The Wifi Alliance has certified the HaLow wifi standard for products incorporating IEEE 802.11ah technology to expand wifi IoT applications.

Wifi HaLow operates in the sub-1GHz band, enabling long range and low power connectivity, while providing a robust connection in difficult wifi environments. It should enable various new, power-efficient use cases for IoT and industrial IoT environments, as well as retail, agriculture, healthcare, smart home and smart city markets.

HaLow enables low power connectivity necessary for applications including sensors, personal wearable devices and utility meters that require multi-year battery operation. It supports applications such as streaming compressed video from security cameras, even in environments where the ability to penetrate walls or other barriers to provide a robust connection is important.

In agriculture or logistics monitoring applications where long range is a priority, HaLow delivers data at ranges exceeding one kilometre. It adopts existing wifi protocols to deliver many of the benefits that consumers have come to expect from wifi, including multi-vendor interoperability, strong WPA3 security, easy setup and seamless integration into IP networks.

“Wifi certified HaLow further extends wifi’s leading role in IoT to address a new range of secure and interoperable use cases that require longer range and lower power,” said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of the Wifi Alliance. “Wifi HaLow is a compelling addition to the wifi portfolio, making the full range of wifi capabilities an unmatched connectivity offering. There are growing opportunities to streamline connectivity in the growing IoT market, and Wifi HaLow builds on a universally trusted wifi foundation to pave the way for emerging IoT applications to benefit homes, businesses and industries.” 

The Wifi Alliance has a portfolio of technologies delivering low power, high performance and secure wifi for a wide variety of IoT environments. Wifi Certified 6 is a strong complement to Wifi HaLow for commercial, industrial and residential IoT applications requiring fast data rates and low latency, such as AR, VR, home security with high-resolution video feeds, medical telemetry monitoring, and remote surgery. Wifi Certified Easy Connect reduces the complexity of connecting devices to wifi networks, including the many IoT devices with little to no user interface, while simultaneously incorporating high security standards.

All Wifi Certified devices support WPA3, providing security protocols to protect sensitive data and provide strong protections for users.

“Wifi HaLow devices such as security cameras and tablets are being used in industrial environments today, and we expect devices to soon make their way to smart home environments allowing consumers to take advantage of its longer range and lower power for applications such as battery powered cameras, video baby monitors and other smart home products,” said Phil Solis, research director at IDC. “Companies have been working on Wifi HaLow chipsets for years and we expect shipments to break ten million in 2022, with adoption expanding from industrial to include smart home, smart city and retail markets.”