5G and Wi-Fi are communication technologies developed for different application needs, seemingly for different markets and needs, but in fact, they are complementary to each other, if you can combine 5G and Wi-Fi technology, you will be able to play the respective advantages of 5G and Wi-Fi technology, and thus expand the application field and market. This article introduces the latest developments in 5G and Wi-Fi technology and the application model of 5G CPE (Customer Premises Equipment), as well as related solutions introduced by Arrow Electronics, Nordic and other companies.
A complementary combination of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 wireless communications
Wi-Fi is a mostly indoor local area network (LAN) that operates in unlicensed frequency bands to form a private network and is a fairly common wireless communication technology, while cellular networks are used by major carriers and are a wide area network (WAN) that can be used indoors and outdoors, often for long-distance communication.
Wi-Fi 6, which is currently in general use, is based on the IEEE 802.11ax standard, has four times more capacity than the previous generation, 75% less latency, and is almost three times faster than its predecessor, Wi-Fi 5. Wi-Fi 6 also has mesh networking capabilities for local roaming, and its low-power features make it suitable for battery-powered devices. Wi-Fi networks are the simplest and most common type of networking technology available today, and almost every home and office has a Wi-Fi device connected to broadband service.
However, Wi-Fi 6 devices will need to have Wi-Fi 6-compliant access points to get the full speed, latency, and capacity improvements. At present, there are two standards on the market, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, both are the same 802.11ax standard, but the operating frequency is different, Wi-Fi 6 uses 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band, Wi-Fi 6E uses 6 GHz band. The latest Wi-Fi 7 is the 802.11be standard and will be commercially available in 2024.
5G networks are the latest cellular technology and will offer 50 times higher speeds, 10 times lower latency and 1,000 times higher capacity than 4G/LTE. This means that 5G will be able to connect more devices and transmit more data than ever before, providing fast connections and significantly enhancing the user experience.
The two communication technologies, Wi-Fi and 5G, will be able to provide complementary features, and in terms of user experience, both 5G and Wi-Fi 6 can achieve gigabit speeds and low latency. Wi-Fi will continue to be the dominant technology in home and business environments due to its low cost of deployment, maintenance, and scale-especially as access points need to serve more users. This provides powerful support for dozens of devices that require large amounts of data, such as personal computers, tablets, smartphones, streaming devices, televisions, and printers, all of which must be connected to the network. Because 5G has a longer coverage, it will be used for mobile connections, such as smartphones, and it will also be used for connected cars, smart city deployments, and even large manufacturing operations.
Powering the future of iot and edge devices
The two technologies, 5G and Wi-Fi, each handle network management in different ways. Wi-Fi use does not have to be licensed spectrum, and everyone can have their own Wi-Fi network without obtaining a license to use it. However, this may mean that your Wi-Fi performance will be affected by the number of other users using their network on the same channel at the same time as you. When used in offices and other corporate environments, Wi-Fi tends to be tightly managed to meet desired performance goals. 5G and LTE networks are typically managed by carriers and use dedicated licensed spectrum that requires subscription fees to access. Like LTE, 5G performance will depend on the distance between you and the base station and the quality of the signal.
Because 5G offers a huge performance boost, service providers can offer consumers another option to bring broadband connectivity into the home, namely by connecting to the network via 5G's wireless broadband. In this area, 5G May compete with cable or fiber products. However, Wi-Fi will continue to be the most efficient way to connect a growing number of devices in the home, including PCS, tablets, smartphones, smart speakers, home security cameras, thermostats, and appliances that can all be connected via Wi-Fi.
Some of the most exciting applications for 5G and Wi-Fi 6 will involve the Internet of Things (IoT), where businesses can choose the wireless technology that best suits their needs and still get the high capacity, fast speeds and low latency they need to ensure devices can share data quickly and more reliably. For example, machine-to-machine communication plays a key role in factory automation. While Wi-Fi 6 May be suitable for managing manufacturing operations, 5G is likely to enhance manufacturing environments on large campuses.
A 5G CPE is a client device with a 5G RF module that can convert 5G/4G signals into Ethernet or Wi-Fi connections, and it is a powerful combination of wireless devices. Converting signals through 5G CPE will make it easy to apply and connect a wide range of existing devices to a more convenient 5G network, such as configured screens, cameras, programmable controllers (PLCS), industrial meters, laptops, tablets, robots, sensing devices, data collectors, servers, and more.
