WiFi 7 (Wi-Fi 7) is the next-generation Wi-Fi standard to be launched, also known as IEEE 802.11be — extremely high throughput (EHT).
Based on Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 introduces technologies such as 320 MHz bandwidth, 4096-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), multi-resource unit (RU), multi-link operation (MLO), enhanced multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO), and multi-access point (AP) coordination. Drawing on these cutting-edge technologies, Wi-Fi 7 delivers a higher data transmission rate and lower latency than Wi-Fi 6. Wi-Fi 7 is expected to support a throughput of up to 30 Gbps, about three times that of Wi-Fi 6.
Why Do We Need Wi-Fi 7?
With the development of WLAN technologies, homes and enterprises rely more and more on Wi-Fi for network access. In recent years, emerging applications have higher requirements on throughput and latency. Typical examples of these applications include 4K and 8K videos (involving a transmission rate of up to 20 Gbps), virtual reality (VR)/augmented reality (AR), online gaming (requiring latency of less than 5 ms), remote office, online video conferencing, and cloud computing. Facing such high requirements, Wi-Fi 6 — currently the latest Wi-Fi standard — is insufficient in spite of its dedication to improving user experience in high-density scenarios.
As such, the IEEE is about to release a new amendment entitled IEEE 802.11be EHT, also known as Wi-Fi 7.
Wi-Fi 7 Release Time
The IEEE 802.11be Task Group (TGbe) was formally established in May 2019, which is working on the development of 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7). The standard will be available in Release 1 and Release 2. The TGbe plans to release Draft 1.0 of 802.11be in 2021, and Release 1 will be available by the end of 2022. Release 2 is expected to be initiated at the beginning of 2022 and will be released at the end of 2024.
Wi-Fi 7 vs. Wi-Fi 6
Based on the Wi-Fi 6 standard, Wi-Fi 7 introduces a plurality of new technologies. The following compares Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7.
Wi-Fi 7 vs. Wi-Fi 6
For more information, see Wi-Fi 7
