Wi-Fi Alliance Announces Wi-Fi 6. A New Generational Approach to Easily Differentiate Between Wi-Fi Technologies

The Wi-Fi Alliance introduced Wi-Fi 6 as the industry designation for products and networks that support the next generation of Wi-Fi, based on 802.11ax technology. Wi-Fi 6 is part of a new naming approach by Wi-Fi Alliance that provides users with an easy-to-understand designation for both the Wi-Fi technology supported by their device and used in a connection the device makes with a Wi-Fi network. Multiple chip companies already announced enthusiastic support.

Frontier Silicon, a leading software and development solutions provider for consumer audio devices, and Marvell, specialized in storage, cloud infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), connectivity and multimedia semiconductor solutions, have extended their collaboration to develop a new generation of smart audio technologies. Frontier is including Marvell’s Dynamic Multi-Hop Relay (DMHR) technology in its new Google Cast-enabled smart audio module, Minuet.

StreamUnlimited announced its new Stream805 module, developed in collaboration with Broadcom and Wistron, combining StreamSDK software and Google Cast to create faster turnaround time for audio manufacturers. StreamUnlimited also introduced the new Stream810 module, developed in collaboration with NXP Semiconductors as a high-end streaming device for flagship audio products, including low power portable units. This module is designed to meet THX performance standards.

The 802.15.4 wireless connectivity market is set to continue its transition towards IP-enabled solutions, increasing from 6% of the market in 2015 to over 30% by 2019, says market researcher ABI Research. Alongside this, the market share of combo ICs from the total shipments of 802.15.4 chips is set to grow from 1% to over 12%.

Audinate announced new enhancements to the Dante Ultimo low-channel chipsets and firmware, now supporting daisy chaining, new control enhancements, and bit depth support. Ultimo now supports 16-, 24- and 32-bit PCM audio, selected globally or per-channel as needed.