5G CPE will trigger the need for "low-power WiFi 6" at end nodes by creating an ecosystem. For example, thanks to the use of Wi-Fi 6 low-power terminal nodes, Wi-Fi 6 brings a number of features that will make Wi-Fi devices more energy efficient when communicating, such as a feature called "target Wake Time" (or "TWT"), which enables Wi-Fi routers and iot devices to schedule communication in advance, and the following features: To reduce the time spent in unnecessary idle listening mode, thereby reducing power consumption. It also means that Wi-Fi IoT device radios can take advantage of one of wireless IoT's most proven ultra-low power strategies, which is to be in sleep mode as much as possible. As a result, Wi-Fi 6 will combine higher channel bandwidth, more efficient signal transmission, and multiple antennas to provide better performance in crowded wireless environments.
Highly integrated 5G CPE reference design
To accelerate customer development of 5G CPE products, Alley Electronics offers the 5G CPE Reference Design, a CPE reference design developed by Alley Electronics based on Qualcomm's X62 5G mediator and Wi-Fi 6 chip. The main chip IPQ5018 contains two 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cores up to 1GHz, integrated 802.11ax Wi-Fi subsystem, the solution through the low-cost high-speed AX3000 router solution, plus the use of Qualcomm X62 to do 5G module, Realize the signal transfer between Wi-Fi 6 and 5G modules.
The core devices used in 5G CPE include Qualcomm IPQ5018, Qualcomm QCN6012, Qualcomm QCA8337A, and are paired with Qualcomm X62 5G Sub 6 GHz modules for iot applications.
Qualcomm X62 can provide a maximum 3.5 Gbps downlink rate and 900 Mbps uplink rate under 5G, which is suitable for iot applications requiring high data throughput, and can be widely used in homes, offices, outdoor tourism, events, factories, parks and other places.
Wi-Fi 6 solutions that support the Matter protocol
In fact, Wi-Fi is also an important part of the Smart Home Matter agreement championed by Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung, and hundreds of other consumer iot companies, and Wi-Fi 6 makes it easy to form a smart home/building ecosystem and add Wi-Fi to their product line through 5G CPE combined with 5G connected cloud.
Nordic has introduced support for its dual-band Wi-Fi 6 nRF7002 companion IC, which supports the use of the Wi-Fi 6 protocol in the Matter protocol and can be used in a variety of high-speed wireless networks and low-power iot sensors and devices. Nordic supports all three wireless protocols used in Matter. Namely: Bluetooth LE (for debugging), Thread (for low-power mesh networks), and Wi-Fi (for high-speed wireless networks and low-power iot sensors and devices).
The nRF7002 is the first device in Nordic's unique Wi-Fi portfolio and will integrate seamlessly with Nordic's existing ultra-low power technology. Nordic brings decades of ultra-low-power wireless iot and chip design expertise to Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi 6 will bring even more benefits to iot applications, including further efficiency improvements and support for long-life, battery-powered Wi-Fi operations.
The nRF7002 is a "companion IC" that provides seamless Wi-Fi connectivity and Wi-Fi-based localization (SSID exploration of local Wi-Fi hubs) when used with Nordic's existing products. These include the nRF52, nRF53 series multi-protocol System-on-chip (SoC), and the nRF91 series Cellular iot Package System (SiP). In order to communicate with the host, SPI or QSPI interfaces can be used, and additional coexistence features allow for seamless coexistence with other protocols such as Bluetooth, Thread or Zigbee, nRF7002 can also be used with non-Nordic host devices to maximize flexibility and ease of use for applications and networks.
Nordic is also launching the nRF7002 DK development kit for the nRF7002 Wi-Fi 6 companion IC, which contains everything you need to start development on a single board. The development kit uses the nRF5340 multi-protocol SoC as the host processor for the nRF7002, supports the development of low-power Wi-Fi applications, and supports Wi-Fi 6 features such as OFDMA, beamforming, and target wake time.
Conclusion
The combination of the two wireless communication technologies, 5G and Wi-Fi 6, and the reception and conversion of signals through 5G CPE will be able to give full play to the advantages of the two technologies to provide low-power solutions for a wide range of iot applications. The Arrow Electronics 5G CPE reference design described in this article and the Nordic Wi-Fi 6 nRF7002 companion IC will accelerate the development of relevant products for customers. For more details and information, please contact Arrow Electronics directly.
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