As 2024 commences, Wi-Fi continues to be a major player in consumer and industrial IoT markets, and a big reason for its strong position is that the technology continues to improve. This year should see a big step forward for the newest member of the Wi-Fi technology family, Wi-Fi 7, based on the IEEE 80.11be standard.
The Wi-Fi 7 standard is expected to be finalized early in 2024, promising transmission rates starting around 1.3 Gbps, above the 1 Gbps theoretical ceiling of its predecessor, Wi-Fi 6, and with its own theoretical maximum rates as high as 46 Gbps. It does this through 4K QAM modulation technology, whereas Wi-Fi 6 uses 1K QAM. It leverages Multi-link Operation, meaning it can use the 2.4 Ghz, 5 Ghz, and 6 Ghz frequency bands simultaneously for data transmission, as well as Multiple Input Multiple Output technology and other improvements that translate to increased reliability and reduced latency compared to earlier Wi-Fi standards, aspects that certainly will make Wi-Fi 7 more appealing for business and industrial applications.
ABI Research has indicated that annual Wi-Fi enabled chipset shipments will exceed 5.1 billion by 2028, with more than 1.7 billion of these chipsets supporting the Wi-Fi 7 standard.
Routers and other products based on Wi-Fi 7 already began appearing during 2023, and just in the first week of the new year the pace of new Wi-Fi 7 product introductions appears to be on the increase. Among these announcements, broadband service provider Lumen Technologies unveiled a Wi-Fi 7 router for customers of its gigabit broadband services; EnGenius announced Wi-Fi 7 Cloud Access Points based on Qualcomm’s Pro 1220 Wi-Fi 7 platform; and Ceva launched its RivieraWaves Wi-Fi 7 IP platform. That latter platform allows Wi-Fi 7 to be integrated in system-on-a-chip designs for new access point and station/client products.
"The relentless expansion of Wi-Fi usage has pushed the Wi-Fi 7 standard to offer enhanced data throughput, improved latency and support more spectrum in the face of mounting network congestion,” said Tal Shalev, Vice President and General Manager of the Wireless IoT BU at Ceva. “Achieving this requires highly complex, cutting-edge functionalities like 4K QAM modulation, Multi Link Operation and Multi Resource Unit to optimize link efficiency across the available bands. Our RivieraWaves Wi-Fi 7 IP platform incorporates all the features of this latest-generation, wireless standard, dramatically simplifying development and time-to-market for companies looking to add Wi-Fi 7 connectivity to their products."
Ceva’s RivieraWaves will be available later this year and is backward compatible with Wi-Fi 6 and 6E standard products, as well as Wi-Fi 4 and 5 platforms.