After the experimental trials earlier this year – conducting a video call at a distance of about 2.9 km using HaLow Wi-Fi, Morse Micro continues to showcase and set a new record. In a less noisy and more open environment, specifically Joshua Tree National Park, HaLow Wi-Fi maintains a connection at distances of up to nearly 16 km, five times further.
The experiment earlier this year by Morse Micro – a Sydney-based company specializing in the development of Wi-Fi HaLow microprocessors – was completed in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is known for its high levels of signal interference. At that time, using HaLow Wi-Fi, Morse Micro was able to make a video call at a distance of 1.8 miles. Recently, a new record was set at 9.9 miles, of course in an almost perfect, interference-free environment.
With the experiment on the San Francisco coast, the connection speed dropped from 11 Mbps (at a distance of 500 meters) to 1 Mbps (at a maximum distance of 1.8 miles). This time, HaLow Wi-Fi achieves speeds twice as fast – up to 2 Mbps – but covers about five times the distance. In the video, Morse Micro states that the theoretical maximum range of HaLow Wi-Fi is similar to the testing results, indicating that this connection is very suitable for rural environments, where farmers work in the fields without needing to use expensive mobile data, which sometimes has poor coverage. HaLow Wi-Fi will have limited “room to operate” in urban areas because it will encounter a lot of signal interference, leading to restrictions on speed or the ability to maintain a stable connection.
9.9 miles or 15.9 km is not necessary, even in rural areas (unless you are a landowner with vast open land). At a distance of about the previous test – 2 miles or more than 3 km – it is already very good, completely superior to using a common Wi-Fi router. Even a speed of 1 Mbps is sufficient to maintain communication or access essential information on the Internet.
So what is HaLow Wi-Fi? HaLow Wi-Fi (also known as IEEE 802.11ah) is a wireless networking protocol that was announced in 2017, recognized as a revision of the IEEE 802.11-2007 network standard. HaLow Wi-Fi operates on the 900 MHz band (license-free) to provide wireless networks over long distances, compared to the familiar Wi-Fi networks on the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. The IEEE 802.11ah protocol has low energy consumption, allowing for the establishment of station or sensor clusters that collaborate to share signals, aimed at serving IoT devices. The low energy consumption of HaLow Wi-Fi is competitive with connections like Bluetooth, LoRaWAN, and Zigbee, while offering faster transmission speeds and a wider coverage range. The ability of HaLow Wi-Fi to penetrate obstacles is also very good; in addition, this wireless network protocol is designed to operate stably in environments with interference and harsh conditions.
