宣布Wi-Fi认证™AC认证计划with wave 2 features, we expect to see the market adoption for 802.11ac wave 2 accelerates, especially with the availability of wave 2 capable mobile devices. This wave will deliver better utilization and performance to meet the needs of today's mobile-first networks.
Like other Wi-Fi predecessors – 802.11a/b/g/n, 802.11ac will eventually be augmented by the next generation Wi-Fi standard. So, what's coming next and when can we expect it?
在许多其他标准IEEE的进度管lines, 802.11ax is the definite successor of 802.11ac. It is built on top of 802.11ac with additional features to enhance Wi-Fi performance in dense environments. To put simply, it is an extension of 802.11ac but with advanced technologies and higher data speeds that can go up to around 10Gbps – that is about 4X of the maximum data rate a wave 2 access point can support today in the 5GHz band. It will be backward compatible with the previous Wi-Fi standards. Let's take a look at the details.
802.11ax的新功能到底是什么？
Different from other IEEE Wi-Fi standards that intend to improve the PHY data rate of the network, the goal of 802.11ax is to increase the MAC layer speed for multiple users. In other words, 802.11ax will use what we have, such as frequency, channel, and space, more efficiently rather than blindly increase the data rate. It provides medium controlled access to maximize Wi-Fi capacity via OFDM-A and improved MU-MIMO.
在5GHz中有限数量的40/80/160MHz通道，如何提高现有通道的光谱效率是Wi-Fi性能的关键。802.11AX中的新型OFDM-A功能支持新的较小数据速率的子渠道化，从而使4倍的数据传输效率更高。802.11AX还扩展了802.11ac的MU-MIMO功能，并增加了4个空间流，并添加了上行链路（UL）MU-MIMO功能。鉴于所有这些改进在802.11ax中，单个802.11AC流的最大数据速度将从866Mbps增加到3.5Gbps；或4个空间流约为14Gbps。图1显示了从802.11ac到802.11ax的40/80/160MHz的单个流的数据速率增加。
图1：单流数据速率从802.11ac增加到802.11ax
现在，我们知道802.11ax可以提供巨大的快速数据速度，并将以很大的利润来提高Wi-Fi性能。问题是：
- 我们将如何使用它？
- 与其前任相比，它有任何限制吗？
在哪里使用802.11ax？
密度，密度，密度！具有超高的数据速率和双向（下行链路和上行链路）MU-MIMO功能，802.11AX将是非常稠密的室内和室外环境的理想选择，包括多端的住宅建筑，企业，较大的场所和热点等。不仅在具有严重干扰的混合部署环境中，Wi-Fi必须与其他访问技术共存，不仅在更快的数据传输中，而且是可靠的Wi-Fi连接。
企业可以利用802.11ax中改进的多用户性能来扩展其现有的Wi-Fi，以获得更好的用户体验，而不会拆除以前的网络。随着BYOD，IoT，视频和移动应用程序的增长，Enterprise员工期望在任何地方和随时随地的每个设备都不会延迟相同的高性能。许多企业应用程序（例如Skype for Business）也取决于快速可靠的Wi-Fi网络。物联网设备的数量预计将超过到2020年380亿。使用802.11ax，即使是单个流设备也可以传递超过1Gbps的数据速率 - 这肯定会在不久的将来满足密集企业环境中的数据需求。图2显示了在密集环境中的样本802.11Ax用例。
图2：802.11ax在密集的演讲厅中 - 样本
802.11AX的性质也使其成为用于住宅，多居住建筑和大型零售商店的托管Wi-Fi服务的理想数据解决方案。它在严重干扰和有效的数据传输过程中保持连接的能力使移动操作员能够更好地利用其资源，同时为众多移动设备提供可靠的数据连接。图3显示了购物中心中托管802.11AX Wi-Fi服务的示例用例。
图3：购物中心中的802.11AX WI -FI - 样品
下一步是什么？
ABI Research forecasts that 802.11ax will account for 57 percent of Wi-Fi chipsets by 2021 while the first 802.11ax chipsets won't be ready till 2018. Based on IEEE's standard schedule, 802.11ax certification will be finalized in 2019. We expect the 802.11ax hardware to be released before the certification programs. However, as we see in today's 802.11ac market, the device vendors often move slower than infrastructure vendors. That may slightly delay the market adoption for 802.11ax for a few months to a year. Nevertheless, sooner or later, 802.11ax is coming as the next exciting technology to bring Wi-Fi to a new level.
我应该等待802.11ax吗？
不！在首次亮相之前，让我们用成熟的802.11ac来拥抱千兆Wi-Fi，尤其是Wave 2已经提供了非常高性能的。Wave 2的多gabit速度和下行链路（DL）MU-MIMO获得了极大的收益，这些客户对迫切需要更高的整体网络容量和出色的应用程序经验的客户有益。对于第2波产品和解决方案的详细信息，请检查Aruba 802.11ac投资组合。
Aruba is one of the IEEE participating organizations and has been actively involved in 802.11ax standard formalization. For 802.11ax tech dive, please watch Aruba IEEE representativeChuck Lukaszewski's presentation在无线LAN专业会议上。
