MediaTek announced the world’s first live demo of pre-standard Wi-Fi 7 technology. The company is currently showcasing two Wi-Fi 7 demos to key customers and industry collaborators.
Wi-Fi 7, which will utilize 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz spectrum, promises 2.4X faster speeds than Wi-Fi 6 – even with the same number of antennas – since Wi-Fi 7 can utilize 320Mhz channels and support 4K quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) technology. Other notable features of Wi-Fi 7 include MLO to reduce latency by transmitting Wi-Fi on multiple bands, in addition to multi-user resource unit (MRU) features for enhanced interference avoidances and mitigation. Products with Wi-Fi 7 are expected to hit the market starting in 2023.
MediaTek said its Wi-Fi 7 demo achieves the maximum speed defined by IEEE 802.11be and demonstrates multi-link operation (MLO) technology. MLO technology aggregates multiple channels on different frequencies bands at the same time to highlight how network traffic can still flow seamlessly even if there is interference or congestion on the bands. MLO technology will be critical for delivering faster and more reliable video streaming, gaming and anything else that requires constant, sustained and real-time throughput.
“The rollout of Wi-Fi 7 will mark the first time that Wi-Fi can be a true wireline/Ethernet replacement for super high-bandwidth applications,” said Alan Hsu, corporate vice president and general manager of the Intelligent Connectivity business at MediaTek. “MediaTek’s Wi-Fi 7 technology will be the backbone of home, office and industrial networks and provide seamless connectivity for everything from multi-player AR/VR applications to cloud gaming and 4K calls to 8K streaming and beyond.”
“Faster broadband Internet access and more demanding applications such as higher resolution video streaming and VR gaming are driving demand for Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and soon Wi-Fi 7,” said Mario Morales, group vice president, Semiconductors at IDC. “Wi-Fi 7’s advances in channel width, QAM, and new features such as multi-link operation (MLO) will make Wi-Fi 7 very attractive for devices including flagship smartphones, PCs, consumer devices and vertical industries like retail and industrial; as service providers begin to deploy a wider spectrum of hotspots across these market segments.”
