WiFi 7: The Next Generation of Wireless Technology

29 Jan, 2025
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WiFi 7: The Next Generation of Wireless Technology

What is WiFi 7?

Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be – extremely high throughput (EHT)) is the next version/standard of Wi-Fi that is set to replace the existing Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 5 infrastructures.

Based on Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 introduces new technologies such as: Channel bandwidth up to 320 MHz, 4096-QAM multiplexing, Multi-resource unit (RU), Multi-link operation (MLO), Enhanced MU-MIMO, and multi-access point (AP) coordination. Leveraging these advanced technologies, Wi-Fi 7 will provide higher data rates and lower latency than Wi-Fi 6. It is expected that the data rate supported by Wi-Fi 7 will be three times that of Wi-Fi 6 and will reach up to 30 Gbps.

Why do we need Wi-Fi 7?

With the continuous evolution of WLAN technologies, both homes and businesses are increasingly dependent on Wi-Fi for their network connectivity. In recent years, modern applications that are being developed have increased requirements in terms of data flow (throughput) and latency (latency).

Such applications are:TeleworkingTeleconferencingVirtual reality (VR) / augmented reality (AR)Online games that require low latency, less than 5ms4K and 8K video, which require transmission rates of up to 20 Gbpscloud computing. The increased demands of modern applications prove that Wi-Fi 6, although designed to improve the user experience in High density scenarios, faces challenges that make it inadequate.

Wi-Fi 7 vs Wi-Fi 6

Features of Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi 7 aims to increase network throughput with data rates of up to 30 Gbps and to provide better spectrum efficiency. To achieve this goal, the standard will introduce improvements to the physical layer (PHY) as well as to the MAC layer.

Compared to Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 will introduce the following technical features and innovations:

Channel widths of up to 320 MHz

The bands between 2.4GHz and 5GHz will be further optimized with greater spectrum sharing, enhancing the performance of technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). The new Wi-Fi standard will aim to provide problem-free quality of service (QoS) for applications sensitive to latency.

In order to achieve a throughput of up to 30 Gbps, Wi-Fi 7 will utilize the new 6 GHz band (which will be available in many regions worldwide) and is expected to introduce new channel widths, including contiguous 240 MHz and non-contiguous 160+80 MHz, contiguous 320 MHz and non-contiguous 160+160 MHz.

Multi-Resource Unit (RU)

In Wi-Fi 6, each user can only send or receive frames on the RUs assigned to it, significantly limiting the flexibility of spectrum resource allocation. To solve this problem and further improve spectrum resource efficiency, Wi-Fi 7 defines a mechanism for assigning multiple RUs to a single user. To balance implementation complexity and spectrum resource utilization, the standard specification imposes some restrictions on the combination of RUs. This means that small RUs (containing less than 242 tones) can only be combined with small RUs, and large RUs (containing more than or equal to 242 tones) can only be combined with large RUs.

High-Order 4096-QAM

The higher modulation complexity that supports Wi-Fi 6 is 1024-QAM, which allows for a symbol to carry up to 10 bits. To further enhance data rates, Wi-Fi 7 introduces 4096-QAM technology, allowing a symbol to carry 12 bits. With the same coding efficiency, the 4096-QAM in Wi-Fi 7 achieves a throughput increase of about 20% compared to the 1024-QAM of Wi-Fi 6.

Mechanism Multi-Link

For the efficient use of all available frequency bands, the standard supports the coordination and aggregation of multiple communication paths, simultaneously operating over the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. The IEEE P802.11 – Task Group be is developing new multi-link aggregation technologies, including the MAC architecture of enhanced multi-link aggregation, multi-link channel access, and multi-link transmission.

Performance with improved MIMO

Wi-Fi 7 expands the number of spatial streams from 8 to 16, significantly improving the theoretical physical throughput compared to Wi-Fi 6. With improved MIMO capabilities, Wi-Fi 7 supports distributed MIMO. This practically means that up to 16 data streams can be transmitted from multiple Access Points (APs) simultaneously, a feature that permits multiple APs to synchronously transmit with their users.

Synchronization Multi-AP

In the previous version of the 802.11 protocol, there were no dedicated synchronization methods between the APs. With new WLAN technologies, such as automatic radio calibration and smart roaming, it is critical that they are developed from the ground up. The synchronization of multiple APs contributes to the efficient utilization of radio resources through AP coordination for optimal automatic management and utilization of radio resources.

The synchronized programming of multiple APs in Wi-Fi 7 includes: inter-cell coordinated planning in the time and frequency domains, inter-cell interference coordination, and distributed MIMO. Among the innovations, is the possibility of parallel management with AP synchronization and systematic improvement in air interface resources. The synchronization of multiple APs can be implemented in various ways, such as: coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access (C-OFDMA), coordinated spatial reuse (CSR), coordinated beamforming (CBF), and joint transmission (JXT).

WiFi 7 aims to provide systematic excellence in the quality of application technology and offer innovative characteristic possibilities that will systematically enhance the technological capabilities of distributed systems and improve the performance of various applications, such as: