Get ready. 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) is coming and will be huge in the realm of wireless internet.
While still a few years away, Wi-Fi 7 is expected to provide considerable advantages over Wi-Fi 6, the current IEEE standard for wireless local-area networks.
For starters, Wi-Fi 7 supports more data streams and introduces CMU-MIMO. This is significant, because right now Wi-Fi 6 supports up to 8 data streams. The introduction of CMU-MIMO will be a major upgrade, allowing multiple devices to simultaneously use multiple data streams to communicate with access points.
However, Wi-Fi 7 will double this number, which means the device can support 16 data streams, divided over 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz. The C in CMU-MIMO stands for coordinated, which means that 16 data streams may not be provided by one access point, but by multiple access points at the same time.
802.11be Wi-Fi 7 is also expected to have higher data rates and lower latency than Wi-Fi 6.
One of the main goals of Wi-Fi 7 is to increase capacity and data rates above the 9.6Gbps of Wi-Fi 6 in three 160 MHz channels with 1024-QAM and eight spatial streams. In Wi-Fi 7, the maximum date rate is 46Gbps in a 320 MHz channel in 6 GHz and one 160 MHz channel in 5 GHz, with 4096-QAM and 16 spatial streams.
The doubling of spatial streams and the doubling of channel bandwidths should result in an increase of 4.8 times in throughout from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 7.
In addition, Wi-Fi 7 will be optimized for video applications, which will prove valuable in the enterprise space, but also inside homes for use cases like gaming, streaming and other smart-home devices and services.
This focus on video is paramount. Analysts report that video will become the dominant traffic type very soon. In fact, Cisco’s Visual Networking Index indicated that global IP video traffic will be 82% of all IP traffic, both business and consumer, by 2022.
Want to learn more? Now is the time for your organization to plan ahead for 802.11be Wi-Fi 7.
Tonex offers Introduction to 802.11be, WiFi 7 Training, a 2-day technical course covering 802.11be amendment. 802.11be training, designated as Wi-Fi 7, is the next significant milestone in the Wi-Fi long-term success story providing extremely high throughput and supporting real-time applications.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.