Anjielo Wi-Fi Halow, a powerful long-range HD image transmission tool, details the TXW8301, the world's first Wi-Fi Halow chip.

      Due to the fragmented nature of the IoT market, different scenarios have varying requirements for connectivity technologies. This has led to a wide variety of connectivity technologies, including low-cost short-range wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee; low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies operating in unlicensed frequency bands like LoRaWAN and Sigfox; and relatively high-cost cellular IoT technologies based on carrier networks like NB-IoT, eMTC, and Category 1.

Since Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have long been standard features in smartphones, they have become the most widely used IoT connectivity technologies in the consumer IoT market. However, in many industrial applications, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have limited adoption due to higher requirements for power consumption, transmission distance, and cost.

While Wi-Fi offers advantages over other short-range IoT connectivity technologies, including faster transmission speeds, direct internet access, and low latency, it also consumes more power and costs more, has a transmission range only slightly higher than Bluetooth, and has a limited number of connections. This, in turn, limits Wi-Fi's application in the broader IoT market.

To further expand Wi-Fi's application in the IoT sector, many Wi-Fi chip manufacturers have begun releasing lower-power, lower-cost Wi-Fi chips to compete for the IoT market. Furthermore, some Wi-Fi chip manufacturers are actively promoting the commercialization of Wi-Fi Halow technology, launched by the Wi-Fi Alliance for the IoT market.

What is Wi-Fi Halow? What are its advantages?

As early as March 2016, the Wi-Fi Alliance released a wireless local area network (WLAN) physical layer and media access control layer protocol for the IoT market. This new WLAN system standard, IEEE 802.11ah, operates in the unlicensed frequency band below 1 GHz (750 MHz–930 MHz). This technology is also known as Wi-Fi Halow.

Because Wi-Fi Halow operates in the sub-1 GHz frequency band, it maintains relatively high data rates while achieving longer-range, lower-power connections. This meets the needs of many IoT markets with demanding requirements for transmission speed, distance, and power consumption.

In terms of transmission speed, Wi-Fi Halow offers data rates of up to 86.7 Mbps in the sub-1 GHz band, several orders of magnitude higher than competing IoT technologies such as Sigfox, LoRaWAN, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth Low Energy, NB-IoT, and other dedicated frequency-shift keying (FSK) radio systems.

In terms of transmission distance, Wi-Fi Halow can exceed 3 kilometers (with the addition of a power amplifier), surpassing only long-range wireless LAN technologies like Sigfox and LoRaWAN.

In terms of the number of connections, Wi-Fi Halow's design goal mirrors that of NB-IoT and 5G's mMTC (Massive Machine Type Communications) scenarios: supporting large-scale node associations. Wi-Fi Halow expands the AID range from 2007 to 8191, meaning each Wi-Fi Halow access point can theoretically support up to 8191 connections, enabling direct internet access without the need for a dedicated gateway.

Wi-Fi HaLow's AIDs have been expanded to 8191.

One of the key design criteria for Wi-Fi HaLow technology is low power consumption, enabling battery-powered IoT devices to operate for years. New MAC features enable devices in Wi-Fi HaLow networks to conserve energy, reduce congestion, and increase capacity and device density.

In addition, like other Wi-Fi standards, Wi-Fi HaLow natively supports IP networks, simplifying access to the internet and cloud-based applications. Compared to other IoT connectivity technologies, it eliminates the need for expensive additional infrastructure such as hubs, repeaters, or gateways, further reducing overall costs.

As shown in the chart, while Wi-Fi HaLow may offer some advantages over low-power IoT technologies like LoRaWAN in terms of coverage, it offers advantages in transmission speed, battery life, scalability, ease of IP network integration, installation, and operating costs.

Compared to short-range wireless connection technologies like Bluetooth and Zigbee, Wi-Fi HaLow offers advantages in coverage, scalability, transmission speed, battery life, ease of IP network integration, installation, and operating costs. Even compared to conventional 2.4GHz WiFi, Wi-Fi HaLow offers significant advantages, including a wider coverage area and longer battery life, despite a slightly lower transmission speed.

Wi-Fi HaLow chip suppliers are scarce. Tysin Semiconductor is the first to enter commercial mass production, and ANJIELO SMART TECHNOLOGY manufactures a series of Wi-Fi HaLow products.

