Generation | IEEE standard | Adopted | Maximum link rate (Mb/s) | Radio frequency (GHz) |
---|---|---|---|---|
(Wi-Fi 0*) | 802.11 | 1997 | 1–2 | 2.4 |
(Wi-Fi 1*) | 802.11b | 1999 | 1–11 | 2.4 |
(Wi-Fi 2*) | 802.11a | 1999 | 6–54 | 5 |
(Wi-Fi 3*) | 802.11g | 2003 | 2.4 | |
Wi-Fi 4 | 802.11n | 2009 | 6.5–600 | 2.4, 5 |
Wi-Fi 5 | 802.11ac | 2013 | 6.5–6933 | 5 [a] |
Wi-Fi 6 | 802.11ax | 2021 | 0.4–9608 [1] | 2.4, 5 |
Wi-Fi 6E | 2.4, 5, 6 [b] | |||
Wi-Fi 7 | 802.11be | exp. 2024 | 0.4–23,059 | 2.4, 5, 6 [2] |
Wi-Fi 8 | 802.11bn | exp. 2028 [3] | 100,000 [4] | 2.4, 5, 6 [5] |
*Wi‑Fi 0, 1, 2, and 3 are named by retroactive inference. They do not exist in the official nomenclature. [6] [7] [8] |
IEEE 802.11be, dubbed Extremely High Throughput (EHT), is a wireless networking standard in the IEEE 802.11 set of protocols [9] [10] which is designated Wi-Fi 7 by the Wi-Fi Alliance. [11] [12] [13] It has built upon 802.11ax, focusing on WLAN indoor and outdoor operation with stationary and pedestrian speeds in the 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz frequency bands. [14]
Throughput is believed to reach a theoretical maximum of 46 Gbit/s, although actual results are much lower. [15]
Development of the 802.11be amendment is ongoing, with an initial draft in March 2021, and a final version expected by the end of 2024. [12] [16] [17] Despite this, numerous products were announced in 2022 based on draft standards, with retail availability in early 2023. On 8 January 2024, the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced its Wi-Fi Certified 7 program to certify Wi-Fi 7 devices. While final ratification is not expected until the end of 2024, the technical requirements are essentially complete, [15] and as of February 2024 [update] there are already products labeled as Wi‑Fi 7. [18] [19] [20]
The global Wi-Fi 7 market was estimated at US$1 billion in 2023, and is projected to reach US$24.2 billion by 2030. [21]
The following are core features that have been approved as of Draft 3.0:
The main candidate features mentioned in the 802.11be Project Authorization Request (PAR) are: [23]
Apart from the features mentioned in the PAR, there are newly introduced features: [27]
MCS index [i] | Modulation type | Coding rate | Data rate (Mbit/s) [ii] | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
20 MHz channels | 40 MHz channels | 80 MHz channels | 160 MHz channels | 320 MHz channels | |||||||||||||
3200 ns GI [iii] | 1600 ns GI | 800 ns GI | 3200 ns GI | 1600 ns GI | 800 ns GI | 3200 ns GI | 1600 ns GI | 800 ns GI | 3200 ns GI | 1600 ns GI | 800 ns GI | 3200 ns GI | 1600 ns GI | 800 ns GI | |||
0 | BPSK | 1/2 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 31 | 34 | 36 | 61 | 68 | 72 | 123 | 136 | 144 |
1 | QPSK | 1/2 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 29 | 33 | 34 | 61 | 68 | 72 | 122 | 136 | 144 | 245 | 272 | 288 |
2 | QPSK | 3/4 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 44 | 49 | 52 | 92 | 102 | 108 | 184 | 204 | 216 | 368 | 408 | 432 |
3 | 16-QAM | 1/2 | 29 | 33 | 34 | 59 | 65 | 69 | 123 | 136 | 144 | 245 | 272 | 282 | 490 | 544 | 577 |
