[IL-Talk] IL-Talk Digest, Vol 232, Issue 9

Fri Aug 11 10:25:58 UTC 2023

Good morning Joseph,

Here is the core information. Reference links at the bottom.
This article appeared in Microwaves & RF <https://www.mwrf.com/technologies/systems/article/21265152/morse-micro-whats-the-difference-between-wifi-halow-and-bluetooth>  and has been published here with permission.

Today, the Internet of Things (IoT) is relevant to almost every industry and is one of the fastest-growing sectors of IT. Last year, spending on IoT reached a whopping $300.3 billion and it’s expected to reach USD $650.5 billion by 2026. 

With the world of IoT becoming an essential part of our lives, businesses must understand how to support the growing connectivity needs that come with this new era. 

Not All Connections are the Same

The first thing to note is that not all connectivity is the identical. Wi-Fi HaLow <https://www.morsemicro.com/2021/08/25/everything-you-need-to-know-about-wi-fi-halow-what-is-it-and-why-it-matters/> , which incorporates IEEE 802.11ah and is one of the latest Wi-Fi protocols in the IEEE 802.11 family, was engineered specifically to meet the unique needs of IoT environments.1

Wi-Fi HaLow facilitates a more comprehensive approach to IoT wireless connectivity. It can deliver all of the benefits that consumers have come to expect from Wi-Fi today, while providing a tenfold increase in connectivity range as well as significantly lower power consumption for thousands of devices connected to the same access point. Like other modern Wi-Fi technologies, Wi-Fi HaLow also allows for multi-vendor interoperability, easy setup without disrupting existing Wi-Fi networks, and the latest Wi-Fi security. 

What About Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is a popular wireless personal-area-network (WPAN) protocol used in many consumer devices such as smartphones, wireless headphones, and portable speakers for short-range communication. It is unlikely to support IoT use cases that rely on large numbers of low-power devices connected over long distances. 

This comparison considers two separate Bluetooth versions: Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), also known as Bluetooth 4.0. The table below presents a comparison of Wi-Fi HaLow with Bluetooth, showing how the two protocols stack up.

Morse Micro

Going the Distance

Wi-Fi HaLow operates in the sub-1-GHz band with narrower channels <https://www.mwrf.com/technologies/systems/article/21164468/morse-micro-whats-the-difference-between-wifi-halow-and-traditional-wifi>  (from 1 to 16 MHz), while Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6 use channels with bandwidths from 20 to 160 MHz. The lower RF frequencies of Wi-Fi HaLow, which range from 850 to 950 MHz (compared to 2.4 or 5 GHz for Wi-Fi 4 or Wi-Fi 6), and range-optimized modulation and coding schemes, enable Wi-Fi HaLow devices to exceed a range of 1 km.2

By comparison, the Bluetooth standard operates in the 2.4-GHz ISM band and may support a maximum range of about 100 meters outdoors with no obstructions. However, most Bluetooth-enabled consumer devices operate indoors and at shorter ranges, generally 9 to 12 meters. 

The latest Bluetooth version 5.0 offers a long-range mode known as Coded PHY. It enables Bluetooth connectivity to range beyond even 1 km outdoors with no obstructions but at a low fixed 125-kb/s data rate. 

The practical range of any wireless protocol also depends on physical barriers or obstacles between devices. As a sub-1-GHz protocol, Wi-Fi HaLow offers exceptional penetration through obstacles of materials such as glass, wood, metal mesh, or concrete. By comparison, Bluetooth signals in the 2.4-GHz band experience more attenuation and are more easily blocked by obstacles than Wi-Fi HaLow signals. 

Capacity Counts

A single Wi-Fi HaLow access point (AP) can handle thousands of connected devices. This capacity is a key feature when it comes to handling the huge number of IoT devices for larger-scale deployments in commercial buildings, factories, and other industrial applications. In a home setting, a single Wi-Fi HaLow AP can easily scale to meet the IoT demands of a typical household.

