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7 Higher Data Rates Do Count So back to raw data rates. Our appetite for ever higher data rates seems insatiable. So, let's take a look at where we came from and where are we going, as shown in the following table: It's important to note that this table focuses on raw data rate. But of course, we all know that in real life usage, there is often a significant difference between raw data rate and actual throughput, which can be half or even less of the raw data rate. In light of that, it's good to know that while IEEE 802.11ax (planned for 2019) does include a modest increase in raw data rate, its main intention is to increase the actual throughput by a factor of 4 as compared to IEEE 802.11ac. This capacity improvement will result through splitting up multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) communication streams and assigning them to different users for throughput optimization. Bluetooth ® on Steroids? Another example of the race for more bandwidth is the 60GHz family of IEEE 802.11 standards (originally under WiGig ™ , but now back in the Wi-Fi Alliance ™ ). The first one (IEEE 802.11ad) has been available for several years but has not yet been widely adopted—and the next generation is already in the works, as shown here: Unfortunately, there is a problem with 60GHz—it cannot penetrate walls, and therefore it "stays" in the room. But wait, is this really a problem? If it stays in the room, that means it does not interfere with the usage of the same channel/ frequency in the other rooms, much less the neighbors. Sounds kind of ideal, doesn't it? One may really wonder: If 60GHz 8011.ad has existed for years, why hasn't the market jumped on it yet? Something Is Wrong To understand this, let's compare it to our road system. We have freeways connecting cities, big through-roads connecting neighborhoods, and the small streets in the neighborhoods. There is a hierarchy. And this hierarchy makes sense. You don't have freeways in neighborhoods or small streets connecting large cities. But for Internet in our homes, the situation is different. ©2018 Qorvo, Inc. Raw Data Rates by Protocol Protocol Year Frequency (GHz) Number of Channels Max Data Rate (Mb/s) Max Channel Width (MHz) 802.11 1997 2.4 3 2 22 802.11a 1999 5 19 54 20 802.11b 1999 2.4 3 11 22 802.11g 2003 2.4 4 54 20 802.11n 2009 2.4 or 5 2/9 600 40 802.11ac 2014 5 5 6,900 160 802.11ax 2019 2.4 or 5 5 9,600 160 ©2018 Qorvo, Inc. Raw Data Rates for 60 GHz Protocols Protocol Year Frequency (GHz) Number of Channels (*) Max Data Rate (Mb/s) Max Channel Width (MHz) 802.11ad 2016 60 3/4 7,000 2,160 802.11ay 2020 60 3/4 44,000 2,160

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