Wi-Fi 7

What is Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi 7, also known as IEEE 802.11be, extends the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6E with significant new capabilities:

• Ultra-wide 320 MHz bandwidth channels double the transmission capacity of the 160 MHz channels supported by Wi-Fi 6. This increase in bandwidth helps reduce delays and improve overall transmission rates.
• Multi-Link Operation (MLO) for channel aggregation that enables devices connected to a Wi-Fi 7 access point to combine different channels across frequency bands, allowing concurrent transmission and reception of data over multiple links. Prior to Wi-Fi 7, devices typically used a single band to transmit data.
• 4K QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) provides higher peak data rates by enabling each signal to more densely embed greater amounts of data. Data transmission efficiency and performance is significantly improved compared to 1K QAM with Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E.
• Spectrum puncturing mitigates interference in wideband channels by enabling selective subchannel activation in 20 MHz increments, which helps preserve channel integrity and operational flexibility. This helps work around interference or other requirements while still enabling 320 MHz channels to function.

Tremendous wireless advancements have been made over the past 25 years, delivering benefits of performance, efficiencies, and security capabilities. As wireless standards evolve, Wi-Fi 7 also takes advantage of the efficiency features from W-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E (IEEE 802.11ax) including:

• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) which is arguably the most important feature in the 802.11be standard. This enhanced multi-user feature effectively shares channels to increase network efficiency. Multiple devices with varying bandwidth needs can be served simultaneously, instead of the existing model where devices compete with one another to send data. With 802.11be there is no contention as each device is simultaneously scheduled to transmit data in parallel.
• Handling data packets in this way improves performance as a large number of packets—especially those that are latency sensitive such as voice or video traffic—can be transmitted simultaneously. In dense environments, instead of using a single vehicle to carry traffic, it’s like using a carpool model. Traffic is pooled into a transport allowing for multiple conversations to happen at once. This allows access points to handle traffic from multiple 802.11be devices more efficiently and at peak performance.

• Multi-user Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) is an additional way to handle traffic from multiple devices that was originally introduced in 802.11ac. Within 802.11be, this feature has been enhanced by allowing multiple devices to transmit simultaneously.
• This mechanism efficiently processes large packets such as streaming HD video, while OFDMA optimizes the handling of shorter packets from IoT devices and voice traffic. Target Wake Time (TWT) minimizes device contention and extends the battery life of clients, which lets devices remain inactive until it’s their turn to transmit data using a scheduling scheme negotiated with the APs. Because devices can go into an inactive mode, the extended battery life of smart phones, tablets and IoT devices is an underlying benefit. It’s like parking a vehicle in the cell phone waiting area, rather than circling the airport for arrivals. There is less congestion, energy savings, and an overall better experience.
• IoT handling is enhanced with an operating mode for low-power, low-bandwidth devices like sensors, automation, and medical devices. This mode separates these devices from an 802.11be AP using a 20 MHz-only channel that works in either the 2.4, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz bands. This prevents low-bandwidth traffic from interfering with latency-sensitive traffic.
• Built-in Wi-Fi 7 encryption with Enhanced Open support helps keep guest traffic encrypted per user session and device. Guests can continue to connect to an “open” network but now enjoy a safer Wi-Fi experience without the added burden of doing anything extra. What’s more, WPA3 was introduced to replace WPA2 and enhance security for employee connections using more advanced algorithms and simpler configuration. Both solutions are easy for IT and users, while enhancing the posture of your networks.

Consider networking and Wi-Fi vendors that:

• Demonstrate industry leadership as recognized by leading analysts such as Gartner, Forrester, and IDC.
• Deliver built-in security with unified policy enforcement across wired and wireless networks.
• Simplify operations by using AI and machine learning to automate optimization and provide actionable recommendations to remediate issues.
• Offer secure, energy efficient IoT capabilities to enable you to leverage APs as an IoT connectivity platform using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, or USB ports.
• Provide the flexibility to manage on-prem or in the cloud and to deploy with or without gateways.

HPE offers Wi-Fi 7 access points solutions by both HPE Aruba Networking and HPE Juniper Networking.