WiFi TSN: Enabling Deterministic Wireless Connectivity over 802.11

New applications are emerging that bring new and stricter requirements for WiFi. Smart factories, mobile and collaborative robots, and Extended Reality (XR) demand deterministic wireless connectivity with ultra-low latency. This article focuses on the challenges and enhancements supporting Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) that enable WiFi to support usages that require deterministic operation. The article reviews existing and future time-sensitive applications and their connectivity requirements. It discusses the evolution of the TSN capabilities supported by various WiFi generations, from legacy standards to the latest 802.11ax specification and the ongoing progress in the 802.11be Task Group specific to deterministic operation. The article also discusses the open challenges for next generation WiFi, including ultra-low latency (sub-millisecond) with higher efficiency. The article concludes with a review of the TSN ecosystem activities toward interoperability testing and certification of WiFi TSN and discusses testbed results demonstrating the 802.11ax and 802.11be tools to achieve deterministic operation.