According to ABI Research, Wi-Fi HaLow technology, the sub-1 GHz extension of Wi-Fi, is poised to transform the IoT market as adoption is expected to surge from several million Wi-Fi HaLow-enabled devices in 2024 to over 100 million by 2029. This growth can be attributed to its ability to address key connectivity challenges in industries like smart home automation, smart building management, connected agriculture, industrial IoT, and more.
“Wi-Fi HaLow offers robust, long-range connectivity with low power consumption, making it an ideal solution for whole home, building, facility, or neighborhood level IoT applications requiring reliable, scalable wireless deployments,” said Andrew Zignani, Senior Research Director, ABI Research. “By operating in the sub-1 GHz spectrum, Wi-Fi HaLow provides enhanced signal penetration, enabling operation of beyond 1km in certain configurations, an up to 10X longer range compared to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. Meanwhile, it can support thousands of devices from a single Access Point (AP), reducing deployment complexity and total cost of ownership (TCO) compared to other IoT technologies.”
There are other benefits driving Wi-Fi HaLow’s adoption. Due to its ability to support multiple channel bandwidths, Wi-Fi HaLow can enable both large-scale sensor networks with more limited throughput requirements as well as indoro and outdoor video surveillance applications, which reqwuire significantly higher data rates of up to tens of Mbps.
With low power consumption, devices can operate for months or years without frequent battery replacements, essential for smart homes and industrial applications. Additionally, by leveraging unlicensed spectrum like conventional Wi-Fi, it reduces the total cost of ownership through the avoidance of additional subscription, network operation, or traffic charges, which can be cost prohibitive in deployments of thousands of client devices. By supporting IP natively, Wi-Fi HaLow can reduce any potential network architecture, setup, and device management challenges. Finally, Wi-Fi HaLow can help reduce the burden on congested Wi-Fi frequency bands, enhancing network performance.
“With the growing availability of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow chipsets and modules, numerous devices are now hitting the market, proving the technology’s value,” added Zignani. “Wi-Fi HaLow is gaining significant traction in sectors such as smart home automation, industrial monitoring, and video applications, with its enormous potential now starting to be realised in other verticals such as smart retail, smart building, smart cities, and connected agriculture. The global ecosystem for Wi-Fi HaLow is expanding rapidly, bolstered by ongoing chipset innovations from leading vendors, including Morse Micro, and strategic partnerships in key verticals like agriculture, healthcare, and logistics.
“As awareness grows, Wi-Fi HaLow will accelerate its integration into consumer and enterprise solutions, becoming a leading choice for next-gen IoT networks due to its seamless compatibility with existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. Different parts of the IoT ecosystem should, therefore, look toward Wi-Fi HaLow to enable new use cases, help create valuable new services and experiences, and accelerate digital transformation of their enterprises.”
These findings come from ABI Research’s whitepaper ‘How Wi-Fi HaLow is Poised to Transform the IoT Market’.
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