Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1313794
22 Designing for Next Gen Wi-Fi Applications Linking into Wi-Fi Wi-Fi is taken for granted in the current generation. We are connected almost all the time. I've grown up always being connected to the internet, first through AOL's dial up, and now always being connected through my home Wi-Fi or my phone's data plan. Unless my phone dies, I'm connected almost wherever I go. CNBC, a recognized leader in business news and real-time financial market coverage, reported that over 70 percent of web surfers will use the internet solely on their phone by 2025. Wi-Fi is one of the most widely used technologies today. Open Wi-Fis are found in coffee shops, boutiques, sporting events, and even some grocery stores. Most campuses have Wi-Fi available for their students throughout each building and through the dorms with their ID and password. Wi-Fi has become even more used and important now- a-days as people work or learn from home. The next- generation Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax ) will make it easier for multiple people in a household to hold higher quality work video calls, or better engagement with larger class sizes via distance learning. I've had the pleasure of interviewing Cees Links, General Manager of the Low Power Wireless Business Unit in Qorvo, and one of the leading pioneers of Wi-Fi. He is responsible for the world's first wireless LAN product in 1990 and is still working on the latest Wi-Fi products with Qorvo. 'For the rest, it's Wi-Fi' Wi-Fi 6 will still do the same thing Wi-Fi has always done: connecting you to your latest cute cat videos, downloading your latest Netflix show, or uploading your TikTok. Technology will be working in the background to make things happen more efficiently, speeding up your connection along the way. These changes won't be noticed immediately; but over time as our devices adapt to the new threshold. Wi-Fi 6 could be as fast as 9.6Gbps, about 3.5Gbps faster than the current generation. Although it's unlikely that you'll reach this maximum speed, this big jump could mean faster internet across several devices. Cees Links explains this big difference as a matter of convenience. Until recently, Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 routers had separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks with their own SSID and network IDs that had to be set up. If the Wi-Fi signal is not strong enough throughout a home, an additional repeater will need to be added to the network. "So your whole home network has become a bit of a mission to set-up," Cees says, "You had to change network ID quite Christina Unarut Mouser Electronics Cees Links GM of Qorvo Wireless Connectivity Business Unit, Formerly Founder & CEO of GreenPeak Technologies The Next Generation of Wi-Fi The Next Generation of Wi-Fi