IEEE 802.

11ah: Advantages in Standards and

Further Challenges for Sub 1 GHz Wi-Fi

Stefan Aust R. R. Venkatesha Prasad,

NEC Communication Systems, Ltd., Ignas G. M. M. Niemegeers
1753 Shimonumabe, Nakahara-ku, EEMCS, Delft University of Technology,
Kawasaki, Kanagawa 211-8666, Japan P.O. Box 5031, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
e-mail: aust.st@ncos.nec.co.jp e-mail: R.R.VenkateshaPrasad@tudelft.nl;
I.G.M.M.Niemegeers@tudelft.nl

Abstract—The rapid development in Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication make it necessary to communication will further lead to saturated spectrum when
design communication systems operating in different wireless the same frequencies are being used, including Wi-Fi and IEEE
spectrum as an alternative to highly congested wireless access 802.15.4-based communication systems.
systems. In addition, the deployment of wireless smart meter
devices is ramping up and it is expected that such devices will Beside the successful deployment of IEEE 802.11 devices
flood the market in the near future competing for the same in the 2.4GHz/5GHz frequency band, the design of RFID and
wireless spectrum. The IEEE 802.11ah standardization working sensor networks operating at lower frequencies such as
group is aiming for a global Wireless LAN (WLAN) standard 900MHz ISM took a niche in the development of wireless
operating with carrier frequencies below 1GHz in the ISM systems. With the rapid demand for unlicensed, ubiquitous
(Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) band and will help to provide access in less-interfered frequency bands, the 900MHz ISM
Wi-Fi-enabled devices to get guaranteed access for short-term bands have kindled new attraction not only in the research
transmissions in less congested frequency bands. In addition to domain but also in standardization. The target is to define a
exploiting the underutilized Sub 1 GHz spectrum the improved global WLAN standard that operates at ISM frequencies below
coverage range allows new applications to emerge such as wide 1GHz. For instance, in the United States, Europe and Japan,
area based sensor networks, sensor backhaul systems and such frequencies are available, however a standard has not been
potential Wi-Fi off-loading functions. This paper summarizes the
available yet that utilizes such frequencies.
IEEE 802.11ah standardization activities in progress and
discusses advantages and challenges in the design of physical The new task group (TG) at the IEEE 802 standardization
layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) schemes. organization aims to create a WLAN standard for PHY and
MAC that operates at frequencies below 1GHz. The so-called
Keywords: Sub 1GHz, IEEE 802.11ah, long-range Wi-Fi, smart Sub 1GHz WLAN system is under current standardization in
grid, IoT, M2M. the IEEE 802.11ah group. In the following, we are going to
reflect on the advantages and challenges of a Sub 1GHz
I. INTRODUCTION WLAN system.
It is widely accepted that the dominant indoor (wireless) To the best of our knowledge there has been less focus and
network is based on the IEEE 802.11 standard including IEEE studies on Sub1GHz WLANs. In [1] the authors argue that the
802.11 based indoor access points (APs) and stations (STAs) scope of 802.11ah is to enhance the MAC and PHY design to
such as laptops, printers, PDAs using wireless LAN (WLAN) operate in the license-exempt bands below 1 GHz. For smart
interfaces. Operating at 2.4GHz/5GHz this standard and its grid and smart utility communications the authors discuss the
amendments, such as 802.11a/b/g/n, allow unlicensed wireless advantages of access in TV frequency bands. However the
access in the ISM band (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) and access to the so-called TV white-space is outside of the scope
thus make it simple for Internet user to build up their own of IEEE 802.11ah (the operation of WLAN in the TV white
wireless access network. space is being standardized by the IEEE 802.11af group). We
This widespread deployment of IEEE 802.11-based then refer to our earlier work in Sub 1 GHz WLAN in [2] and
wireless networks in indoor environments and also for urban [3]. Use cases and scenarios for using Sub 1GHz frequency
city deployments has led to dramatic interference problems and bands has been discussed in [2] and we identified smart grid,
network performance reduction where wireless Internet user surveillance and smart farming as main applications in rural
suffer from low speed or even network disruption. areas. In addition, link budget and outage probabilities have
been discussed in [2] In [3] we outlined the required PHY
Beside in indoor environments, so called Wi-Fi interfaces design of Sub 1GHz systems and argued that the proposed
can be found in various mobile devices such as tablet PCs, and IEEE 802.11ah path-loss design for outdoor Sub 1GHz is too
smart phones, thus increasing the competition for unlicensed optimistic and may require a larger number access points (pico-
wireless access in the ISM band. Smart grid application, cells) in an outdoor deployment scenario when using WLANs
operating at carrier frequencies around 900MHz. We refer the  Optimal propagation characteristic of below 1GHz
reader to the official project site of 802.11ah [4] for further license-exempt frequency bands.
information about project description of Sub 1GHz
standardization. In the following we will give further insight  Use of ISM frequency bands.
into the development of a global Sub 1GHz ISM WLAN  License-exempt in various different countries.
system and also what lies ahead and enlist many challenges and
issue thereof.  Easy to understand, follow and to implement for
network device manufacturers.
This paper is organized as follows: In Section II the
advantages of using Sub 1 GHz frequency band is discussed.  Almost clear co-existence issues.
IEEE 802.11ah use cases are explained in Section III. IEEE  Longer range and less power consume due to optimal
802.11ah standardization challenges are dealt with in Section frequency characteristics (below 1GHz).
IV. We conclude in Section V.
 No license problems, no regulatory issues.
II. ADVANTAGES OF STANDARDIZED SUB 1GHZ WLANS  Vendors can be sure about their products/markets.
Even though Wi-Fi is standardized for the 2 – 5 GHz  Enrichment of wireless communication devices, e.g.,
frequency range, there is non-standard modified Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ah.
equipment available that operates in the 900 MHz ISM
band. As for now, various vendors take the core technology,
III. IEEE 802.11AH USE CASES
e.g., 802.11a, and change the frequency. The demand for a
standardized Sub 1GHz WLAN comes, in part, from the smart This section provides an overview of the use cases that
grid community, who like it for linking to smart meters because have been adopted by the IEEE 802.11ah task group. We also
of the band’s greater range and lower obstruction losses. A refer to additional use cases to further motivate the usability of
problem, though, has been lack of interoperability. Each vendor the future IEEE 802.11ah standard that is not in the standard as
has its own implementation, and smart grid customers don’t yet. The following discussion on use cases provides a
want to be tied to one vendor. comprehensive picture about the advantages of using Sub 1
GHz bands in various domains and scenarios.
The IEEE Standards Association’s Standards Board
approved a request by IEEE 802 Working Group 802.11 to A. Sensor networks
start a project that will amend the IEEE 802.11 standard to
include Sub 1 GHz operation. This project, under new Task The IEEE 802.11 has sensor networks as one of three
Group 802.11ah, does not include TV white space frequencies, adopted use cases. Sensing can be executed as short-term data
which is being handled under Task Group 802.11af. The most transmissions and includes smart metering such as gas, water
important contribution of this amendment is to establish and power consumption [6]. Wireless controlled power
standard RF channel width and center frequencies. Because distribution systems are also covered by this use case. Due to
802.11 is an international standard, global frequency allocation the increased penetration at lower frequencies, a higher number
schemes will be considered. of sensors can be covered in one-hop fashion. Fig. 2 shows a
simple smart grid scenario where IEEE 802.11ah is applied
(Sub 1 GHz AP and wireless meter stations).

