This will be Wifi 7: welcome to the era of 'ultracapacity'

A group of attendees at a congress in Seville use their mobile devices connected to the center's Wi-Fi.Paco Puentes

Tech companies don't always dance to the same beat.

This is the case of wireless communication, where the companies that provide telecommunications networks are not able to keep up with the system developers to make the most of the data flow.

In this way, when 5G for mobile communication begins to be generalized, the processor platforms are already working with 6G, the new generation.

The same goes for the Wi-Fi.

While the standard (model) for the seventh generation has not yet been approved, several companies have already presented their devices for this technology, which promises more speed, range, capacity and quick response.

Wifi Alliance, the entity that certifies the standards of the most common technology for wireless communication and the main world medium for Internet traffic, still considers that Wifi 7 (802.11 be) is "under development".

However, companies like MediaTek, Intel, and Broadcom have already introduced next-gen-enabled products.

The last company to join has been Qualcomm, which has presented this December the new platforms for Wifi 7 aimed at homes (Immersive Home Platform).

"We can provide more than 20 gigabits per second," says Nick Kucharewski, vice president of Qualcomm, who ensures that the new systems are specifically designed for home use and also mean a reduction in energy consumption of up to 22%.

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However, that speed and capacity of up to 20 gigabits per second (Gbps) is far from what telecommunications network companies can provide for now, which come to offer homes one Gbps and, in some cases, up to 10. Kucharewski believes that while that potential arrives, new routers and processors bring "accelerated performance" even when you don't have networks or devices ready for the next standard.

Wifi 7 benefits the home user in multiple aspects: the gaming experience is optimal by providing maximum resolution and minimum latency (delay is reduced by 75%), the consumption of online audiovisual content reaches the highest quality (4K and 8K) without interruptions and video conferences, data transmissions and the connection of multiple devices simultaneously run more efficiently.

It will also be basic for virtual reality applications.

Domestic consumption is in fact one of the drivers of this acceleration of wireless communications.

“The number of people who have fiber at home has increased, the number of applications running at home has also grown, and we have more and more connected devices,” sums up Kucharewski.

Up to 22 devices connected to Wi-Fi

In this sense, the director of the technology company details that videos and applications that require high bandwidth account for 71% of domestic traffic and that online gaming grows annually.

Teleworking and video communications have also increased by up to 250%.

This new leisure and work model has been joined by new connected devices such as security cameras (23% of homes), smart doorbells (26% in the United States), interactive speakers (40%) and other devices, reaching 22 devices. connected to the network in the most advanced homes.

This new reality requires a high-capacity home network, speeds that allow applications to run in real time, and a system that facilitates the simultaneous operation of many devices.

Wifi 7 brings these improvements and represents a significant leap compared to its previous generation.

“It will bring benefits in terms of connection speed, stability, latency, energy efficiency, data transmission capacity and wireless signal coverage”, summarizes Álvaro Rubio Segovia, S

engineer at Zalcu Technologies.

The Spanish engineer explains that the main resources of 802.11be, also known as

(EHT), are a bandwidth of 320 MHz, which makes it easy to double the data rate, and techniques such as Multi-RU and Multi-Link Operation (MLO).

This latest technology, as specified, "allows wireless devices to use several communication channels at the same time [2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz], which improves the efficiency of data transmission and the performance and quality of the network connection.

In addition, this new standard uses a higher modulation level (4096-QAM), which allows a higher speed and capacity for information transmission”.

“Wifi 7”, adds Álvaro Rubio, “offers a faster, more reliable and more efficient wireless network connection than the previous generation.

This translates into data transfer peaks of 40 Gbps, four times more than its predecessor, thanks to the incorporation of new technologies and a more efficient use of resources”.

Intel provides an analogy to explain the benefits of the new standard: it is like a large moving truck that allows you to optimize the cargo space compared to one with half the capacity.

These technologies, in the simile of transport, have, in addition to the potential simultaneous use of several roads, the ability to choose roads that do not present congested traffic, instead of having to wait for a road to be clear, or redistribute the load in smaller trucks that can circulate better on the available roads.

The advantages for a conventional laptop, for example, is that it would gain 2.4 times more speed than with a previous generation of wireless communication.

Downloading 15GB, the equivalent of the maximum free storage of Google Photos, would take only about 25 seconds.

This is Wi-Fi 7

These are the new Wifi 7 technologies and their effects, in a summary of the Zalcu Technologies engineer's analysis:

Multi-Link Operation (MLO).

It allows wireless devices to use several communication channels at the same time, improving the efficiency of data transmission and the performance and quality of the network connection.

You gain in connection speed, essential for online video or large file downloads, capacity (key when there are multiple users connected), stability (without cuts), latency and energy efficiency.

320 MHz of bandwidth

.

The 6 GHz band supports up to six overlapping 320 MHz channels and three non-overlapping channels.

This allows an improvement in the quality of service and a higher transmission speed in Wi-Fi networks, an essential aspect for virtual reality or high-definition video applications.

There is a gain in speed and quality of the connection, less interference is recorded and energy consumption is reduced, which means, in addition to a lower cost on the bill, a longer useful life for the batteries.

4096-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) modulations.

Improvement in spectral efficiency by allowing better use of the available bandwidth and gains in transmission speed.

Both aspects benefit the user of applications that require low latency.

The main disadvantage is that it requires a higher amount of power to transmit the signal and can be more error prone.

Multiple-input Multiple-output

.

This

technology provides 16 data streams over multiple access points at the same time to improve connection speed and performance, network efficiency, and performance in high device density or interference environments. .

Multi-RU or Multiple Resource Units.

It provides speed when using several resource units simultaneously, greater efficiency in the use of spectrum and flexibility in resource scheduling.

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