WiFi7: Next-generation WiFi / IEEE802.11be

WiFi7 Technology Improvements and Specification

WiFi 7 is a WiFi standard that offers three major technological improvements over previous WiFi standards:

• Throughput

Throughput is 4.8 times faster than the previous WiFi 6 standard, reaching up to 46 Gbps.

• Latency

Even at its highest latency (delay time), it is 100 times faster than the previous WiFi 6, which contributes greatly to the performance of AR/VR, which requires real-time performance.

• Network capacity

With 320MHz Channel Bandwidth and MLO (Multi-link operation) capabilities, it provides up to five times the network capacity compared to the previous WiFi 6.

Channel bandwidth: 320MHz

One of the differences between WiFi 7 and WiFi 6E is the channel bandwidth.
WiFi 6E had a maximum channel bandwidth of 160 MHz, but WiFi 7 doubles this to a maximum of 320 MHz. By utilizing more bandwidth and transmitting more data at once, speeds are improved.

Modulation: 4096QAM (12 bit)

One of the differences between WiFi 7 and WiFi 6E is the modulation method.
WiFi 6E uses a modulation method called 1024QAM, which has the highest modulation efficiency.
1024QAM allows 10 bits of data to be represented per symbol.
WiFi7 uses a modulation method called 4096QAM, which has the highest modulation efficiency.
4096QAM allows 12-bit data representation per symbol.
In other words, WiFi 6E to WiFi 7 enables transmission speeds 1.2 times faster due to the modulation method.

RU(Resource Unit)：Multi-RU(Multi-Resource Unit)

One of the differences between WiFi7 and WiFi6E is the Multi-RU (Multi-Resource Unit).
Multi-RU (Multi-Resource Unit) is a resource utilization method when using OFDMA.
Conventional OFDMA is a communications technology that divides the bandwidth into time units for each user, allowing multiple users to efficiently use the allocated units.
Multi-RU (Multi-Resource Unit) is an advancement of OFDMA usage, and WiFi6E's OFDMA can only allocate one RU (Resource Unit) per user.
WiFi 7 OFDMA allows multiple RUs (Resource Units) to be assigned to each user.

MLO (Multi Link Operation)

One of the differences between WiFi 7 and WiFi 6E is MLO (Multi Link Operation), which is an important technology for improving latency. MLO is a MAC layer technology that uses multiple frequencies and channels for communication.
When WiFi 6E is connected using the 5 GHz frequency band, it will then only communicate using the 5 GHz band.
WiFi7's MLO allows communication by combining multiple frequency bands and channels, such as the 2.4GHz band + 6GHz band or the 5GHz band + 6GHz band.