While the stated capacity for standard Bluetooth connectivity is up to seven devices, the practical capacity tends to be in the range of three or four devices. BLE offers greater capacity, but not by much. The practical limit <https://stormotion.io/blog/bluetooth-low-energy-faq-the-ultimate-guide-on-ble-devices-ibeacons/#:~:text=A%20practical%20limit%20for%20the,up%20to%2020%20peripherals%20connected.&text=However%2C%20the%20practical%20number%20stated,be%20different%20for%20some%20cases.>  for a central BLE device is about 20 devices. For this reason, BLE requires a mesh network to handle a larger number of devices. 

Bluetooth Mesh was developed to meet that need, enabling the development of large-scale networks where hundreds or even thousands of Bluetooth devices can communicate with one another.  However, because the payload of a Bluetooth mesh packet is small at 11 bytes, segmentation must be used to send larger packets, and packet size and number of mesh hops adversely affect packet latency.3

Keeping Connectivity Secure

As an IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi protocol, Wi-Fi HaLow follows globally recognized standards for secure IoT authentication and communication. HaLow supports the latest Wi-Fi requirements for authentication (WPA3) and AES encryption of over-the-air (OTA) traffic, with data rates that enable secure OTA firmware upgrades.

Although Bluetooth was originally “not intended to be a secure protocol <https://www.verypossible.com/insights/bluetooth-vs.-wi-fi-for-iot-which-is-better#:~:text=Bluetooth%20IoT%20Devices&text=The%20Bluetooth%20standard%20uses%20UHF,164%20feet%20between%20two%20devices.> ” in and of itself, it has recently improved its security <https://www.intuz.com/blog/bluetooth-vs-wifi-connectivity-for-iot-development> . For example, BLE now supports AES-CCM cryptography and 128-bit encryption. In addition, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) <http://www.bluetooth.com/>  continues to monitor and improve Bluetooth security features. 

Energy Efficiency of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi HaLow

Wi-Fi HaLow was engineered to address the low-power requirements for a range of IoT applications, including sensor, audio, and video applications. It offers one of the most energy-efficient connectivity options, using only a fraction of the power of other versions of Wi-Fi. 

Bluetooth Classic is primarily used for audio applications. It can transfer larger files, such as still images or low-rate videos, and is still relatively energy-efficient when compared to Wi-Fi 4, 5, or 6. BLE is more energy-efficient than Bluetooth Classic and designed for sensor applications and LE audio, consuming 10X less power <https://www.intuz.com/blog/bluetooth-vs-wifi-connectivity-for-iot-development>  than Wi-Fi 4, 5, or 6.

Versatility of Connectivity

Wi-Fi HaLow employs the unlicensed and class-licensed sub-1-GHz band, ranging from 850 to 950 MHz. Providing vendors achieve Wi-Fi Alliance certification for their Wi-Fi HaLow products, they will interoperate with other Wi-Fi HaLow-enabled products and networks. 

It’s worth noting that Wi-Fi HaLow and other Wi-Fi versions (Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6) are all part of the IEEE 802.11 standard and operate on different RF bands, enabling them to coexist without impact to RF performance. This is a key advantage for networks designed to capitalize on Wi-Fi HaLow’s unique benefits of long range, superior penetration, and energy efficiency.

Bluetooth similarly uses the unlicensed 2.4-GHz band; the Bluetooth SIG also offers certain qualifications. However, Bluetooth Classic and BLE aren’t compatible, which means devices such as cell phones typically implement both versions to communicate with different end Bluetooth devices in the same band.

Comparing Data Rates

Wi-Fi HaLow provides a range of data rates ideally suited for IoT devices, for example from 150 kb/s using MCS 10 with BPSK modulation, to a top rate of 4.4 Mb/s using MCS 9, with a single spatial stream at the narrowest bandwidth of 1 MHz. In an 8-MHz operating channel, a single-stream Wi-Fi HaLow AP can support a mix of IoT devices from very-low-power sensors, sending 1-MHz packets at rates down to 150 kb/s, to cameras sending 8-MHz packets at rates up to 43 Mb/s. 

Bluetooth has much lower data throughput—just a fraction of Wi-Fi HaLow’s top speed. Bluetooth Classic supports speeds up to 3 Mb/s, while BLE provides around 1 Mb/s (maximum 2 Mb/s if you’re using Bluetooth 5).

