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Wi-Fi Alliances Announces Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6

Announced at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, the Wi-Fi Alliance announces a new certification program centered around 802.11ax, or Wi-Fi 6.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 is expected to be released in the 3rd quarter of 2019.

In the announcement, Wi-Fi Alliance references the key capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 and how it will improve all Wi-Fi networks. It may be too early to tell which of the key features will be a requirement for Wi-Fi 6 certification.

The new Wi-Fi Alliance certification highlights the following 802.11ax capabilities:

  • Uplink and downlink OFDMA
  • MU-MIMO increased capability
  • Higher data rates
  • 1024-QAM
  • Target wake time (TWT)

802.11ax is not yet ratified. With the expected release of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6, should we expect IEEE to ratify 802.11ax October 2019?

Here’s a timeline grabbed from two locations. The first timeline came from the 802.11ax task group webpage:

As you can see, as of November 2018 there needs to be a Draft 4.0 review. The timeline hasn’t been updated since.

Here’s a WLPC 2017 presentation by Dr. Eldad Perahia showing a timeline:

It appears there may have been delays but we may get actual ratification closer to 2020.

Author
Rowell

Rowell, CWNE #210, is a network engineer in Higher-Ed. He enjoys working with wireless networking technologies and loves to share and engage with the community. You can connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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