Mettis Aerospace hosts world's first Wi-Fi 6 IoT trial

The UK trial, the first in a series of global trials, is being held at Mettis Aerospace’s 27-acre facility in the West Midlands, in collaboration with the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA).

The Mettis Aerospace site was chosen for the trial as it provides a number of technical challenges to the wireless system, covering a large geographical area and with industrial radio interference that can disrupt signals, according to Tiago Rodrigues, general manager of the WBA.

During the trial, the team will select two or three areas of the manufacturing plant in which to install the Wi-Fi 6 network, consisting of several antennas, said Rodrigues.

“We are going to run a series of tests to address Mettis Aerospace’s requirements, so for example the use of augmented reality,” he said. “We want to verify that Wi-Fi 6 can deliver those type of applications in an industrial environment.”

Other challenges the technology faces is in juggling the competing needs of the different applications. Some applications, such as multi-stream video, will require high bandwidth, others low latency, while mission critical applications will need to be prioritised, said Rodrigues.