The Future of Wi-Fi Technology:

Looking Ahead to the Future

Osama Aboul-Magd

The Chair of IEEE 802.11 ac, IEEE 802.11 HEW SG

1

2

3

4

Wi-Fi Technology Evolution

Content

Wi-Fi Deployment Trends

Future Challenges

Wi-Fi Future Directions

The advance of technology is based on

making it fit in so that you dont really notice it, so it becomes part of everyday life

Bill Gates

Wi-Fi Everywhere Public Transportation

Public Area

Large Corporation SMB

Schools

hot spot

Residential Healthcare

Evolution of Wi-Fi Technology: The

Holly Grail

Mainly driven by technological advances in communication Systems and signal processing

The main focus has been on increasing link throughput usually by an order of magnitude

Strong desire to maintain backward compatibility allowing legacy

devices (a/b/g) to work with advanced devices (n/ac)

OFDM MIMO MU MIMO (??)

54 Mbps (a/g)

100 Mbps

(n)

1000 Mbps (ac)

10 Gbps (??)

IEEE 802.11 Technology Evolution Motivated by advances in technology as well as increased

popularity, IEEE 802.11 WLAN supported data rates have increased 1000,000,00 times over the past 2 decades

6

IEEE 802.11

Legacy

A/B/G

HT and VHT

N

AC

mmWave

AD

White Spaces

AF

Sub 1 G

AH

2.4 and 5GHz Bands

Extensions to New Bands

State of the Art: IEEE 802.11ac Operates in the 5GHz band. In the 2.4 GHz, an 11ac device behaves like an

802.11n device. Key features that enable data rates up to 6.9 Gbps

Up to 8 antennas and spatial streams Wider channel bandwidth (20/40/80/160/80+80 MHz) Downlink Multi-User MIMO 256 QAM

First generation ac chips are already available in the market Supporting data rate up to 1.3 Gbps (3 spatial streams and 80 MHz)

Usage cases cover both enterprise and home 45% of Enterprise plan to deploy IEEE 802.11ac in their production network

Focus is on link throughput , rather than efficient use of spectrum resources

11ac is backward compatible with 11a and 11n.

Contents

1

2

3

4

Wi-Fi Technology Evolution

Wi-Fi Deployment Trends

Future Challenges

Wi-Fi Future Directions

Wi-Fi is playing an increasingly important

role in Enterprise Networks

The Road to Mobility

Dumb terminals connected to a central mainframe

IBM and its SNA were dominant

Smart desktops

Distributed connectivity

Routers and Ethernet switching are dominant

Devices with WiFi interfaces appear in the market

End users get a taste of mobility

Cloud-based services

Mobility and BOYD

1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and beyond

Over the past decades Enterprise networks have evolved in tune with technological advances in networking.

Evolution was aided by the increased network speeds. Wireless LAN allowed Enterprise customers to enjoy mobility. Mobility is

now entrenched as one of the features that must be supported.

Enterprise WLAN

Wi-Fi allow Enterprise users to enjoy mobility.

Wi-Fi interfaces available on almost all devices

led the Enterprise to switch

from single-device support

to bring you own device

(BYOD) paradigm.

AC

AP

Enterprise Wi-Fi Deployment Trends- Increased Mobility

Increased support for mobility Percentage of mobile

devices is increasing

31% support a majority of mobile devices

Migration from single-device support to BYOD

More than 75%,

10%

50%-70%, 21%

25%-49%, 22%

10%-24%, 23%

less than 10%, 21%

InformationWeek 2013 Wireless LAN Survey of 419 business technology

professionals, December 2012

Mobile Devices as Percentage of Total Wireless Clients

Enterprise Wi-Fi Deployment Trends- More Wireless Traffic

More and more traffic is crossing the wireless infrastructure

Enterprise is moving from an 80:20 (wired:wireless ports) model to 20:80 model

Increased traffic volume demands higher available bit rate.

Exploded, 21%

Increased somewhat,

64%

Stayed the same, 11%

Decreased, 1% Don't know , 3%

InformationWeek 2013 Wireless LAN Survey of 419 business technology

professionals, December 2012

Change in Wireless Traffic Over the Past Year

Enterprise Wi-Fi Deployment Trends- Migration to 802.11n

Migration from legacy to faster technologies supporting higher data rates.

