The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the body leading development of next generation WiFi services, today confirmed the successful completion of its phase one trial of WiFi 6 infrastructure and services at the Mettis Aerospace factory in the UK. The trial was the first of its kind in the world and an important part of the WBA’s WiFi 6 test and development program.
Tests included applications of 4K video streaming, large scale file transfers, messaging and voice/video communications as well as the first stage of IoT sensor and mixed reality testing.
Previous implementation tests with WiFi failed to work in Mettis’ challenging factory environment. During the trial, speeds of 700 Mbps using 80 MHz channels were achieved and low latency applications, like video calling and video streaming, performed well with results below 6ms.
These results proved that WiFi 6 infrastructure can operate well in the presence of interference and noise in a complex and challenging factory environment as well as deliver high quality services for monitoring and maximizing machinery performance, minimizing downtime, and improving communications on the factory floor.
“The completion of this initial phase marks a significant milestone for the adoption of WiFi 6,” said WBA CEO Tiago Rodrigues. “The Mettis facility is an especially challenging environment for wireless communications with furnaces, presses and heat, a lot of moving heavy machinery and the presence of dust and in-air particulates. Nevertheless, the field tests in this highly charged atmosphere have proven that WiFi 6 technology works well and can play a vital role within the industrial enterprise and IoT ecosystem. If WiFi 6 can deliver highly reliable, high quality and high bandwidth communications in this type of factory environment, then it can deliver it almost anywhere,” he added.
December 5, 2019
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