MU-MIMO and 802.11Ad Wi-Fi Evolve the User Experience

MU-MIMO and 802.11ad Wi-Fi Evolve the User Experience

New Wi-Fi technologies are improving connectivity in ways that improve both capacity and user experience

Summary In addition to 3G and 4G, Wi-Fi has been one of the backbones of the growth of wireless technology and devices, including the growth of the IoT (Internet of Things). Wi-Fi has gone through many stages in its evolution including multiple versions of 2.4 GHz 802.11 standards including 802.11a/b/g/n and 5 GHz 802.11ac. All of this is was enabled by unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands of spectrum that have been made available for ‘public’ use without a license. In recent years, this has also expanded to 60 GHz with 802.11ad, also known as WiGig, to help solve certain congestion issues on the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Service providers, operators, enterprises, and others are looking to Wi-Fi to deliver the majority of their endpoint connectivity to users, and many mobile device makers and router makers are jumping onboard.

The push towards improved Wi-Fi, even in a 4G connected world, has resulted in users becoming more reliant on stable, fast, and ubiquitous Wi-Fi. 802.11ac solves many of the experiential issues for users by providing significantly more bandwidth at 5 GHz and reducing interference on 2.4 GHz. Wave 1 802.11ac, the first generation of 802.11ac, cannot satisfy the current and future demands of Wi-Fi, which drove the need for Wave 2 802.11ac and 802.11ad.

Wave 2 802.11ac’s most notable feature is called multi-user MIMO (multiple-input / multiple-output), also known as MU-MIMO (multi-user MIMO). MU-MIMO significantly improves performance as well as user experience. To solve congestion issues and improve user experience, there is a need to move towards a multi-band solution which combines traditional 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi with the other newer bands of Wi-Fi at the 5 GHz and 60 GHz frequencies, also known as MU-MIMO and 802.11ad. 802.11ad complements the current 5 GHz band by adding 60 GHz multi-gigabit bandwidth which helps bring the user experience to the next level.

MU-MIMO Helps Solve Capacity and Bandwidth Issues Current Wi-Fi technologies, including Wave 1 802.11ac, lack the capacity and bandwidth to deliver the best user experience. This is all the more important considering that a recent user survey conducted by Chadwick Martin Baily and commissioned by Qualcomm, found that wireless connectivity speed and reliability were among the most important things to mobile users’ experiences. The survey found that among the most preferred smartphone features Wi-Fi speed and quality came in second only to battery life, which Wi-Fi is also a huge factor in.

Figure 1: Smartphone Feature Preference

Most Preferred Smartphone Features

Battery Life 74%

Wi-Fi Speed/quality 59%

Touch Screen 54%

Memory/storage 53%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

MU-MIMO makes the most of the available bandwidth One of the best ways of solving a poor user experience caused by a lack of bandwidth and capacity is by optimizing the access point’s current bandwidth with MU-MIMO. MU- MIMO is an evolution of MIMO Wi-Fi technology which makes use of multiple antennae on the access point to allow for multiple spatial streams to increase bandwidth. MU- MIMO takes that capability and creates the ability to serve multiple spatial streams to different devices simultaneously, increasing overall bandwidth and individual device bandwidth when multiple devices are in use.

In our own lab testing at Moor Insights & Strategy using off-the-shelf equipment at retail stores, MU-MIMO smartphones—when paired with a MU-MIMO access point— experienced a 75% TCP (transmission control protocol) download performance uplift, going from 260 Mbps bandwidth with three smartphones to 455 Mbps with three MU- MIMO enabled smartphones. In fact, overall network bandwidth utilization actually increased as we added devices to the network, rather than decrease, which it did in the case of non-MU Wi-Fi, which can partially attribute to the poor Wi-Fi performance in crowded areas.

If you look at the results in the graph below, you will notice that SU-MIMO (single user MIMO) beats MU-MIMO in the one device bandwidth test. This is because our MU- MIMO devices that we tested had 1x1 antennae and as a result did not perform as well as the Samsung Galaxy S6’s 2x2 Wi-Fi. If the MU-MIMO devices were 2x2, their performance would be even higher. 2x2 Wi-Fi is one of the primary ways of improving Wi-Fi performance in addition to adding MU-MIMO capability; with the two combined, smartphones can attain speeds normally only associated with laptops and desktops. This is something to take into consideration when looking at the graph, as you can see subsequent SU-MIMO performance against MU-MIMO overall performance falters greatly and actually decreases as devices are added, unlike MU-MIMO.

