Wi-Fi 7 new hit of internet speed?

The IEEE 802.1 Network Standards Working Group has published the final specification criteria for the next-generation 802.11be wireless standard. The standard is expected to be commercially named Wi-Fi 7 by the time the final version is published, scheduled for mid-2024, and the first commercial tests of the new standard are expected to begin before the end of 2024.

The Wi-Fi 7 standard, which will replace the current Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E introduced earlier this year, is expected to deliver higher data rates with lower latency, better power efficiency and more effective interference suppression. A smooth transition to the next generation of devices will be ensured through backward compatibility with previous generations.

The new standard is expected to deliver data rates of up to a theoretical 46 Gbit/s, thanks to a number of improvements to wireless data technology - including doubled channel width, doubled channel count and more. According to the developers, peak data rates of up to 30 Gbit/s in a real-world deployment with multiple devices will be possible.

By comparison, the theoretical maximum download speeds in 5G networks are expected to be up to 10Gbps. For IEEE 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) devices, the theoretical aggregate "performance cap" is up to 11Gbps.

According to the documentation, the new 802.11be standard will still be based on Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology, but with an enhancement in the form of 4096-QAM quadrature modulation.

In addition, MU-MIMO (Multi-user Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology will be further developed in the new version of the standard as so-called Cooperative MU-MIMO (CMU-MIMO), capable of handling up to 16 spatial data streams - twice as many as in Wi-Fi 6. This alone is expected to increase data throughput by 20%.

However, the developers of the new Wi-Fi standard consider this technology to be the most difficult issue to address in the design of Wi-Fi 7, so CMU-MIMO will only be promoted in it as an option alongside modes with fewer channels.

Another major breakthrough in Wi-Fi 7 will be an increase in channel width to 320 MHz, double that of Wi-Fi 6. The expectation of being able to use such wide frequency bands per channel stems from the prospect of adapting the 6 GHz frequency band for wireless networks on an unlicensed basis - at least in some countries where this band is already being studied by regulators for use in Wi-Fi 6E networks.

Doubling the maximum channel width would therefore allow Wi-Fi 7 to double its capacity. To increase capacity, the standard also envisages a combination of 160 160 MHz, 240 180 MHz and 160 80 MHz channel bands, including the possibility of combining frequency blocks in non-uniform spectrum areas.

The Wi-Fi 7 standard will feature multi-channel operation, allowing wireless devices to simultaneously transmit and receive data on different channels or bands with separation of control and data exchange channels. It is this technology that the developers say will allow Wi-Fi 7 to significantly increase the speed of data exchange in a multi-device network, along with increasing the stability of traffic exchange by reducing latency.

Wi-Fi 7 developers are also taking into account that by the time the standard is commercialized, the 6 GHz frequency band will be heavily congested with traffic from other wireless services, including 5G mobile networks. For this reason, the final Wi-Fi 7 specification will also include an "automatic frequency coordinator" (AFC), which is currently under development to make efficient use of the frequency spectrum.

Just because a new Wi-Fi standard is written doesn't mean that it can immediately be rolled out to users of the technology around the world. Sometimes, new solutions also require legal adjustments. This is the case with the Wi-Fi 6E standard, which uses new radio frequencies. The European Commission therefore said that these frequencies should be transferred to unlicensed use as soon as possible. The same fate probably awaits Wi-Fi 7. There will be a long approval procedure in the European Union and other countries, but it is worth noting that in terms of adaptation of the new standard, when the final Wi-Fi 7 specification appears in the document of the European Union regulator, only minimal additions will be needed, since the 6 GHz frequency band is already de facto approved for use by Wi-Fi devices in individual countries.