Fig. 1: Advantages of a standardized Sub 1 GHz Wi-Fi system

IEEE 802.11ah offers a variety of advantages, such as

simple to use in outdoor environments in addition to excellent Fig. 2: Smart grid wireless communication network use case for outdoor Sub
propagation characteristics of low frequencies [5] and different 1GHz WLANs.
levels of installation scenarios (license-exempt, light licensing,
professional/interference reduced). High sensitivity and link B. Backhaul networks for Sensors
margin are further characteristics of IEEE 802.11ah. In addition, The second use case covers the backhaul connection
long battery life and energy saving strategies will be integral between sensors and/or data collectors and remote servers. The
part of the IEEE 802.11ah standard. Details are shown in Fig.1. large coverage of Sub 1 GHz allows a simple network design to
In the following we outline the main advantages of a link Sub 1GHz APs together, e.g., as wireless mesh networks.
standardized Sub 1GHz WLAN: Fig. 3 shows a backhaul sensor network, including IEEE
802.11ah APs and router/gateways to connected sensor the unconnected”. Large potential is given by Sub 1 GHz due
networks (IEEE 802.15.4g). to the wider range [9]. E-health and e-learning are main killer
applications in such environments and it has been argued that a
positive impact on social economics including the GDP (Gross
Domestic Product) growth can occur [10].

