The first devices compatible with the new Wi-Fi 7 standard should land in 2024.
While Wi-Fi 6 is being deployed, a next-generation network is preparing its arrival on the market. Also called, 802.11be, Wi-Fi 7 defines the technology on which the manufacturer Intel is currently working. In short, it promises five times the speed of WiFi 6, lower latency, better spectral and power efficiency, greater capacity density, better cost-effectiveness, and interference mitigation.
By definition, latency represents the time that a signal will take to go back and forth between the device and the server. For its part, the spectral speed defines the rate of information that can be transmitted on a given bandwidth.
See you in two years
Intel has announced that the Wi-Fi standard will hit the market in the course of 2024. The manufacturer expects a ramp-up of devices available the following year. “With more than a year to go until 802.11be is finalized, there is room to improve speeds even further”, said Eric McLaughlin, vice-president of the foundry’s wireless division. Manufacturers should be able to offer wifi 7 in their ranges from 2025 and Intel also expects this new standard to arrive quickly in video games, in virtual and augmented reality and in robots.
Today, Intel’s goal is to obtain certification from the “Wi-Fi Alliance”. For this, the product must meet certain technical requirements and undergo a series of tests. Verifications that will ensure the compatibility, conformity and performance of the product.
A leap forward
To deploy, Wi-Fi 7 will use the same three frequency bands as Wi-Fi 6E, the improved version of Wi-Fi 6. The frequency bands in question are 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6GHz. Specifically, the new standard will bring improvements in raw transfer speed, offer an ultra-wide bandwidth of 320 MHz which will double the speed and adopt new technology.
A new technology
Wi-Fi 7 will use a technology called Multi-Link Operation, or MLO. To understand its contribution, you should know that with previous Wi-Fi generations, a device can only connect to a single frequency band. Namely, either the 2.4 GH band or the 5 GHz. Products compatible with WiFi 6E opt for the 6 GHz band. Thus, if the device chooses the slowest band to connect to the network, it will not be able to benefit from a better speed offered by another band.
Wi-Fi 7 offers more flexibility. It allows a network to operate either with two sets of 160 MHz channels or with a single 320 MHz channel. The choice will be made according to the needs. Using MLO technology, devices will be able to simultaneously send and receive data on all bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz).
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