Figure 2: Smartphone Wi-Fi Test Results

MU-MIMO Bandwidth Testing - Aggregate Bandwidth (mbps - higher is better) 500 1x1 455 400 2x2 1x1 1x1 361 363 300 1x1 1x1 306 260 200 257

100

0 One Device Two Devices Three Devices SU-MIMO (2x2 and 1x1) MU-MIMO (1x1)

MU-MIMO improves range and simultaneous device usage The connected home of the future will need improved bandwidth capabilities due to the needs put on it by 4K, HD, and game streaming by multiple users. MU-MIMO helps the router allocate more bandwidth to each device and improves the overall entertainment experience. The connected home will be one that connects dozens of Wi-Fi devices simultaneously, and MU-MIMO is the perfect solution for the devices that need continuous, simultaneous bandwidth. Wi-Fi connected devices per household are on the rise driven by the addition of more connected devices per user, smart TV, and home automation. Most installed routers will not be able to cope with the demand. Also, since MU-MIMO is already MIMO it will improve the range of many devices compared to older non-MIMO routers. Having 2x2 Wi-Fi would further extend the benefits of MU-MIMO by bringing increased range and performance to all devices that have a 2x2 antenna.

While the enterprise is lagging behind consumer in terms of adoption, they still understand the importance of MU-MIMO as it benefits them most. There are many places where MU-MIMO is needed for improved capacity, and the latest generation of MU-MIMO chipsets can support up to 538 devices per access point. This capability is especially valuable in places that experience congestion like airports, conference halls, and sports stadiums and other entertainment venues. Most enterprises haven’t even adopted 802.11ac and have waited for MU-MIMO to make that infrastructure upgrade.

OEMs already using MU-MIMO in routers, smartphones, and more MU-MIMO is relatively new, but many hardware makers have already adopted MU- MIMO. In the smartphone segment, Xiaomi has the Mi 4i and the Mi Note Pro; HTC has the One M8s; ZTE has two Nubia Z9 models; OnePlus has the new OnePlus 2. In notebooks, Acer offers MU-MIMO in their E-Series 14” and 15” notebooks, and recently at IFA they announce the R13, V Nitro, and V13 notebooks as well. Rivet networks also has a MU-MIMO solution especially crafted for gaming which has shown to improve download speeds and the overall experience thanks to MU-MIMO.

In routers and access points, manufacturers are already onboard, and some have multiple products either with MU-MIMO already enabled or with planned future MU- MIMO capability. Amped Wireless, ASUS, Buffalo, D-Link, Linksys, Netgear, TP-Link, and Trendnet all already have routers on the market with MU-MIMO capability for the consumer market. In the enterprise Wi-Fi space for commercial deployments and business environments, Cisco and Aruba both already offer MU-MIMO offerings and are both promoting them heavily to their customers.

OEMs that do not use or plan not to use MU-MIMO in the near future are missing a huge opportunity to improve user experience and network capacity for both the enterprise and consumer. MU-MIMO gives a significant performance uplift to MU-MIMO capable devices and even a slight uplift to non-MU devices. MU-MIMO also comes at a perfect time when the router has become the center of the home. Many households are cancelling cable TV services and spending more time getting entertainment and information through the internet. OEMs of consumer devices can also use MU-MIMO as an opportunity to differentiate the specifications of their devices and market MU-MIMO as a premium performance feature that their competitors may not have.

802.11ad Brings More Bandwidth and Improved Experience 802.11ad, also known as “WiGig”, operates in the 60 GHz band of unlicensed spectrum, which means that virtually anyone can use it for their wireless communication needs. One of the advantages of 60 GHz spectrum is that it is many times faster than all of the previous standards. Current 802.11ad solutions reach bandwidth speeds up to 4.6 Gbps, approximately 4-5 times more bandwidth than 802.11ac. However, because it is at such a high frequency, it is better fitted for “in-space” usage rather than a traditional Wi-Fi chipset delivering broad coverage. Because of 802.11ad’s in-space nature, technologies like beamforming are more necessary and is mostly used indoor in places like homes, airports, and malls. The current 802.11ad solutions from Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, SiBeam, and Tensorcom solutions vary broadly in maturity and what types of applications they can enable.

802.11ad’s weaknesses are also its strengths Using the 60 GHz spectrum for gigabit wireless connectivity adds incredible bandwidth, but with it comes an inherent weaknesses of using such a high frequency band of spectrum. What makes 802.11ad so beneficial is that it cannot penetrate the thick walls of the room where it is installed. This means that 60 GHz does not suffer from the interference issues that 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz both suffer from due to the signal overlapping with other networks. Additionally, because it is 60 GHz, the likelihood that you will encounter interference is much lower than at 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz. This, in many cases, also makes 802.11ad wireless connectivity more of an in-space technology rather than one where you can hide the access point in another room and still get good signal.

