Wi-Fi Alliance Radiates Outward

Work spans 900 MHz IoT to 60 GHz backhaul

Jessica Lipsky
EETimes (1/28/2015 07:00 PM EST)

SAN FRANCISCO – The Wi-Fi Alliance, which has certified Wi-Fi devices since 1999, faces increasing challenges to meet requirements to raise performance and lower power for a widening variety of uses including the emerging Internet of Things.

“Every time you expand it makes things more complex. Technology demands change and you have to do more things to keep up,” Kelly Davis, vice president of marketing for Wi-Fi Alliance, told EE Times. “Additionally, a device we certify today will need to be able to talk to devices we certified in March 2000.”

Davis said the underlying Wi-Fi technology is adding capabilities and the Alliance is putting in place certification programs to ensure backward compatibility for them. Among the new variants is 802.11ah -- a lower power, longer range option with a smaller chip footprint. It is geared for IoT and coin cell operated devices and is due in 2017.

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