Access Points by Technology: 802.11a/b/g vs n vs ac

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

CY10 CY11 CY12 CY13 CY14 CY15 CY16

Un

it s

hip

men

ts (

%)

.11a/b/g .11n .11ac

Infonetics research Inc, 2Q12

Enterprise Wi-Fi Deployment Trends Dual/Triple Band Devices

Legacy

Single band N

Dual Band N

Dual Band N

Dual BAND AC (5G) and N (2.4G)

Triple Band N

(2.4G), AC (5G), AD

(60G)

Total Shipments ~

1.5 Billion

Total Shipments ~

3.0 Billion

2012 2016

Huawei WLAN Product Development

Huaweis Vision

High-density cover solution High Performance

Dynamic load sharing Intra-AC Layer2/3 Roaming

High Availability

Integrated wireless security BYOD solution Wireless location management Smart terminal identification

Smart Management

Huaweis Portfolio 802.11a/b/g/n AP

AP6310SN(150Mbps) Indoor distributed

Access Points

AP6510DN (300Mbps x2) 2x2 Dual Band, GE RJ45 Uplink, PoE Power supply

AP6610DN (300Mbps x2) 2x2 Dual Band, GE SFP/RJ45 Uplink, AC Power supply

AP5010SN(300Mbps) AP5010DN(300Mbps x2

Small or midsize enterprises

AP7110SN(450 Mbps) midsize enterprises

Indoor

AP5030DN/AP5130DN(V2R5) Indoor 11ac dual-band AP, 1.75Gbps

AP7030DE(V2R5) Indoor 11ac dual-band AP, 1.75Gbps

AP7110DN(450Mbps x2) midsize enterprises

AP6010SN(300Mbps) AP6010DN(300Mbps x2)

Midmarket

802.11a/b/g/n/ac AP

Outdoor 11ac AP

WLAN AC

AC6605(64~512AP) AC60058~128AP S97/S77 ACU2 (V2R5)

Huawei 11ac Products: AP 7030DE

Key features

1.3Gbps@5G, 3x3 MIMO, 256QAM, 80MHz

580Mbps@2.4G, 256QAM, 40MHz

Spectrum analysis

Smart Antenna

Beamforming

11ac compatible with 11n

Benefits to Customers

The 1.3 Gbps bandwidth brings a leap in the

wireless network access rate

802.11ac mitigates problems of QoS, channel

collision, and interference

The high network access rate and good network

performance greatly improve user experience

802.11ac APs reduce power consumption

802.11a/b/g

MIMO: none

Frequency width: 20 MHz

Coding format:

QPSK/DPSK/DBPSK

Transmission rate:

11M/54Mbps

802.11n

MIMO: simultaneous transmission

of up to 4 spatial streams

Frequency width: 20 MHz 40 MHz

Coding format: maximum of

64QAM

Frame aggregation

Transmission rate: 150-600Mbps

MIMO: simultaneous transmission of

up to 8 spatial streams

Frequency width: 80 MHz, 160 MHz

Coding format: maximum of

256QAM

Frame aggregation

Transmission rate: 400M-6Gbps

802.11ac

Contents

1

2

3

4

Wi-Fi Technology Evolution

Wi-Fi Deployment Trends

Future Challenges

Wi-Fi Future Directions

Looking Ahead to the Future: What Comes Next?

Wireless LAN technology will continue to evolve to satisfy emerging and future requirements.

However there are challenges.

Traffic Growth

Annual global IP traffic will pass the Zettabyte threshold by end of 2016. IP traffic has been dominated by video traffic

Video traffic will be 55% of all consumer Internet traffic by 2016

Emerging Usage Cases

Cloud based applications supporting VDI (Virtual Desktop infrastructure) access and VHD video streaming.

Cloud-based VDI requirements are: 100 Mbps, best effort.

Video requirements are: ~600Mbps, jitter is

Enterprise Cloud Computing

Higher adoption of Cloud services require bigger pipe/higher bandwidths, and the implementation of

converged networks

Source: Cisco Global Cloud Index: Forecast and Methodology, 20112016

Cloud Traffic Growth by Region

Example Future Usage Case: Public Access and Cellular Offload

streaming video

Talking over video phone

VPN access to the office

Airports and train stations are typical places where many service providers install their APs and many passengers use WLAN services.

Challenges Modulation and coding gain is approaching its theoretical limits. Further

increase in link throughput may not be easy. Wi-Fi technology is penetrating the carrier space with possibly different

set of requirements for offloading, e.g QoS/QoE support. Dense stations and access points deployments are now the norm. Access

for all should be maintained. Traditionally deployed indoor, Wi-Fi is increasingly deployed outdoor with

different channel conditions. Large discrepancy between useful throughput (Goodput) and physical

layer throughput. Spectrum availability is subject of government regulations.

Martin Sims, of the UK organization Policy Tracker, asked the regulators and ministers in attendance to ponder if radio spectrum is as important for economic growth in the 21st century, as oil was in the 20th century.

