Wi-Fi is continuing to evolve as Wi-Fi 4 came out in 2009; Wi-Fi 5 debuted in 2013 and Wi-Fi 6 came out in 2019. This kind of progression is typical for the industry, explained Pelle Svensson, Segment Manager, Connected Health EMEA at u-blox, in an exclusive conversation with IoT Insider, to talk about this evolution, technical considerations and how Wi-Fi 6 and 7 are being used in hospitals.
According to ABI Research’s projections, shipments of Wi-Fi 4 are expected to remain steady at 120-130 million a year and single-band devices making up 75%. Shipments of Wi-Fi 6 modules, however, are expected to exceed both Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 shipments, making up more than 200 million devices in 2026 – testament to its popularity.
Defining Wi-Fi 6
After Wi-Fi 5 came out in 2013, “the industry came to the conclusion that we need more speed,” said Svensson, which brought about Wi-Fi 6, in 2019. “But we need to be careful about the spectrum,” he stressed. The more traffic in the air, the greater likelihood of collision and interference, which will upset the user. The development of Wi-Fi 6, therefore, was cognizant of this.
Consequently, Wi-Fi 6 can handle more clients in one network compared with previous versions of Wi-Fi. “Previously, an access point would have to spend one time slot per device,” explained Svensson. “For Wi-Fi 6, the time slot was divided into resource units and the access point can decide, depending on what the use case requires, communicating with two or three or four clients – or even only one client in a time slot.”
Wi-Fi 6E is an extension of Wi-Fi 6, which builds on Wi-Fi 6 technology but with the key differentiation being Wi-Fi 6E devices can operate in the 6 GHz band, which ensures faster speeds and lower latency.
Svensson explained that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has now opened up the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use. Prior to adoption, services for utilities, public safety and wireless backhaul populated this band. In the official announcement, the FCC explained that opening up the band for unlicensed use will deliver new devices and applications to American consumers, and help with connectivity in rural areas.
The US approach can be characterised by their decision to open up the band for unlicensed use, but with requirements in place including using the latest security features such as WPA3 and Management Frame Protection 802.11w. The European approach, however, has been to keep the 6GHz band[PS1] closed for unlicensed use and keep these bands separate.
Because both of these approaches are opposite to one another, Svensson was asked which approach he thought was best, and he said the US: “The FCC knows where all these licensed, legacy devices are positioned on the map. Each access point needs to know where each device is located – whether it’s close to a licensed device communicating, in which case you need to reduce your output power; but if there is no device nearby, you can use full Wi-Fi output power.”
Wi-Fi 6 and 7 in hospitals
The overarching theme of the conversation was to discuss how operating on Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 is bringing a multitude of benefits to hospitals.
A reliable connection is imperative to hospitals, where common scenarios such as monitoring a patient necessitate a reliable connection to ensure the continuous transfer of data. “If a patient is moving around in the hospital and you’re moving out of reach from one access point you need to switch to another one. This has to be good, which means fast, with no interruptions or as short as possible; 10-15 seconds is not acceptable,” he explained.
“Security is always important and is becoming more so with all the hacking that is going on in hospitals,” Svensson said, not long after a ransomware hack of an NHS IT vendor forced three London hospitals to reschedule 1000+ appointments and surgeries. If the devices aren’t secure, Svensson summarised, it provides an easy entrance point for threat actors.
All the different connected devices that monitor patient’s conditions, like ECG, oxygen saturation and so on, explain why the use of Wi-Fi 6 makes sense. “There are already wirelessly connected devices today but the majority are using Bluetooth Low Energy. With Wi-Fi 6, there is now the possibility to add Wi-Fi devices,” said Svensson.
Key takeaways
The key takeaways from the conversation were that Wi-Fi 6, 6E and 7 bring more to the table than just higher data rates; they bring improved spectrum efficiency, which is especially beneficial in hospitals that have a growing number of medical devices, and support for low power devices.
Consumers and industries like the automotive industry are partly responsible for driving forward these developments, whose requirements for gaming, going online, streaming videos and music as well as providing diagnostic data and firmware updates, “requires more and more data rate to have that high quality of streaming,” he explained.
“Automotives is an important business for u-blox in general,” continued Svensson. “Cars today want to communicate with the outside world, provide data about diagnostics, perform firmware updates in the car; all of which is generating more data, so the data rate is just as important in this scenario as well.”
The ongoing evolution of Wi-Fi and its developments, and the insights of experts like Svensson to provide clarity, show that the future is bright (and well connected).
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