Wi-Fi 7

What is Wi-Fi 7?

Wi-Fi 7, the new generation of wireless standards, was developed based on Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax). In the IEEE 802.11 protocol, it is called the IEEE 802.11be wireless standard or Extreme Throughput (ETH). Compared with Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 introduces technologies such as up to 320 MHz broadband, 4096 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), multiple resource units (MRU), and multi-link operation (MLO). Wi-Fi 7 can operate on three frequency bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz. Its theoretical throughput is 46 Gbps, 4.8 times that of Wi-Fi 6, and the latency is reduced by 4 times.

Why Do We Need Wi-Fi 7?

Wi-Fi 6 focuses on improving transmission efficiency and mainly solves the problem of broadband congestion in high-density scenarios. Wi-Fi 7 is designed to meet the needs of higher throughput and low latency applications. These applications include cloud computing, remote office, high-speed 4K/8K video, video conferencing, and ultra-low latency applications such as VR/AR. The seventh generation of WiFi provides users with an unparalleled online experience, including:

1. Increase throughput from 9.6 Gbps to 46 Gbps, a 4.8-fold increase in speed.

2. Ultra-smooth wireless has four times lower latency than Wi-Fi 6, enabling emerging applications to achieve the best performance.

3. Thanks to up to 320 MHz bandwidth, MLO, and other technologies, WiFi 7 can provide five times the network capacity that Wi-Fi 6 can achieve.

What are the Core Technologies of Wi-Fi 7?

The ultimate online experience upgrade brought by Wi-Fi 7 is due to the innovative technologies of Wi-Fi 7, including:

320 MHz bandwidth: Wi-Fi 7 supports operation in the 6 GHz band, with a channel width of up to 320 MHz. Compared to Wi-Fi 6's maximum channel width of 160 MHz operating in the 5 GHz band, the bandwidth has doubled. At the same time, it supports new broadband modes such as continuous and non-continuous 320/160+160 MHz and 240/160+80 MHz bandwidths.

16 spatial streams MU-MIMO: The increasing number of wireless devices has brought more traffic requirements, and APs are also constantly increasing the number of antennas to improve spatial multiplexing capabilities. Compared with Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 increases the number of spatial streams from 8 to 16, doubles the theoretical rate, and strengthens the MU-MIMO working mechanism.

4096-QAM: As we know, the highest-order modulation scheme used by Wi-Fi 6 is 1024-QAM, and each modulation symbol carries a maximum of 10 bits; Wi-Fi 7 uses a higher-order 4096-QAM, and each modulation symbol can carry 12 bits. The two extra bits of 4K-QAM modulation mean that under the same coding conditions, Wi-Fi 7 can achieve a transmission rate 20% higher than Wi-Fi 6.

MRU: Wi-Fi 6 users are limited to sending and receiving data in specific resource units, significantly limiting data transmission efficiency. Wi-Fi 7 allows each device to have multiple resource units, and multiple resource units can also be merged to improve transmission efficiency. In addition, preamble transmission control technology can prevent interference and channel waste, freeing up channels for data use.

MLO: Traditional WiFi devices rely on a single link for data transmission, while WiFi 7 uses a variety of multi-link operation (MLO) modes to enable devices to use multi-link aggregation to increase throughput, reduce latency, and improve connection reliability; or achieve load balancing and lower latency through seamless dynamic switching of multiple links.

Wi-Fi 7 Applications

The ultra-high throughput and low latency of Wi-Fi 7 provide technical support for the business development of emerging applications. The following are some typical Wi-Fi 7 application scenarios:

• E-sports and entertainment industry

• Immersive VR/AR

• 4K/8K video

• Video conferencing/collaboration

• Multimedia production

• Digital marketing advertising

• Medical high-definition images

• Creative design

• Cloud computing/edge computing