RICHARD SWINBURNE / VIEW FROM TAIWAN
OPINION
T
hefolksattheIEEEandWi-FiAlliancearen’tsitting
still.AfterjustlaunchingWi-Fi6E,whichisWi-Fi 6
(802.11ax)extendedintothe‘6GHzband’(5.71–7.13GHz
actual),engineersarealreadyknee-deepin802.11bedevelopment,
whichislikelytoadopttheWi-Fi7 name.
Called‘ExtremelyHighThroughput’(EHT),it featuresimpressive
headlinespeedsof30Gbps.However,thebetterfeatures,inmy
opinion,aresomeoftheimprovementselsewhere.Firstly,though,
don’tworryif you’vejustupgradedyourhomerouter,asthis
newstandardisn’texpectedtolaunchfora fewyearsyet.
JustasWi-Fi5 (802.11ac)andWi-Fi6 borrowedheavilyfrom
4GLTEmobiletech,suchasMU-MIMOandOFDMArespectively,
Wi-Fi7 isborrowingfromtechthat’snow
beingprovenin5G.That’sclever,becauseit
meansresearchanddevelopmentcostsare
beingadsorbedbysmartphonechip/modem
makersandmobilenetworkoperators,with
engineersbeingabletoreusetheirknowledge
whenit comestocreatingfutureWi-Fichips.
However,eventhoughWi-Fiis influencedby
mobiletech,thesetwoareasarealsocompetingagainsteachother
insomerespects.5Ghasenjoyedtakinga lotofwirelessspectrum
underitspaid-forbanner,whichlocksit outfrompublicuse.Mobile
lobbyistsarealsopushingtousethesame6GHzspectrumthat’s
intheprocessofbeingallocatedintheUS,UK,andEurope.Wi-Fi
6Eeffectivelybeatthemtoit,though.Bylaunchingproductsinto
themarketthatusethefull5.71–7.13GHzrange,Wi-Fi6Ehasmade
a spectrumlandgrabthatcan’tbeundone.
Wi-Fi7 buildsonthisapproachbyallowingeachcompatible
devicetoaggregatemultiplesmallerbandsamongthe2.4GHz,
5GHz,and6GHzranges,boostingperformance.Termed‘non-
contiguousuplink’it’sanalogoustothecarrieraggregation
systemusedin4Gand5G,anditwillreallyhelptoincrease
averagethroughputforuploadheavytasks,suchasstreaming.
Whyit’snotalsobeingusedfordownlinkisunclear,although
it’spossiblethatnon-contiguousdownlinkcouldbeadded
laterduringthestandard’sdevelopment.
Meshnetworkswillgeta bigboostfromnon-contiguous
connections,whilealsobenefittingfrom‘Multi-Access Point
(AP)Coordination’and‘CooperativeMulti-UserMIMO’(CMU-
MIMO).Thesetechnologiesmeanthatdataisn’tjust split
betweenvariousbandsacrossthe2.4GHz,5GHz,and 6GHz
frequencyranges,butalsoacrossdifferentaccesspoints.
Workingtogether,thesethreetechnologieswillmakelarge
meshnetworksfeelseamless.That’snotjust
greatforthehome,butinparticular,itwill
resultina significantboostforpublicWi-Fi
spacesthataresharedbymanyusers.
Beyondthesenewadditions,Wi-Fi7 also
multipliesthecorenumbersofWi-Fi6.
Itdoublestotalchannelbandwidthfrom
160MHzto320MHz,doublesthenumber
ofMIMOstreamsfrom8 to16,andquadruplesthedata
squeezedintothesignalwith4096-QAM.
Thisallsoundsgreat,butthedownsidewillbeincreasedcost.
Evenwithsomeoftheprincipalresearchanddevelopmentcosts
offloaded,allthistechneedsreallyhigh-performancenetwork
processors,plustwicethenumberofantennasandalltheir
associatedradiofront-endfilterchips,whichincreasescosts.
BackwardcompatibilitymeansWi-Fiwillremainubiquitousto
alldevices,butthebestspeedsandmostreliableconnections
won’tcomecheap.A mainbenefitofWi-Fiisthatit’saccessible
inplaceswhereyoucan’tgeta mobilesignal– let’shopethe
802.11bedevelopmentcommitteedoesn’tforgetthis.GET READY FOR WIFI 7
Richard Swinburne looks at the latest Wi-Fi tech developments,
from 30Gbps speeds to superior mesh networksRichard has worked in tech for over a decade, asa UKjournalist,onAsus’ROGteamandnowasanindustryanalystbasedinTaiwan @ricswi
Working together, these
three technologies will
make large mesh
networks feel seamless