Final Thoughts

While many consider Bluetooth Classic to be an indispensable protocol for today’s wireless audio landscape, it doesn’t provide a comprehensive solution for diverse long-reach, high-capacity, low-power IoT networks. 

If your networking needs call for secure, power-efficient, and large-scale connectivity, Wi-Fi HaLow provides the optimal overall solution for the diverse requirements of your IoT networks.

References

1. https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-certified-halow <https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-certified-halow> 

2. https://www.wi-fi.org/beacon/neil-weste/the-future-of-farming-testing-the-rural-range-of-wi-fi-certified-halow <https://www.wi-fi.org/beacon/neil-weste/the-future-of-farming-testing-the-rural-range-of-wi-fi-certified-halow> 

3. https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/application-notes/an1137-bluetooth-mesh-network-performance.pdf <https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/application-notes/an1137-bluetooth-mesh-network-performance.pdf> 

WiFi 802.11ah official source.
https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-certified-halow <https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-certified-halow> 

Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ah <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ah> 

P.S. Text the word BLIND to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagination Fund via your phone bill.

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back. 

--
73' & 75'
Gregory D. Rosenberg AB9MZ
gregg at ricis.com

RICIS, Inc.
7849 Bristol Park Drive
Tinley Park, IL 60477-4594
http://www.ricis.com

708-267-6664 Cell 
708-444-2690 Office

On Aug 10, 2023, at 07:00, il-talk-request at nfbnet.org wrote:

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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of IL-Talk digest..."

Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Prayers for my Niece (datemeyer at sbcglobal.net)
   2. correction (David Meyer)
   3. Re: Prayers for my Niece (eileen Truschke)
   4. CTA accessibility complaints (debbiepittman99 at gmail.com)

   5. NFB of IL chicago Chapter Meeting, August 12, 2023 1 PM
      (davant1958 at gmail.com)
   6. Chicago Chapter Bowling Fundraiser
      (chicago.president at nfbofillinois.org)
   7. Watch "Teaching School As A Disabled Person - With Robert
      Hansen" on YouTube (Robert Hansen)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2023 07:18:07 -0500
From: <datemeyer at sbcglobal.net>
To: "'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [IL-Talk] Prayers for my Niece
Message-ID: <00a901d9cabb$8ee815d0$acb84170$@sbcglobal.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset="us-ascii"

Hi Dan,

I will be sure to keep your niece in my prayers. May God give her strength
to recover enough to have the surgery she needs.

-----Original Message-----
From: IL-Talk <il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Dan TeVelde via
IL-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, August 8, 2023 10:31 AM
To: 'NFB of Illinois Mailing List' <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: dan.tevelde at comcast.net
Subject: [IL-Talk] Prayers for my Niece

Hi all,

A few months ago, I requested prayers for my niece Lisa. She has colon
cancer and her condition had been improving. She took a turn for the worse
over the weekend. Her doctor wanted to perform surgery to help her digest
food, but she is too weak for surgery. There may be something else the
doctor can do but it seems like the situation is becoming grim. I am
heartbroken. My niece has an 11-year old daughter. Who will look after this
little girl if my niece passes away? This has been especially hard on Lisa's
parents, my sister and brother-in-law. I am praying for a miracle but know
things are in God's hands. I hope you are doing well. Have a good week.

Dan

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et

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2023 08:26:20 -0400
From: David Meyer <datemeyer at mysero.net>
To: il-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: iabs-talk at nfbofillinois.org
Subject: [IL-Talk] correction
Message-ID: <bbcd4fbf.ca61.4629.854f.062c50dd8602 at samobile.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format="flowed"

I need to make a correction. It is the June Chicago minutes which I 
placed on NewsLine.

