IEEE 802.11ah is a wireless IoT networking protocol also called Wi-Fi HaLow.
Developed and implemented by Comsis the IP addresses all industrial IoT markets including M2M markets. It uses 900 MHz unlicensed bands to provide extended range Wi-Fi networks up to 1,5km compared to conventional Wi-Fi networks operating in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. It also benefits from lower energy consumption, allowing the creation of large groups of stations or sensors that cooperate to share signals, supporting the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The protocol is intended to be extensively deployed with its low power consumption, its wider coverage range.
This is accomplished by a combination of enhanced MAC and PHY implementations including reduced contention, Power saving mode, sectorization with advanced signal processing techniques to cope with new IoT use cases.
The 802.11ah IoT protocol will see early widescale applications for a large number of use cases in Industry 4.0 (logistics, robotics, manufacturing,…) where others IoT cellular protocols, ie LTE M, NBIoT, will not be used because of their higher Capec/Opex and the risks attached with the theft of the Operator's data.
IEEE 802.11ah MAC/PHY
Overview
Key Features
- PHY Features
- 1 MHz and 2 MHz channel width.
- Next to come: 4, 8, 16MHz channel width
- S1G_1M, S1G_SHORT PPDU
- Detect and decode SIG-A field of the S1G_LONG preamble
- Single spatial stream MCSs 0 to 7, and MCS10 (for 1 MHz PPDU only)
- Binary convolutional coding
- Normal Guard Interval TGI (8 us)
- Fixed Pilots
- MCS mode 0,…,7
- Modulation: BPSK,…, 64QAM
- Data Rates (Mbps): 0.65, …, 6.5
- Processing clock: 8MHz
- MAC features
- Mandatory MAC including TXOP, RID, SST, TWT, AID,…, RAW
- PHY Interface
Benefits
- Value - hardware agnostic & silicon proven IPs
- Comsis IPs is already ported onto FPGAs (90% market share) The advantages : competition and purchasing strategy, interoperability of interfaces, SoC architecture oriented.
- Comsis IPs integrate all the elements of the digital channel and radio control (CAG, radio calibration) including DAC and ADC converters
- Using Comsis’ library means the FPGA libraries are not necessary in order for things to work.
- The client can develop his PoC/SoC or prototypes using the IPs on the silicon platforms of his choice.
- Comsis is recognised for its expertise in making and supporting developments in the whole digital channel and radio.
- The client has access to the more than 25 years of experience of Comsis in real applications
- The client, when buying IP, will gain significant cost reductions during the development cycle which can attain several million dollars
Applications
- Backhaul networks for sensors
- Data collector and Control for 5G/Wi-Fi networks
- Extended Wi-Fi Range for Cellular Traffic Off-loading
- Sensor Networks in Home and factory 4.0
- Smart sensors and meters
- Secure IoT networks with Advanced radio ressource management
- Robotics, factory 4.0, warehouses
Deliverables
- Reference User Manual,
- Reference design documentation and FPGA synthesis and simulation scripts,
- Reference board with RF daughter card,
- Fully synthesizable RTL VHDL-Verilog source code of the PHY layer and MAC low layer
- Self-checking PHY Testbench configured by testcases /verification specification
Technical Specifications
Maturity
TRL 8
Availability
immediate for IEEE802.11ah PHY layer