At CES 2022, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced Wi-Fi 6 Release 2, an update to the Wi-Fi 6 standard which brings several improvements including faster uplink performance, improved power efficiency.
Wi-Fi Certified 6 Release 2 offers greater uplink capacity. It adds support for uplink multi-user MIMO, allowing multiple devices to upload content concurrently to an access point. Uplink multi-user MIMO support enables faster upload speeds and reduces latency for gaming, video conferencing, and IoT devices. In addition, the release also adds new high-speed channels in the 6 GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi 6E, unlocking an even faster and more reliable Wi-Fi experience.
Another area of focus is power management. The latest release includes some new power and sleep mode enhancements such as broadcast target wake time, extended sleep time, and dynamic multi-user spatial multiplexing power save (SMPS). These enhancements will allow devices in Wi-Fi Certified 6 Release 6 networks to receive extended sleep periods, specific wake-up times for transmitting data and allow dynamic shut off of redundant chains for improved power efficiency.
New features introduced in Wi-Fi 6 Release 2 will work across all three bands — 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz — supported by the Wi-Fi 6 standard.