Wi-Fi 7

What is Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi 7, also known as IEEE 802.11be, extends the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6E with significant new capabilities:

• Ultra-wide 320 MHz bandwidth channels double the transmission capacity of the 160 MHz channels supported by Wi-Fi 6. This increase in bandwidth helps to reduce delays and improve overall transmission rates.
• Multi-Link Operation (MLO) for channel aggregation that enables devices connected to a Wi-Fi 7 access point to combine different channels across frequency bands, allowing concurrent transmission and reception of data over multiple links. Prior to Wi-Fi 7, devices typically used a single band to transmit data. 
• 4K QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) provides higher peak data rates by enabling each signal to more densely embed greater amounts of data.  Data transmission efficiency and performance is significantly improved compared to the only 1K QAM with Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E
• Spectrum puncturing helps accommodate interference in wide channels by allowing subchannels to operate within wide channels by opening up 20 MHz increments. This helps work around interference or other requirements while still enabling 320 MHz channels to function. 

Tremendous wireless advancements have been made over the past 25 years, delivering benefits of performance, efficiencies, and security capabilities. As wireless standards evolve, W-Fi 7 also takes advantage of the efficiency features from W-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E (IEEE 802.11ax) which include:

• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) is arguably the most important feature in the 802.11ax standard. This is an enhanced multi-user feature that effectively shares channels to increase network efficiency. Multiple devices with varying bandwidth needs can be served simultaneously instead of the existing model where devices compete with one another to send data. With 802.11ax there is no contention as each device is simultaneously scheduled to transmit data in parallel.

Handling data packets in this way improves performance, as a large number of packets — especially those that are latency sensitive such as voice traffic — can be transmitted simultaneously. In dense environments, instead of using a single vehicle to carry traffic, it’s like using a carpool model. Traffic is pooled into a transport allowing for multiple conversations to happen at once. This allows access points to handle traffic from multiple 802.11ax devices more efficiently and at peak performance.

• Multi-user Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) is an additional way to handle traffic from multiple devices that was originally introduced in 802.11ac. Within 802.11ax, this feature has been enhanced by allowing multiple devices to transmit simultaneously. This allows for large packets such as streaming HD video to be handled more efficiently, while shorter packets from IoT devices and voice traffic would be better handled using OFDMA.
• Target Wake Time (TWT) minimizes device contention and extends the battery life of clients, which lets devices remain inactive until it’s their turn to transmit data using a scheduling scheme negotiated with the APs. Because devices can go into an inactive mode the battery life of smart phones, tablets and IoT devices is an underlying benefit. It’s like parking a vehicle in the cell phone waiting area, rather than circling the airport for arrivals. There is less congestion, energy savings and an overall better experience.
• IoT handling is enhanced with an operating mode for low-power, low-bandwidth devices like sensors, automation and medical devices. This mode will separate these devices from an 802.11ax AP using a 20 MHz-only channel that works in either the 2.4 or 5 GHz bands. Like adding a dedicated bike lane, but without the worry of low-bandwidth traffic interfering with latency sensitive traffic.
• Built-in Wi-Fi 6 encryption with Enhanced Open support helps keep guest traffic encrypted per user session and device. Guests can continue to connect to an “open” network but now enjoy a safer Wi-Fi experience without the added burden of doing anything extra. What’s more, WPA3 was introduced to replace WPA2 and enhance security for employee connections using more advanced algorithms and simpler configuration. Both solutions are easy for IT and users, while enhancing the posture of your networks.