators.
Lower power – With less hardware required to support the network comes lower power consumption. In addition, HaLow introduces new low-power features that allow stations to sleep. Deactivating devices when they are not in use can offer substantial savings in some applications.
Offload from traditional Wi-Fi Networks – As IoT devices grow and more building systems are remotely monitored, it is becoming more advantageous to move these devices off of the traditional Wi-Fi networks to prevent congestion. This leaves the traditional networks clear for business applications such as video conferencing, VoIP, email and so forth.
