Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Aware™ Technology Overview (2022)

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Aware, a certification program by Wi-Fi Alliance®, brings contextually defined, device-to-device connectivity to Wi-Fi devices without the need for a connection to infrastructure or a cellular network. Devices certified for Wi-Fi Aware leverage Wi-Fi® to discover and connect directly to people, information, or services based on physical context and tailored to individual preferences. As a part of the discovery, Wi-Fi Aware devices may estimate the distance between them and use that estimation to determine whether discovery triggers any further actions, such as notification to the user or a Wi-Fi Aware specific data connection setup. The technology behind Wi-Fi Aware enables power efficient, continuous background discovery of devices and services, accurate device-to-device ranging, secured device-to-device pairing and privacy protection, as well as instant, high rate, low latency, and power efficient IP-based device-to-device data exchange.