Wi-Fi 6E: a rejuvenating force for healthcare organizations

For those unfamiliar with what Wi-Fi 6E is and it basically brings to the table, let's get this one out of the way: it is the latest wireless technology that leverages the recently released 6 GHz spectrum, providing a whole new, dedicated connectivity pipeline for devices and applications to take advantage of. In general terms, this means more speed, more bandwidth, more efficiency, and more security.

But let’s take a more detailed look at some specific functionalities and how they actually translate into improved patient care and greater clinical productivity.

Understanding wireless connectivity options starts with talking about radio waves used by devices to exchange data. In these days, the ‘traditional’ 2.4 and 5 GHz radio frequency bands approved for Wi-Fi use are often too crowded, especially in large hospitals. In a healthcare environment, where we have mission-critical applications of extreme importance – this can literally become an issue of life and death. However, with the clean, pristine spectrum of 6 GHz, free of older Wi-Fi clients that would normally slow down the responsiveness of the network, users can experience fewer bottlenecks.

Thanks to the higher bandwidth, healthcare organization can also see greater adoption of innovation initiatives, specifically around virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications. Imagine that clinicians can be trained within the facility using these types of applications to simulate more realistic scenarios they could encounter in the course of patient care. And this is just the beginning of what is possible.

Anything that we can do with Wi-Fi now on 2.4 and 5 GHz, we are able to do on 6 GHz – but better. There are new and enhanced use cases moving forward, and one of them is mesh networking, especially in indoor facilities. With the injection of additional bandwidth, this technology ensures that there are no areas in the hospital or around the campus where vital technology could lose its connection and disrupt the continuity of patient care.

But that’s not all. Legacy devices can benefit from the additional bandwidth and lower latency, too! Wi-Fi access points support multiple Wi-Fi versions, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz, meaning that data can be communicated over one band and then backhauled via another one. In other words, even older, legacy clients have a way to take advantage of their traffic being backhauled on a 6 GHz mesh link.

Modern hospitals are using mobile patient monitoring equipment that can be very, very expensive, so upgrading it to 6 GHz radios may not happen right away. Wireless Workgroup Bridging, a technique that is making a triumphant return thanks to capabilities of Wi-Fi 6E, addresses that issue in a smart way.

Here, devices that were networked but not wireless could be connected to the 6 GHz network by plugging in an access point to the equipment via an onboard Ethernet port. Then, by changing the mode of the AP, it can be used to bridge to the 6 GHz network. Et voilà, we have just upgraded an aging device to modern day! This allows hospitals and other healthcare facilities who are increasingly under pressure to cut cost and sweat existing assets to extend the usable life of devices that are integral to patient care.

The 6 GHz spectrum in is new. The aforementioned methods of extending connectivity to broader areas of the campus and rejuvenating legacy equipment for today are not. Yet, it's these proven strategies that can give more velocity to digital transformation projects over Wi-Fi 6E networks. Now that Wi-Fi 6E is here, it’s time for healthcare organizations to develop their migration plan to the next generation of Wi-Fi!