In our IoT report, we’ve counted on low-cost, long-distance, customer-owned Wi-Fi systems as providing a critical connectivity need. We had the opportunity to visit Morse Micro yesterday at the CES show in Las Vegas, NV, and left with the impression that HaLow’s time is upon us. In the company’s booth were numerous HaLow infrastructure devices, including those from Edgecore and MicroTik, that connect to numerous beneficial devices (most could be called IoT devices). Most of the devices at the show were based on the company’s first generation of chip. However, just last night, Morse Micro introduced its second generation of highly-integrated chip system, which has increased its range noticeably. We are hopeful that someday, other vendors in the more traditional Wi-Fi market (supporting 2.4/5/6 GHz) will also support HaLow (in the sub 1 GHz spectrum).
Depending upon the circumstances, HaLow can support data transfer on the order of 1 kilometer, which, compared to more traditional Wi-Fi is something like an order of magnitude greater. 900 MHz is a limited resource (just as 2.4 GHz is when addressing IoT traffic), but it is hard to argue with the range. For numerous campuses, backyards, farms, venues, and more circumstances, it is obvious why operating one’s own long-distance wireless infrastructure has merits. And, while iPhones and Androids don’t and probably won’t soon support HaLow, many IoT devices like cameras and sensors should, and we think, will.