4 | 16-QAM | 3/4 | 44 | 49 | 52 | 88 | 98 | 103 | 184 | 204 | 216 | 368 | 408 | 432 | 735 | 817 | 865 |
5 | 64-QAM | 2/3 | 59 | 65 | 69 | 117 | 130 | 138 | 245 | 272 | 288 | 490 | 544 | 576 | 980 | 1089 | 1153 |
6 | 64-QAM | 3/4 | 66 | 73 | 77 | 132 | 146 | 155 | 276 | 306 | 324 | 551 | 613 | 649 | 1103 | 1225 | 1297 |
7 | 64-QAM | 5/6 | 73 | 81 | 86 | 146 | 163 | 172 | 306 | 340 | 360 | 613 | 681 | 721 | 1225 | 1361 | 1441 |
8 | 256-QAM | 3/4 | 88 | 98 | 103 | 176 | 195 | 207 | 368 | 408 | 432 | 735 | 817 | 865 | 1470 | 1633 | 1729 |
9 | 256-QAM | 5/6 | 98 | 108 | 115 | 195 | 217 | 229 | 408 | 453 | 480 | 817 | 907 | 961 | 1633 | 1815 | 1922 |
10 | 1024-QAM | 3/4 | 110 | 122 | 129 | 219 | 244 | 258 | 459 | 510 | 540 | 919 | 1021 | 1081 | 1838 | 2042 | 2162 |
11 | 1024-QAM | 5/6 | 122 | 135 | 143 | 244 | 271 | 287 | 510 | 567 | 600 | 1021 | 1134 | 1201 | 2042 | 2269 | 2402 |
12 | 4096-QAM | 3/4 | 131 | 146 | 155 | 263 | 293 | 310 | 551 | 613 | 649 | 1103 | 1225 | 1297 | 2205 | 2450 | 2594 |
13 | 4096-QAM | 5/6 | 146 | 163 | 172 | 293 | 325 | 344 | 613 | 681 | 721 | 1225 | 1361 | 1441 | 2450 | 2722 | 2882 |
14 | BPSK-DCM-DUP | 1/2 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 31 | 34 | 36 | ||||||
15 | BPSK-DCM | 1/2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 31 | 34 | 36 | 61 | 68 | 72 |
Frequency range, or type | PHY | Protocol | Release date [28] | Frequency | Bandwidth | Stream data rate [29] | Max. MIMO streams | Modulation | Approx. range | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Indoor | Outdoor | |||||||||||
(GHz) | (MHz) | (Mbit/s) | ||||||||||
1–7 GHz | DSSS [30] , | 802.11-1997 | June 1997 | 2.4 | 22 | 1, 2 | — | DSSS, | 20 m (66 ft) | 100 m (330 ft) | ||
HR/DSSS [30] | 802.11b | September 1999 | 2.4 | 22 | 1, 2, 5.5, 11 | — | CCK, DSSS | 35 m (115 ft) | 140 m (460 ft) | |||
OFDM | 802.11a | September 1999 | 5 | 5, 10, 20 | 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 (for 20 MHz bandwidth, divide by 2 and 4 for 10 and 5 MHz) | — | OFDM | 35 m (115 ft) | 120 m (390 ft) | |||
802.11j | November 2004 | 4.9, 5.0 [B] [31] | ? | ? | ||||||||
802.11y | November 2008 | 3.7 [C] | ? | 5,000 m (16,000 ft) [C] | ||||||||
802.11p | July 2010 | 5.9 | 200 m | 1,000 m (3,300 ft) [32] | ||||||||
802.11bd | December 2022 | 5.9, 60 | 500 m | 1,000 m (3,300 ft) | ||||||||
ERP-OFDM [33] | 802.11g | June 2003 | 2.4 | 38 m (125 ft) | 140 m (460 ft) | |||||||
HT-OFDM [34] | 802.11n (Wi-Fi 4) | October 2009 | 2.4, 5 | 20 | Up to 288.8 [D] | 4 | MIMO-OFDM (64-QAM) | 70 m (230 ft) | 250 m (820 ft) [35] | |||
40 | Up to 600 [D] | |||||||||||
VHT-OFDM [34] | 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) | December 2013 | 5 | 20 | Up to 693 [D] | 8 | DL MU-MIMO OFDM (256-QAM) | 35 m (115 ft) [36] | ? | |||
40 | Up to 1600 [D] | |||||||||||
80 | Up to 3467 [D] | |||||||||||
160 | Up to 6933 [D] | |||||||||||
HE-OFDMA | 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E) | May 2021 | 2.4, 5, 6 | 20 | Up to 1147 [E] | 8 | UL/DL MU-MIMO OFDMA (1024-QAM) | 30 m (98 ft) | 120 m (390 ft) [F] | |||
40 | Up to 2294 [E] | |||||||||||
80 | Up to 5.5 Gbit/s [E] | |||||||||||