IV. IEEE 802.11AH STANDARDIZATION CHALLENGES

A. IEEE 802.11ah project target and time line

IEEE Standards Board approved the Sub 1 GHz 802.11
(Wi-Fi) Project in November 2010. The sponsor ballot is
expected for spring 2013. The project target is specified in the
Fig. 3: Backhaul network for sensor networks PAR as listed under [4]. Since November 2010 the time line
C. Extended Wi-Fi Range for Cellular Traffic Off-loading has been extended several times mainly to allow consensus
within the standardization group, e.g., for use case
The third use case considers technical requirements for a identification, optimal PHY channelization, and requirements
Wi-Fi based cellular traffic offloading in 802.11ah. It is on the MAC design.
important that the technology used for off-loading has at least
comparable performance to the cellular system being offloaded
B. Requirements on IEEE 802.11ah PHY design
both from the user as well as the operator perspectives.
Therefore, it is essential to consider what kind of spectral Future IEEE 802.11ah standardized devices will operate as
efficiency, user throughput, and system load the current and a MIMO-OFDM (Multi Input Multi Output Orthogonal
future cellular networks can and will support, and based on that, Frequency Division Multiplexing) wireless system at different
consider the performance requirements for 802.11ah. Sub 1 GHz ISM bands which are available in various countries,
including United States, South Korea, China, Europe, Japan,
Although it can be easily understood that a large coverage Singapore. In the following we outline the adopted and
may be utilized for off-loading, some may argue that user proposed channelization for IEEE 802.11ah.
expectations can be easily covered by existing wireless
standards such as IEEE 802.11n. If the performance is not The US channelization has been one of the most discussed
sufficient or if the 802.11ah offloading provides only marginal channelization for IEEE 802.11ah. This is due to the fact that
gains and no real additional value for the end user, the the US allows up to 16MHz bandwidth between 902MHz and
offloading might not be successful and operators and end users 928MHz. Fig. 4 depicts the proposed US bandwidth, including
may prefer the existing solutions e.g. 802.11n and 802.11ac at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16MHz. It is less attractive for vendors having
5GHz or utilization of cellular network. small bandwidth at 1MHz. However, 1 MHz and 2 MHz have
been adopted as least channel bandwidth for IEEE 802.11ah.
Next, we outline additional use cases and scenarios for The standardization group thus needs to support 1MHz for US
IEEE 802.11ah. and all other countries which are under discussion in IEEE
802.11ah. A compromise would be a link adaptation scheme
D. Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Communication which will allow 1MHz/2MHz operation when STAs are
The future IEEE 802.11ah standard has been found as an outside of AP coverage.
optimal candidate as wireless communication system for
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication. Wireless M2M
communication allows data transfer for direct machine to
machine communication with little or no human interaction [7].
Whereas current systems are optimized more for human-to-
human (H2H) communications, IEEE 802.11ah standard will
mainly consider sensing applications.
Due to all the different M2M standards activities happening
in various standardization organizations, IEEE 802.11ah could
play an important role in providing a base for a global M2M Fig. 4: Proposed (not yet adopted) Sub 1GHz channelization for US
wireless standard, which some entities consider as a precursor
of cloud computing [8]. This includes smart metering, fleet In Fig. 5 the adopted channelization for South Korea is
management, security sensing, and on-demand business- shown, starting from 917.5MHz and 923.5MHz. 6 channels at
charging applications. IEEE 802.11ah will address required 1MHz bandwidth are adopted. In addition, 3 channels at 2MHz
functions such as low power consumption, large number of and 1 channel at 4MHz bandwidth will be available for IEEE
devices, long-range and short-burst data transmissions. 802.11ah in Korea. The reason for the 0.5 MHz frequency off-
set is to reduce possible mutual interference with wireless
E. Rural communication (connecting the unconnected) legacy systems at lower frequencies.
Wireless communication in rural areas such as outback
areas has lead to some effort that is also named as “connecting
 In Fig. 9 the proposed channelization for Singapore is
shown. It starts from 920MHz and ends at 925MHz including 5
channels with 1MHz bandwidth.

