*Wi‑Fi 0, 1, 2, and 3 are named by retroactive inference. They do not exist in the official nomenclature.[5][6][7]
IEEE 802.11be, dubbed Extremely High Throughput (EHT), is the latest of the
IEEE802.11 standard,[8][9] which is designated Wi-Fi 7.[10][11][12] It has built upon
802.11ax, focusing on
WLAN indoor and outdoor operation with stationary and pedestrian speeds in the 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz frequency bands.[13]
Throughput is believed to reach a theoretical maximum of 46 Gbit/s, although actual results are much lower.[14]
Development of the 802.11be amendment is ongoing, with an initial draft in March 2021, and a final version expected by the end of 2024.[11][15][16] Despite this, numerous products were announced in 2022 based on draft standards, with retail availability in early 2023. On 8 January 2024, the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced its "Wi-Fi Certified 7" program to certify Wi-Fi 7 devices. While final ratification is not expected until the end of 2024, the technical requirements are essentially complete.[14]
The global Wi-Fi 7 market was estimated at US$1 billion in 2023, and is projected to reach US$24.2 billion by 2030.[17]
Core features
The following are core features that have been approved as of Draft 3.0:
4096-
QAM (4K-QAM) enables each symbol to carry 12 bits rather than 10 bits, resulting in 20% higher theoretical transmission rates than WiFi 6's 1024-QAM.
Contiguous and non-contiguous 320/160+160 MHz and 240/160+80 MHz bandwidth
Multi-Link Operation (MLO), a feature that increases capacity by simultaneously sending and receiving data across different frequency bands and channels. (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz)[18]
Theoretically as little as 1% the latency of Wi‑Fi 6, through the use of MLO
Flexible Channel Utilization – Interference currently can negate an entire Wi-Fi channel. With preamble puncturing, a portion of the channel that is affected by interference can be blocked off while continuing to use the rest of the channel.
Candidate features
The main candidate features mentioned in the 802.11be Project Authorization Request (PAR) are:[19]
Multi-Access Point (AP) Coordination (e.g. coordinated and joint transmission),
Enhanced link adaptation and retransmission protocol (e.g. Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)),
If needed, adaptation to regulatory rules specific to 6 GHz spectrum,
^
abIEEE 802.11y-2008 extended operation of 802.11a to the licensed 3.7 GHz band. Increased power limits allow a range up to 5,000 m. As of 2009[update], it is only being licensed in the United States by the
FCC.
^
abcdefghiBased on short
guard interval; standard guard interval is ~10% slower. Rates vary widely based on distance, obstructions, and interference.
^
abcdefghFor single-user cases only, based on default
guard interval which is 0.8 microseconds. Since multi-user via
OFDMA has become available for 802.11ax, these may decrease. Also, these theoretical values depend on the link distance, whether the link is line-of-sight or not, interferences and the
multi-path components in the environment.
^
abThe default
guard interval is 0.8 microseconds. However, 802.11ax extended the maximum available
guard interval to 3.2 microseconds, in order to support Outdoor communications, where the maximum possible propagation delay is larger compared to Indoor environments.
The 802.11be Task Group is led by individuals affiliated with Qualcomm, Intel, and Broadcom. Those affiliated with
Huawei,
Maxlinear,
NXP, and
Apple also have senior positions.[16]
Commercial availability
Qualcomm announced its FastConnect 7800 series on 28 Feb 2022 using 14 nm chips.[44][45] As of March 2023, the company claims 175 devices will be using their Wi-Fi 7 chips, including smartphones, routers, and access points.[46]
Broadcom followed on 12 April 2022 with a series of 5 chips covering home, commercial, and enterprise uses.[47] The company unveiled its second generation Wi-Fi 7 chips on 20 June 2023 featuring tri-band MLO support and lower costs.[48]
The TP-Link Archer BE900
wireless router was available to consumers in April 2023.[49] The company's Deco BE95
mesh networking system was also available that month. Asus, eero, Linksys, and Netgear had Wi-fi 7 wireless routers available by the end of 2023.
The
ARRIS SURFboard G54 is a
DOCSIS 3.1
cable gateway featuring Wi-Fi 7. It became available in October 2023.
Client devices
The OnePlus 11 smartphone was released in February 2023. It uses Qualcomm's
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with Wi-Fi 7 enabled. The
OnePlus Open also features Wi-Fi 7 support.[50]
The
ASUSROG Phone 7 is a gaming smartphone announced in April 2023. It also uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with Wi-Fi 7 enabled.
The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 Gen8 laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 using the MediaTek Filogic 380 Wi-Fi 7 card.[51]
The Google
Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro both feature Wi-Fi 7 support and were available globally in October 2023.[52]
Intel launched the BE200 and BE202 wireless adapters for desktop and laptop motherboards in September 2023.[53]
The Asus ROG Strix Z790 E II motherboard is among the first with built-in Wi-Fi 7.[54]
The
Linux 6.2 kernel provides support for Wi-Fi 7 devices.[56] The 6.4 kernel added Wi-Fi 7 mesh support.[57] Linux 6.5 included significant driver support by Intel engineers, particularly support for MLO.[58]
Support for Wi-Fi 7 was added to
Windows 11, as of build 26063.1.[59][60]
Notes
^MCS 9 is not applicable to all combinations of channel width and spatial stream count.
^Wi-Fi 6E is the industry name that identifies Wi-Fi devices that operate in 6 GHz. Wi-Fi 6E offers the features and capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 extended into the 6 GHz band.
^802.11ac only specifies operation in the 5 GHz band. Operation in the 2.4 GHz band is specified by 802.11n.
References
^"What is Wi-Fi 8?". everythingrf.com. 25 March 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
^Giordano, Lorenzo; Geraci, Giovanni; Carrascosa, Marc; Bellalta, Boris (21 November 2023). "What Will Wi-Fi 8 Be? A Primer on IEEE 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability".
arXiv:2303.10442.
^López-Pérez, David (12 February 2019). "IEEE 802.11be – Extremely High Throughput: The Next Generation of Wi-Fi Technology Beyond 802.11ax".
arXiv:1902.04320 [
cs.IT].
^IEEE Standard for Information Technology- Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems- Local and Metropolitan Area Networks- Specific Requirements Part Ii: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications. (n.d.). doi:10.1109/ieeestd.2003.94282