80+80 | Up to 11.0 Gbit/s [E] | |||||||||||
EHT-OFDMA | 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) | Sep 2024 (est.) | 2.4, 5, 6 | 80 | Up to 11.5 Gbit/s [E] | 16 | UL/DL MU-MIMO OFDMA (4096-QAM) | 30 m (98 ft) | 120 m (390 ft) [F] | |||
160 (80+80) | Up to 23 Gbit/s [E] | |||||||||||
240 (160+80) | Up to 35 Gbit/s [E] | |||||||||||
320 (160+160) | Up to 46.1 Gbit/s [E] | |||||||||||
UHR | 802.11bn (Wi-Fi 8) | May 2028 (est.) | 2.4, 5, 6, 42, 60, 71 | 320 | Up to 100000 (100 Gbit/s) | 16 | Multi-link MU-MIMO OFDM (8192-QAM) | ? | ? | |||
WUR [G] | 802.11ba | October 2021 | 2.4, 5 | 4, 20 | 0.0625, 0.25 (62.5 kbit/s, 250 kbit/s) | — | OOK (multi-carrier OOK) | ? | ? | |||
mmWave (WiGig) | DMG [37] | 802.11ad | December 2012 | 60 | 2160 (2.16 GHz) | Up to 8085 [38] (8 Gbit/s) | — | 3.3 m (11 ft) [39] | ? | |||
802.11aj | April 2018 | 60 [H] | 1080 [40] | Up to 3754 (3.75 Gbit/s) | — | single carrier, low-power single carrier [A] | ? | ? | ||||
CMMG | 802.11aj | April 2018 | 45 [H] | 540, 1080 | Up to 15015 [41] (15 Gbit/s) | 4 [42] | OFDM, single carrier | ? | ? | |||
EDMG [43] | 802.11ay | July 2021 | 60 | Up to 8640 (8.64 GHz) | Up to 303336 [44] (303 Gbit/s) | 8 | OFDM, single carrier | 10 m (33 ft) | 100 m (328 ft) | |||
Sub 1 GHz (IoT) | TVHT [45] | 802.11af | February 2014 | 0.054– 0.79 | 6, 7, 8 | Up to 568.9 [46] | 4 | MIMO-OFDM | ? | ? | ||
S1G [45] | 802.11ah | May 2017 | 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 | 1–16 | Up to 8.67 [47] (@2 MHz) | 4 | ? | ? | ||||
Light (Li-Fi) | LC (VLC/OWC) | 802.11bb | December 2023 (est.) | 800–1000 nm | 20 | Up to 9.6 Gbit/s | — | O-OFDM | ? | ? | ||
(IrDA) | 802.11-1997 | June 1997 | 850–900 nm | ? | 1, 2 | — | ? | ? | ||||
802.11 Standard rollups | ||||||||||||
802.11-2007 (802.11ma) | March 2007 | 2.4, 5 | Up to 54 | DSSS, OFDM | ||||||||
802.11-2012 (802.11mb) | March 2012 | 2.4, 5 | Up to 150 [D] | DSSS, OFDM | ||||||||
802.11-2016 (802.11mc) | December 2016 | 2.4, 5, 60 | Up to 866.7 or 6757 [D] | DSSS, OFDM | ||||||||
802.11-2020 (802.11md) | December 2020 | 2.4, 5, 60 | Up to 866.7 or 6757 [D] | DSSS, OFDM | ||||||||
802.11me | September 2024 (est.) | 2.4, 5, 6, 60 | Up to 9608 or 303336 | DSSS, OFDM | ||||||||
|
The 802.11be Task Group is led by individuals affiliated with Qualcomm, Intel, and Broadcom. Those affiliated with Huawei, Maxlinear, NXP, and Apple also have senior positions. [17]
Qualcomm announced its FastConnect 7800 series on 28 Feb 2022 using 14 nm chips. [48] [49] As of March 2023, the company claims 175 devices will be using their Wi-Fi 7 chips, including smartphones, routers, and access points. [50]
Broadcom followed on 12 April 2022 with a series of 5 chips covering home, commercial, and enterprise uses. [51] The company unveiled its second generation Wi-Fi 7 chips on 20 June 2023 featuring tri-band MLO support and lower costs. [52]
The TP-Link Archer BE900 wireless router was available to consumers in April 2023. [53] The company's Deco BE95 mesh networking system was also available that month. Asus, Eero, Linksys and Netgear had Wi-fi 7 wireless routers available by the end of 2023.
