WiFi 6, WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 Essentials

WiFi 6, WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 Essentials

WiFi 6, WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 Essentials is a 3-day training course features a mixture of lecture and practical hands-on training. Participants will learn 802.11ax-2021, WiFi 6E, Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) and WiFi 7.

Wi-Fi 6E is an enhanced version of the Wi-Fi 6 that extends the IEEE 802.11ax standard to the 6-GHz band. It unlocks the full Wi-Fi 6 feature set in the new pristine band while achieving faster speed, lower latency and higher capacity. With up to 1.2 GHz of Wi-Fi spectrum available for unlicensed use in the 6-GHz band, Wi-Fi 6E can access up to seven 160-MHz channels to support various bandwidth-driven use cases.

Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system is designed to avoid conflicts between existing licensed use (point to point microwave) and new unlicensed devices (access points). It appears that the FCC has settled (May 26, 2020) on a centralized AFC system whereby an access point must contact the AFC “to obtain a list of available frequency ranges in which it is permitted to operate and the maximum permissible power in each frequency range”.

WiFi 7 or 802.11be focuses on Extremely High-Throughput (EHT) that can aid real-time apps with high data speeds.  The 46Gbps data transfer speed is a theoretical maximum; real-life figures will likely reach around 40Gbps. The other advantage of Wi-Fi 7 is that it doubles the number of MIMO streams from 8 to 16. This could allow more devices to benefit from simultaneous high-speed connections.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

• Technical and Project Managers planning to use WiFi 6, WiFI 6E and WiFI 7
• Engineers and testers looking for more in-depth WiFi 6E and AFC Technical Details
• Anyone else new to WiFi 6E, AFC and WiFi 7

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• 802.11ax (WiFi 6)
• 802.11ax-2021 (WiFi 6E)
• 802.11be (WiFi 7)
• Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, the participant will:

• Learn about the fundamental concepts and building blocks of 802.11ax, 802.11ax-2021, WiFi 6E Certification and 802.11be (WiFI 7)
• Explain WiFi 6 evolution towards WiFi 6E and WiFi 7
• Illustrate the core concepts on WiFI 6E  PHY and MAC layers
• Explain ideas behind OFDMA, MIMO spatial streams and Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) features
• Explain 802.11ax PHY, MAC modifications and power efficiencies/device battery life
• List Coexistence mechanisms for different channels and outdoor reliability
• List WiFi 6E deployment scenarios and configurations
• Explain concepts behind Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system
• Learn about the evolution of WiFi 6E to WiFi 7

COURSE OUTLINE

Overview of 802.11 Flavors

• Evolution of 802.11 Technology
• Legacy: 802.11 (1997), Wi-Fi 3: 11g (2003), Wi-Fi 2: 11a (1999), Wi-Fi 1: 11b (1999)
• Wi-Fi 4:802.11n (2009), Wi-Fi 5: 11ac (2013)
• Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax (2019)
• Wi-Fi 6E: 802.11ax-2021 (2021)
• WiFi 7: 802.11be

Overview of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™ and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6E

• Wi-Fi 6E and 6 GHz operations
• Wi-Fi 6E Highlights and Key capabilities
• Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)
• Multi-user multiple input, multiple output (multi-user MIMO)
• 160 MHz vs. 320 MHZ channel utilization capability
• 1024 quadrature amplitude modulation mode (1024-QAM)
• New PHY headers
• Spatial reuse, also referred to as BSS Coloring
• Target Wake Time (TWT): power saving
• Enhanced outdoor robustness

Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax in 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz Bands

• Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax Networks in 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz Bands
  6th generation Wi-Fi
• OFDMA -Increasing capacity by up to four times
• MU-MIMO -Servicing multiple devices simultaneously on limited spectrum
• Smarter Access Points -Enhancing indoor and outdoor connectivity
• Spatial Reuse (BSS Coloring) -Maximizing spectral efficiency
• Target Wake Time (TWT) -Improving device battery life
• Six 80-MHz channels, 1 Gbps throughput on mobile

Wi-Fi 6E: 802.11ax-2021 in 2.4-GHz, 5-GHz and 6-GHz Bands

• Wi-Fi 6E: 802.11ax Networks in 2.4-GHz, 5-GHz and 6-GHz Bands
• 6th generation Wi-Fi extended to 6 GHz
• Ten 160-MHz channels, 2 Gbps throughput on mobile
• 2 GHz of greenfield spectrum
• Unmatched network capacity
  < 1ms latency

Country Status and WiFi 6E Spectrum

• 5925-6425 MHz
• 5925-7125 MHz

Wi-Fi 6E and Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) System

• What is an AFC?
• AFC System Reference Model
• What do AFCs mean for users?
• What is Open AFC and why does it matter?
• Regulatory Definitions
• AFC System Architecture Definitions
• Overview of AFC Functional Architecture
• AFC System Reference Model
• AFC System High Level End to End Functional Architecture
• AFC Device Responder Function
• Spectrum Availability Function
• Incumbent Protection Function
• Logging Function
• AFC Internal Database Function
• AFC System to AFC Device Interface Definitions
• Message Encoding and Transport
• JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
• JSON Data Types
• Message Payloads for Available Spectrum Inquiry
• Available Spectrum Inquiry Request message
• Compliance Test Plan

Overview of WiFi 6/6E Security

• Overview of 802.11 Security Features
• WPA™- Personal and Enterprise
• WPA2™- Personal and Enterprise
• WPA3™- Personal and Enterprise
• Protected Management Frames

Wi-Fi 6E Test Plans

• Wi-Fi 6E test plan addendum
• Wi-Fi Agile Multiband™ (MBO) test plan addendum
• Protected Management Frames (PMF) test plan addendum
• Wi-Fi 6E Tests
• Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6™
• Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ n and/or Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ ac
• Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WPA3™
• Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Agile Multiband™
• Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Protected Management Frames
• Wi-Fi Enhanced Open™ – (For traditional networks with no protections.)

New Features in WiFi 7

• Wi-Fi 7 Application Scenarios
• EHT PHY
• Channel Sounding Optimization
• Advanced PHY Techniques Improving Spectrum
• Low-latency access
• Up to 320 MHz Bandwidth
• Higher-Order 4096-QAM
• Impact of 4K-QAM
• High orders of MU-MIMO and OFDMA
• 16×16 MU-MIMO DL/UL
• Enhanced OFDMA: Enhanced resource allocation in OFDMA
• Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)
• Multi-link Operation (MLO)
• Multi-AP Cooperation
• Multi-Link Power Save
• Channel Sounding Optimization
• EDCA (Enhanced Distributed Channel Access) with 802 TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) features
• TSN Traffic stream classification over 802.11 (VLAN tag)
• Deterministic Low latency
• Full Duplex operation and Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA)