The use of smart phones and other mobile devices is changing how consumers access the Internet. New generations of mobile devices are easy to handle and designed for instant access to the Internet. The way the Internet is consumed is changing as well. According to Cisco, global mobile data traffic increased 81 percent in 2013 from 2012. Mobile video traffic grew 69 percent in 2014, and mobile video traffic exceeded 50 percent of the total mobile data traffic for the first time in 2012. Smartphones represented only 29 percent of total global handsets in use in 2014, but represented 69 percent of total global handset traffic. In addition, there were about 109 million wearable devices that are a sub-segment of the machine-to-machine (M2M) category in 2014, generating 15 petabytes of monthly traffic.
Globally, 46 percent of total mobile data traffic was offloaded onto the fixed network through Wi-Fi or femtocell in 2014. Cisco states that in 2014, 2.2 exabytes of mobile data traffic were offloaded onto the fixed network each month. Without offload, mobile data traffic would have grown 84 percent rather than 69 percent in 2014.
Service providers (SPs) are focusing on their mobile traffic Wi-Fi offload strategies; the Wi-Fi technology 802.11ac is critical to this task, as it is important to ensure that the quality of Wi-Fi networks becomes carrier-grade. Frost & Sullivan estimates that more than 55 percent of all mobile data is expected to be offloaded to Wi-Fi Networks in 2017. If the quality of Wi-Fi services is not acceptable because operators are not conducting the offload procedure correctly, customer churn will increase. Thus, the demand for Wi-Fi test and monitoring solutions is expected to continue rising.
The 802.11ac standard incorporates the latest technologies from the .11n standard to provide higher throughput. A large number of consumer products with 802.11ac specifications already exist in the market. Most of the .11ac testing equipment is being used in the R&D and QA testing phases. However, the test equipment market is shifting more toward manufacturing and field tests. Thus, a new set of test equipment is needed to address the performance and testing of .11ac products.
More Wi-Fi-enabled devices are penetrating the market, increasing the strain on networks. There is increased demand for test equipment in dense Wi-Fi deployment areas (with high access-point deployment density), particularly in high-demand areas such as stadiums, exhibit halls, and malls. There are several factors that can have a negative impact in high-density environments, such as allowing high-bandwidth traffic through, which would lower the quality of voice and other services. Performance requirements, the current RF environment, and the Wi-Fi capabilities of clients present a few additional challenges. Thus, once the Wi-Fi infrastructure equipment is installed, the design model has to be verified against the deployed environment. This process includes a physical trip to the deployment site to conduct RF testing and initial design validation. This is followed by on-site acceptance testing and initial design confirmation. As more smart devices are used indoors, the demand for RF and design validation testing is expected to increase.
Wireless standards are developing rapidly, and keeping up with them is becoming a challenge for test equipment vendors. 802.11n introduced the industry to MIMO, 3X3, and 4X4; and new .11n products bring new opportunities for test equipment vendors. The .11ac standard also introduced many new technologies, such as multi-user MIMO, 8X8, and beam forming—all of which require better test equipment. The .11ad standard was introduced in 2012 and is offering a very high throughput of 60 GHz. It is also expected to spur innovation. The industry is now talking about WiGig, 802.11p (wireless access for vehicular environments), 802.11af (TV white space), as well as 802.11ah, which is used for low-power applications. Thus, the testing industry must also innovate and come up with new equipment to test improved standards and ensure better-quality products.
For more information on Wi-Fi test equipment-related studies, please contact Olga Shapiro at [email protected] or Ariel Brown at [email protected].
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