Fig. 5: Adopted Sub 1GHz channelization for Korea

In Fig. 6 the adopted channelization for Japan is presented, Fig. 9: Proposed (not yet adopted) 1GHz channelization for Singapore
starting at 916.5MHz until 927.5MHz. Also the Japanese
channelization starts with 0.5MHz off-set [11]. This is due to C. Sub 1GHz related Regulatory Requirements and IEEE
the fact that the Japanese spectrum regulation specifies center 802.15.4d Co-existence in the case of Japan
frequencies instead of start/stop bands such as in other
The use of the 950 MHz band (950 MHz to 956 MHz) for
countries, e.g., US or Europe.
LR-WPAN (Low Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks) has
only been recently allocated by the Japanese Regulatory
committee. The Japanese regulation includes requirements to
address coexistence for devices operating in the Sub 1GHz
band, e.g., Listen Before Talk, Transmission Control and Duty
Cycle restrictions. However, two PHYs specified for use in the
950 MHz band, such as IEEE 802.15.4d and IEEE 802.11ah
Fig. 6: Adopted Sub 1GHz channelization for Japan can potentially cause interference to each other. Together with
the short duration (burst nature) of 802.15.4 packets and the use
Fig. 7 shows the adopted channelization for Europe, of CSMA-CA, coexistence is not considered to be a problem
starting at 863MHz and ends at 868MHz. 5 channels with for the two PHYs when they share a common channel [11].
1MHz bandwidth are available. In addition 2 channels with 2
MHz bandwidth are adopted. The regulation requires that a device uses listen before talk
(LBT) prior to transmission if the duty cycle of transmission
exceeds 0.1%. There is also a requirement that a device does
not continuously transmit. The maximum continuous
transmission time and the duty cycle of transmission are
dependent on the LBT duration. The parameters
macTxControlActiveDuration & macTxControlPauseDuration
permit a higher layer to control both the duration for which a
device may transmit and the duration of the pause period, i.e.
the time during which the MAC must pause to allow other
devices access to the channel. These values are dependent on
Fig. 7: Adopted Sub 1GHz channelization for Europe the transmission power and channel and should be discussed
during the IEEE 802.11ah standardization process.
The adopted channelization for China is shown in Fig. 8,
starting at 755MHz and ends at 787MHz. Frequencies between D. IEEE 802.11ah path loss models
755MHz to 779MHz will allow a max. sending power at 5mW.
Between 779MHz and 787MHz, max. 10mW are allowed. In IEEE 802.11ah path loss models for indoor have been
the higher frequency regime 4 channels with 2MHz, 2 channels outlined and discussed in [3]. The basic assumption is a path
with 4MHz and 1 channel with 8MHz are approved. It is worth loss model for AP-to-STA communication separated for indoor
to note that most of the Sub 1GHz frequencies in China are and outdoor environments [12]. In addition multi-floor and
used by TV broadcast stations, thus make it inappropriate to STA-to-STA path loss models are being discussed. Fig. 10
adopted such frequencies for IEEE 802.11ah. shows a typical STA-to-STA path loss scenario. The two
stations operate in AP-to-STA communication, thus mutual
interference between the STAs occur when transmitting in
same locations.

Fig. 8: Adopted 1GHz channelization for China

Fig. 10: Path loss model in a STA-to-STA communication scenario
E. Enhanced Coverage Extension through Repetition Due to the adopted use cases, power efficiency for sensor
IEEE 802.11ah aims to widen the coverage for outdoor devices will be a required feature that needs to be considered in
WLANs and future Wi-Fi certified devices. Using carrier the IEEE 802.11ah MAC design. Power efficiency proposals
frequencies in the Sub 1 GHz easily achieve such a goal due to include the integration of IEEE 802.11v power saving features
the excellent propagation characteristic of lower frequencies. and ultra-low power consumption strategies, such as Radio-on-
However, further improvement of coverage and link budget Demand (ROD) for IEEE 802.11ah.
performance can be achieved using repetition in addition. IEEE
802.11ah adopted to use repetition as part of the IEEE 802.11 V. CONCLUSIONS
PHY for coverage improvements. Different repetition models With the rapid deployment of smart meter systems, IoT and
have been discussed, e.g., 2-times and 4-times repetition. For M2M applications the demand for guaranteed short-term
instance, different Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCS) are wireless access becomes a challenging task when using current
being proposed for IEEE 802.11ah. MCS0-rep (1MHz) is 6 dB frequency bands. IEEE 802.11ah is an answer to this problem
higher than MCS0 (2MHz) thus it will provide larger coverage and will define wireless access of Wi-Fi enabled devices in the
compared to non-repetition based communication. Based on Sub 1 GHz ISM band in various countries, including US,
the IEEE 802.11ah path loss model [3], the range covered by Europe, Japan, China and Korea. Operating at carrier
MCS0-rep2 (1MHz) would be 1.45 times higher than MCS0 frequencies below 1 GHz such devices are able to exploit a
for 2MHz bandwidth. More than half of the coverage area is larger coverage area and high penetration. To this effect, this
covered by MCS0-rep2. In the case of remote access with less paper presents the advances of the standardization of Sub 1
coverage, the AP will use MCS0-rep2 in significant portion of GHz WLANs and at the same time it discusses the challenges
time to reach stations in the Area 2, as shown in Fig. 11. that need to be addressed so that the emerging IEEE 802.11ah
standard will efficiently define an extended PHY and MAC
allowing wireless transmission in the Sub 1GHz ISM band.

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