Although Wi-Fi HaLow technology holds great promise for application in some IoT markets, Wi-Fi HaLow chip suppliers are currently very scarce.

According to Anjielo, the major manufacturers currently developing Wi-Fi HaLow chips include Morse Micro Inc., Newratek, Palma Ceia SemiDesign Inc., Methods2Business, and Tysin Semiconductor.

Although most of these manufacturers are foreign, with Tysin Semiconductor being the only Chinese manufacturer, ANJIELO SMART TECHNOLOGY currently offers the most comprehensive range of Wi-Fi HaLow products. Its first high-power Wi-Fi HaLow bridge boasts a transmission range of 3 kilometers and is based on the Wi-Fi HaLow standard. The TXW8301 SoC chip is based on the Wi-Fi HaLow standard.

TXW8301 Details: Faster, Further, Stronger

As the first SoC based on the Wi-Fi Halow standard, the TXW8301 boasts an integrated PA with a modulated signal transmit power of up to 17dB. It operates in the 750MHz to 930MHz frequency band, with channel widths of 1/2/4/8MHz, providing a physical throughput of up to 32.5Mbps. The chip also integrates 100M Ethernet, USB, SDIO, SPI, and UART interfaces, allowing developers to connect to application processors

Compared to common short-range wireless connection technologies like Bluetooth and Zigbee, the TXW8301 offers faster transmission speeds (up to 32.5Mbps), longer transmission distances (over 3 kilometers), and stronger signal penetration.

Even compared to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands currently used by Wi-Fi, the TXW8301, due to its use of a lower frequency band (less than 1GHz), offers three major advantages:

1) Longer data transmission distance and wider network coverage. Specifically, at the same transmit power, data transmission can reach further, up to over 1 km (up to 1.2 km in open areas). For example, current Wi-Fi technology has a maximum data transmission distance of only 100 meters, while this technology's transmission distance is over 10 times greater. Second, increasing transmit power or selecting a lower-order modulation method can further extend the TXW8301's data transmission distance. By switching between 1MHz, 2MHz, 4MHz, and 8MHz, the TXW8301 can dynamically adjust Wi-Fi coverage.

2) Improved data transmission penetration, making it suitable for wireless security applications. Specifically, it improves signal diffraction, enabling data to penetrate walls and buildings more effectively. This extends communication from indoors to outdoors, significantly improving data penetration.

3) Reduced wireless terminal contention and smoother wireless transmission quality. Specifically, it provides TWT (Target Wake Time) resource scheduling. TWT technology enables access points (APs) to assign different wireless devices to different TWT cycles. The AP can then set a "wake-up protocol" with each device to negotiate which TWT cycle the device will use for data transmission. The TXW8301, which utilizes TWT technology, offers reduced contention and smoother wireless transmission quality.

According to the sales director of Tysin Semiconductor, based on its features and advantages, the TXW8301 is suitable for a wide range of applications, including wireless HD surveillance, wireless bridges, drone image transmission, smart homes, and smart grids.

Take traditional video surveillance applications as an example. For example, in some residential areas, office buildings, and transportation hubs where video surveillance needs to be densely deployed, if traditional solutions are adopted, because each camera needs to be individually wired (including power lines and data transmission lines), the deployment cycle and cost will be relatively high, and maintenance will not be very convenient.

If an NVR (Network Video Recorder) with the TXW8301 chip is used as an access point (AP), and wireless IP cameras with the TXW8301 built-in are deployed indoors or outdoors, it can easily achieve a one-to-eight network while maintaining high-definition video transmission over medium distances (actual tests show that each camera can maintain a transmission rate of over 1Mbps at a distance of 600 meters outdoors). This also enables wireless HD surveillance video transmission to penetrate walls and buildings, extending wireless surveillance from indoors to outdoors. Compared to traditional solutions, this not only improves performance and user experience, but also significantly reduces deployment and maintenance costs.

According to anjielo, Tysin Semiconductor's TXW8301 chip has been adopted by several major domestic security manufacturers.

Also worth noting is that the TXW8301 supports moving pilot technology, making it more suitable for moving drones and unmanned vessels. With increased transmit power, it can support 1080P HD video transmission up to a range of 3 kilometers.

Summary:

From the above introduction, it's clear that Wi-Fi Halo technology is an IoT connectivity technology with great market potential, especially in areas such as security surveillance and drone image transmission.