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2023 07:58:49 -0500
From: eileen Truschke <eileentruschke at yahoo.com>
To: NFB of Illinois Mailing List <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [IL-Talk] Prayers for my Niece
Message-ID: <F99CB090-6759-4E49-A586-8C88A75BDA31 at yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=utf-8

Hello Dan:

Ken Schad and I are praying for you, Lisa and the rest of your loved ones We put all of you in God?s hands.  Eileen

On Aug 8, 2023, at 10:30 AM, Dan TeVelde via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Hi all,

A few months ago, I requested prayers for my niece Lisa. She has colon
cancer and her condition had been improving. She took a turn for the worse
over the weekend. Her doctor wanted to perform surgery to help her digest
food, but she is too weak for surgery. There may be something else the
doctor can do but it seems like the situation is becoming grim. I am
heartbroken. My niece has an 11-year old daughter. Who will look after this
little girl if my niece passes away? This has been especially hard on Lisa's
parents, my sister and brother-in-law. I am praying for a miracle but know
things are in God's hands. I hope you are doing well. Have a good week.

Dan

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http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/il-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for IL-Talk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/il-talk_nfbnet.org/eileentruschke%40yahoo.com

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2023 08:11:28 -0500
From: <debbiepittman99 at gmail.com>
To: "'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [IL-Talk] CTA accessibility complaints
Message-ID: <000901d9cac3$02705510$0750ff30$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset="us-ascii"

Hello All:

Below is the information I mentioned  at the At Large chapter meeting
regarding CTA complaints as per Kira's instruction from CTA:

If you have a comment, question or feedback about accessibility on CTA
(including concerns about accessible service, customer service assistance or
information we post about accessibility), please contact CTA Customer
Service. You can:

*Send a message on the Website:
https://www.transitchicago.com/feedback/ 
*call  <tel:+1-888-968-7282> 1-888-YOUR-CTA (1-888-968-7282)
*or e-mail  <mailto:feedback at transitchicago.com>
feedback at transitchicago.com

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2023 08:41:51 -0500
From: <davant1958 at gmail.com>
To: "'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [IL-Talk] NFB of IL chicago Chapter Meeting, August 12, 2023
1 PM
Message-ID: <017e01d9cac7$40ed3390$c2c79ab0$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset="us-ascii"

Hello Everyone,

The next NFB of IL Chicago chapter hybrid meeting will be on August 12, 2023
at 1:00 PM. Please join us in-person at Exchequer Restaurant and Pub, 226 S.
Wabash Ave. or over Zoom. The Zoom Information is below. Our featured
program item is a reflection from this year's first time convention
attendees. All are welcome to attend. Thank you.

National Federation of the Blind of Illinois is inviting you to a scheduled
Zoom meeting.

Topic: National Federation of the Blind of Illinois - Chicago chapter

Time: Aug 12, 2023 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://nfb-org.zoom.us/j/3123438396?pwd=ZFVJeW8zZDNrV0p0RmpWME83Zm85UT09

One tap mobile

+13092053325,,3123438396#,,,,*6324# US

+13126266799,,3123438396#,,,,*6324# US (Chicago)

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2023 09:19:52 -0500
From: <chicago.president at nfbofillinois.org>
To: "'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [IL-Talk] Chicago Chapter Bowling Fundraiser
Message-ID: <033f01d9cacc$909cbaf0$b1d630d0$@nfbofillinois.org>
Content-Type: text/plain;charset="us-ascii"

Hello Everyone,

I am sorry I was unable to attend this past Saturday's Chicago chapter
fundraiser. I was out of town at the American Bar Association's annual
meeting, where I serve on the Board of Governors. I want to thank all who
planned and those who took part in the event. I heard that everyone had a
great time.

------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2023 15:57:13 -0500
From: Robert Hansen <hansen.robert70 at gmail.com>
To: nfb il talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [IL-Talk] Watch "Teaching School As A Disabled Person - With
Robert Hansen" on YouTube
Message-ID:
<CAEBckdQW_-Y350P3qUiVP_nZ0pUS4wGKPw6Ajw7qULkp-C1Kew at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

I was a guest on Kenny Borst TV show on July 26th on can TV. So he
interviewed me about what I do for a living. And it was just posted on
YouTube about 2:00 this afternoon. I'm posting off the link so people can
watch it. He'll plug it when he sees everyone at the chapter meeting on
Saturday. But I figured I'd give everyone a heads up so he could all watch
it now.

https://youtu.be/GFB7t91D8Tk

Robert Hansen
hansen.robert70 at gmail.com

------------------------------

Subject: Digest Footer

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------------------------------

End of IL-Talk Digest, Vol 232, Issue 9
***************************************