Tri-band solutions are the answer to multiple problems Because 802.11ad can only be used within a room and in-space, there is a need to have other Wi-Fi connectivity as well. This is where MU-MIMO 5 GHz Wi-Fi and 2.4

GHz 802.11n connectivity come in; they help complement the high bandwidth capabilities of 802.11ad with slower but more ubiquitous signal. There are no current solutions that use WiGig on its own, as most of those solutions are used for mobile Wi- Fi connectivity and require interoperability with older networks and lots of mobility. Most current solutions implement a “tri-band” solution, which combines all three frequencies of the known unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi. This delivers the best possible experience for users as they can use the high bandwidth of 802.11ad and the coverage of 2.4 and 5 GHz. It also allows for the seamless session transfer between 802.11ac and 802.11ad, resulting in a smoother experience with higher bandwidth when possible.

The use cases for 802.11ad span both consumer and enterprise In the enterprise, current use cases are heavily leaning towards wireless notebook docking, which are designed to reduce the amount of wiring notebook users have to deal with. We also see a very interesting future use case called “One Device” where the phone or small tablet is the only compute device and transforms itself via 802.11ad into a full-blown PC or smart TV.

In addition to being used for docking, 802.11ad can be used for networking in heavily congested areas like airports and concert halls where users can quickly connect and disconnect to the faster 802.11ad connection. This improves the experience for all users because heavy users get off the network quickly and leave capacity for others. It also works well in the enterprise where you can use it for connecting projectors and other displays wirelessly or for sharing large files quickly.

For consumer usage, most use cases are entertainment focused. This includes smartphone sharing with a desktop or a notebook. This includes the sharing of files, media, or video signal, seeing as 802.11ad is much higher bandwidth and can easily support 4K streaming. Consumer use cases also include smartphone and tablet streaming of 4K content from a smartphone to an 802.11ad-enabled TV. There are also potentially applications for like VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) in the home as well as enterprise, allowing for very low latency and high bandwidth connections between an HMD (head mounted display) and a computer. We also use cases that include multi-media kiosks that could be used by travelers to quickly and easily download pre-cached content on their devices before a flight.

802.11ad is transitioning to mobile from notebooks Wilocity showed the first concepts of 802.11ad and 60 GHz Wi-Fi in Dell laptops with docking two years ago in addition to the Dell Broadwell update from this year. Intel is also showing their own 802.11ad solution in prototype laptops now. Qualcomm has already shown 802.11ad in tablets for 4K streaming, and we could very soon see 802.11ad come down to smartphone size. Qualcomm talked about supporting it with the Snapdragon 810 and just announced 802.11ad support for the upcoming Snapdragon 820. We believe this will help 802.11ad have a bigger role in the mobile ecosystem going forward. Some smaller players in the market like Tensorcom are already targeting tablets, while Samsung’s own marketing has indicated they intend to use 802.11ad in mobile in the future.

The current solutions in notebooks are still legacy and very few. 802.11ad is still a very new technology and many of the use cases are still hardening, but there is no doubt that a lot of it will focus around mobility and improving the experience with higher bandwidth connectivity. WiGig certified solutions are coming from the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2016 and should improve interoperability between different 802.11ad solutions and improve the technology’s momentum into the mainstream.

Call to Action The problems that currently exist within the Wi-Fi world are many and complex. Even though Wi-Fi and internet connectivity speeds have improved, demands continue to increase and new technologies are becoming available to address them. Both consumer and enterprise Wi-Fi solutions in the future are going to need tri-band solutions that combine MU-MIMO with 802.11ac, 802.11ad, and legacy. MU-MIMO delivers the added speed and capacity to 802.11ac that we can use now and solve the current problems. 802.11ad, on the other hand, adds more bandwidth, improves performance and reduces propagation and interference on 2.4 and 5 GHz. MU-MIMO and 802.11ad are complementary technologies: MU-MIMO is for the “here and now”, and 802.11ad is to help solve future problems.

Testing Methodology Our Wi-Fi testing methodology involved using three 1x1 MU-MIMO enabled smartphones as well as three non-MU-MIMO devices to test the differences, some of which feature 2x2 SU-MIMO antennas. The testing was accomplished via Lenovo Z70 laptop wired over Gigabit directly to the Linksys EA8500 MU-MIMO router which was placed approximately 6-12 inches from the devices, depending on the device location on the turntable. The devices were placed on a turntable, so that they would have less of a chance of interfering with one another and could easily be articulated. Our testing involved using the Wi-Fi Speed Test and iPerf to validate our numbers in TCP with the phones running the client application and laptop running the server application. For the devices without MU-MIMO, we used a Samsung Galaxy S6 (2x2), LG G4 (1x1) and LG Nexus 5 (1x1) all of which are 802.11ac capable devices.

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