Enhanced Wi-Fi 8 prioritizes dependability over speed through the "Ultra High Reliability" project, enhancing efficiency, minimizing lag, and reducing packet loss in difficult conditions.
Wi-Fi 8: A New Era of Reliable Wireless Connectivity
Wi-Fi 8, the next generation of Wi-Fi technology, is set to revolutionise wireless connectivity in enterprise and industrial settings, as well as in everyday life. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEEE) aims for Wi-Fi 8 devices to offer a 25% improvement in various metrics, focusing on ultra-high reliability (UHR) and reducing latency.
Key improvements in Wi-Fi 8 include at least 25% higher throughput in challenging signal environments, 25% lower latency at the 95th percentile of the latency distribution, and 25% fewer dropped packets during roaming between access points.
To achieve these gains, Wi-Fi 8 employs several new technical innovations. Multi-AP Coordination (MAPC) allows multiple access points to coordinate spectrum use, reducing interference and latency in dense deployments. Channel congestion management enables devices to switch away from congested primary channels to alternative channels, improving responsiveness and spectrum efficiency. Prioritization of latency-sensitive traffic allows devices with critical, time-sensitive data to transmit sooner after collisions, reducing worst-case latency scenarios. Coexistence Optimization enhances performance when devices share antennas or processing loads, benefiting wearables and other small form-factor devices. Coordinated Spatial Reuse and Coordinated Beamforming optimise power usage and signal accuracy in crowded settings with many connected devices.
Environments where these improvements are especially beneficial include dense indoor environments with many connected devices (offices, apartment buildings, airports, stadiums), scenarios involving seamless roaming across multiple access points (large campuses or enterprise setups), use cases requiring ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), industrial automation, AI applications, and real-time gaming, and devices with limited power or shared antenna resources (wearables).
In public venues such as airports, malls, or stadiums, Wi-Fi 8 could significantly improve workloads like AR navigation, live video sharing, real-time translation, and critical systems like surveillance and emergency communication. In enterprise and industrial settings, Wi-Fi 8 could support mission-critical systems like autonomous guided vehicles, collaborative robots, and factory automation.
Wi-Fi 8 operates across the 2, 4, 5, and 6 GHz frequency bands, similar to Wi-Fi 7. It employs 4096-QAM modulation, supports up to eight spatial streams, utilises MU-MIMO and multi-user OFDMA, and maintains a maximum channel width of 320 MHz, similar to Wi-Fi 7. The actual Wi-Fi Alliance certification for Wi-Fi 8 is planned for January 2028, enabling product interoperability testing and development. Final approval by the IEEE 802.11 Working Group is scheduled for March 2028, which is when the standard will be completed.
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[1] IEEE Spectrum. (2022). IEEE 802.11bn: The Next-Generation Wi-Fi Standard for Ultra-High Reliability. [online] Available at: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/wireless/ieee-802-11bn-the-next-generation-wi-fi-standard-for-ultra-high-reliability
[2] Wi-Fi Alliance. (2022). Wi-Fi 8: What to Expect from the Next Generation of Wi-Fi. [online] Available at: https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-8
[3] Qualcomm. (2022). Wi-Fi 8: A New Era of Reliable Wireless Connectivity. [online] Available at: https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2022/09/09/wi-fi-8-new-era-reliable-wireless-connectivity
[4] HPE. (2022). The Future of Wi-Fi: What to Expect from Wi-Fi 8. [online] Available at: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/insights/articles/the-future-of-wi-fi-what-to-expect-from-wi-fi-8-2154191.html
[5] IEEE Standards Association. (2022). IEEE 802.11bn: Draft Standard for High Efficiency Very High Throughput Amendment 1: Enhanced Modulation and Coding Scheme, Coordinated Spatial Reuse, Coordinated Beamforming, and Dynamic Sub-Channel Operation. [online] Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9643337
Data-and-cloud-computing technology will likely leverage the improved reliability and reduced latency of Wi-Fi 8, particularly in enterprise and industrial settings that involve ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) use cases like AI applications, industrial automation, and real-time gaming. Advancements in Wi-Fi 8 technology, such as Coordinated Spatial Reuse and Coordinated Beamforming, are expected to optimize power usage and signal accuracy in crowded settings, benefiting data-intensive cloud computing tasks.
