Wi-Fi HaLow (IEEE 802.11ah) for Long-Range Monitoring Links: Point-to-Point NLoS/LoS and LoS Mesh Field Characterization

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive field characterization of Wi-Fi HaLow for long-range monitoring, analyzing its performance in various deployment scenarios including NLoS, LoS, and mesh networks.

Contribution

It offers empirical data on Wi-Fi HaLow's range, throughput, and latency in real-world conditions across different deployment configurations.

Findings

NLoS coverage boundary around 120 meters

Throughput decays gradually up to 814 meters in LoS

Range extension up to 1110 meters with fixed relays

Abstract

Monitoring deployments often require reliable long-range wireless links to intermittently upload sensor logs and short video snapshots. Wi-Fi HaLow (IEEE~802.11ah) is a promising candidate due to sub-1 GHz propagation and bandwidth-flexible PHY modes. This summary paper reports a field characterization organized around three deployment-driven regimes: (i) point-to-point Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) links; (ii) point-to-point Line-of-Sight (LoS) links over several-hundred-meter distances; and (iii) LoS mesh networking with fixed relay nodes for range extension. Using commodity HaLow dongle-class nodes in all regimes, we report application-layer goodput and monitoring-centric update latency based on transferring a representative ``heavy'' object (a $\sim$30 s video file). The measurements reveal (a) a clear bandwidth--range tradeoff and an NLoS coverage boundary around $\sim$120 m, (b) gradual throughput decay under LoS up to 814 m in single-hop with 0.15 Mbps at the farthest point, and (c) kilometer-class extension under LoS when fixed relays are introduced, reaching 901 m (two fixed relays) and 1110 m (three fixed relays