Promotes efficient use of the available spectrum resources.

What to do with legacy devices?

1

2

3

4

Wi-Fi Technology Evolution

Wi-Fi Deployment Trends

Future Challenges

Wi-Fi Future Directions

WLAN Inefficiency Factors With the increasing dependency on Wi-Fi technology,

attention is now turning to efficient use of available resources.

Several factors are contributing to inefficiencies in current WLAN Deployments Protocol issues

Too many management frames used for association

Medium Access Control (MAC) issues MAC layer throughput is low compared to PHY row throughput

Existence of legacy devices Severely impacts overall performance

Interference Overlapping BSS (OBSS) and other sources of interference

WLAN Standards: Future Directions

The IEEE 802.11 WG has formed a new SG with the objective to define a new project with the objective to achieve a highly efficient WLAN The SG name is High Efficiency WLAN or HEW Huawei was among the leaders in the formation of

the HEW SG Currently Huawei holds the chair position of HEW

The HEW SG had its first meeting in May 2013. Huge interest in the new activity

The goal to define project scope and feasibility analysis by mid next year.

IEEE 802.11

Legacy

A/B/G

HT and VHT

N

AC

HEW

mmWave

AD

White Spaces

AF

Sub 1 G

AH

Where HEW May Fit in IEEE 802.11 WG

2.4 and 5GHz Bands

Extensions to New Bands

HEW is likely to focus on improved and efficient operation of 11n and 11ac

High Efficiency WLAN (HEW) SG

High Efficiency WLAN (HEW) study group may result in a new flavor of IEEE 802.11 WLAN.

HEW stated focus:

Improving spectrum efficiency and area throughput

Improve real world performance in indoor and outdoor deployments

In the presence of interfering sources, dense heterogeneous deployments

In moderate to heavy user loaded APs.

HEW SG Tenets (1/2)

Spectrum Efficiency and Area Throughput Area Throughput = (Modulation & Coding Gain) X BSS

density Modulation & Coding Gain is approaching its theoretical

limits. Increasing BSS density is one way for increasing Area

Throughput. Dense deployments of stations and access points is among

the main discussion points in HEW.

Indoor and outdoor Traditionally WLAN specs focused on indoor analysis. Inclusion of outdoor may result in some changes in WLAN

design

HEW SG Tenets (2/2)

Interfering sources, dense heterogeneous deployments

Improve performance with multiple OBSS deployed and managed by different authorities.

Moderate to heavy loads

Can WLAN really offer any QoS/QoE guarantees?

WLAN operates in unlicensed bands where it is difficult to predict sources of interference.

HEW Potential

With less emphasize on link throughput, HEW has the potential to provide a new flavor of WLAN Improved area throughput and cell-edge

performance

Collaboration rather than coexistence between neighboring BSSs.

Use of spectral efficient modulations, e.g. OFDMA and its associated scheduler for enhanced QoS/QoE.

Coordinated Transmissions

AP2

STA1

STA3

AP1

Interference

Suppression STA2

STA4

AP2

STA1

STA3

AP1

Interference STA2

STA4

COEXISTENCE COLLABORATION

One AP transmission at a given time

Multiple AP transmissions at a given time

Sensing

Efficient Use of Spectrum

Freq.

Time

802.11a

802.11n

40 MHz

802.11ac

80 MHz

802.11ac

160 MHz

Freq.

Time

802.11a

802.11n

40 MHz

802.11ac

80 MHz

MU-MC

Capable

STA

MU-MC

Capable

STA

Ch.1

Ch.2

Ch.3

Ch.4

Ch.5

Ch.6

Ch.7

Ch.8 MU-MC

Capable

STA

MU-MC

Capable

STA

or,

802.11ac

160 MHz

Ch.1

Ch.2

Ch.3

Ch.4

Ch.5

Ch.6

Ch.7

Ch.8

Spectrum gaps are filled by other users

Closing Remarks

Wi-Fi technology is playing an increasing role as part of the Enterprise.

Traditionally, IEEE 802.11 amendments have focused on increasing single link throughput.

Wi-Fi industry is looking for ways to improve Wi-FI efficiency HEW SG is focusing on improving the efficiency of WLAN

deployment.

HEW effort has the potential to introduce a new flavor of WLAN.

Huawei is leading the industry through product announcements and standard participation.

Copyright 2012 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. The information in this document may contain predictive statements including, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial and operating results, future product portfolio, new technology, etc. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the predictive statements. Therefore, such information is provided for reference purpose only and constitutes neither an offer nor an acceptance. Huawei may change the information at any time without notice.

Thank you www.huawei.com