Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1520712
26 Next-Gen Connectivity for Smart Living Wi-Fi 7, like previous generations, promises support for more connected devices, lower latency, and even faster connections. Several new Wi-Fi 7 features will differentiate this generation from previous generations, such as multi-link operation, preamble puncturing, and wider channel bandwidth. Introduction As expected, the latest Wi-Fi Alliance ® standard under development, Wi-Fi ® 7 (IEEE 802.11be), is being designed to unleash a new level of wireless networking performance. Like many previous Wi-Fi generations, this new standard isn't merely a sum of features dedicated to enhancing throughput but also a wider range of wireless innovations that can enable new use cases and enhance capabilities for existing ones. For instance, Wi-Fi 7 is poised to unleash unprecedented low latencies for a wireless network and introduce significant features to enable determinism. The leading new technologies and enhancements that Wi-Fi 7 will bring are 4K quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 320MHz channel bandwidths, Multiple Resource Wi-Fi 7 Offers New and Improved Features JJ DeLisle For Mouser Electronics Units (MRUs), enhanced multi-user multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) technology, multi-link operation (MLO), and multiple access points (APs). Many of these new features take some unpacking to understand their benefits and come with various additional technologies and features. This article aims to provide a primer on the new technologies and enhancements introduced in Wi-Fi 7, explaining how these features will enable devices to empower new use cases such as augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), hardline replacement, real-time networking, and many other time- critical and high-performance applications. Wi-Fi 7 Critical Differentiators The main enhancements in the new Wi-Fi standard are MLO, physical layer (PHY) enhancements, multi-AP coordination, and enhanced security. This section will provide a brief overview of these categories as well as details of the key features (Figure 1) that enable these enhancements. Though these new technologies and enhancements are not guaranteed until the 802.11be amendment is finalized in early 2024, Wi-Fi 7 products have been advertised on the market since early 2023. These products may require software updates to capture the full range of new Wi-Fi 7 features and enhancements after the standard's full release. How Wi-Fi 7 Will Reduce Latency, Enhance Determinism, Increase Speeds, & Unleash Wireless Networking's New Potential