The recently released Wi-Fi 7 promises new features to boost Wi-Fi performance and improve connectivity across a variety of environments.
Wi-Fi Alliance claims that Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 (Wi-Fi 7) will enable innovations that rely on high throughput, deterministic latency, and greater reliability for critical traffic. New uses – including multi-user AR/VR/XR, immersive 3-D training, electronic gaming, hybrid work, industrial IoT, and automotive – will advance as a result of Wi-Fi 7.
Wi-Fi 7 will see rapid adoption across a broad ecosystem with more than 233 million devices expected to enter the market in 2024, growing to 2.1 billion devices by 2028. Smartphones, PCs, tablets, and access-points (APs) will be the earliest adopters of Wi-Fi 7, and customer premises equipment (CPE) and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) equipment will continue to gain early market traction.
Wi-Fi 7’s advancements over Wi-Fi 6 include:
- 320 MHz channels: available in countries that make the 6 GHz band available to Wi-Fi, ultra-wide channels double today’s widest channel size to facilitate multigigabit device speeds and high throughput;
- Multi-Link Operation (MLO): allows devices to transmit and receive data simultaneously over multiple links for increased throughput, reduced latency, and improved reliability
- 4K QAM: achieves 20% higher transmission rates than 1024 QAM;
- 512 Compressed block-ack: improves efficiency and reduces overhead;
- Multiple RUs to single STA: improves flexibility for spectrum resource scheduling to enhance spectrum efficiency;
- Triggered Uplink Access: optimises Wi-Fi 6 defined triggered uplink access to accommodate latency sensitive streams and satisfy QoS requirements; and
- Emergency Preparedness Communication Services (EPCS): provides seamless National Security & Emergency Preparedness (NSEP) service experience to users while maintaining the priority and quality of service in Wi-Fi access networks.