The ARRIS SURFboard G54 is a DOCSIS 3.1 cable gateway featuring Wi-Fi 7. It became available in October 2023.
Lumen's Quantum Fiber W1700K and W1701K are WiFi 7 certified and provided with their 360 WiFi offering. It is the first device made for a major Telecommunications Provider that's certified for WiFi 7. [54]
Vendor | Model | Release Date | Chipset | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
OnePlus | OnePlus 11 | February 2023 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 [55] | The OnePlus Open also features Wi-Fi 7 support |
Asus | ROG Phone 7 | April 2023 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | |
Lenovo | Legion Slim 7 Gen8 laptop | MediaTek Filogic 380 Wi-Fi 7 card [56] | ||
Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro [57] | October 2023 | Google Tensor G3 [58] [59] | ||
Samsung | Galaxy S24 Ultra | January 2024 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | |
Apple | iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 | September 2024 | Apple A18 | |
Sony | PlayStation 5 Pro [60] | November 2024 | ||
Sony | Sony Xperia 1 VI | June 2024 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | |
Nokia | Beacon 24 [61] | October 2023 | Qualcom | |
Nokia | Beacon 19 [62] | October 2024 | Qualcom |
Intel launched the BE200 and BE202 wireless adapters for desktop and laptop motherboards in September 2023. [63]
The Asus ROG Strix Z790 E II motherboard is among the first with built-in Wi-Fi 7. [64]
Android 13 and higher provide support for Wi-Fi 7. [65]
The Linux 6.2 kernel provides support for Wi-Fi 7 devices. [66] The 6.4 kernel added Wi-Fi 7 mesh support. [67] Linux 6.5 included significant driver support by Intel engineers, particularly support for MLO. [68]
Support for Wi-Fi 7 was added to Windows 11, as of build 26063.1. [69] [70]
IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication. The standard and amendments provide the basis for wireless network products using the Wi-Fi brand and are the world's most widely used wireless computer networking standards. IEEE 802.11 is used in most home and office networks to allow laptops, printers, smartphones, and other devices to communicate with each other and access the Internet without connecting wires. IEEE 802.11 is also a basis for vehicle-based communication networks with IEEE 802.11p.
Wi-Fi is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves. These are the most widely used computer networks, used globally in home and small office networks to link devices and to provide Internet access with wireless routers and wireless access points in public places such as coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, libraries, and airports.
In computer networking, a wireless access point (WAP) is a networking hardware device that allows other Wi-Fi devices to connect to a wired network or wireless network. As a standalone device, the AP may have a wired or wireless connection to a switch or router, but in a wireless router it can also be an integral component of the networking device itself. A WAP and AP is differentiated from a hotspot, which can be a physical location or digital location where Wi-Fi or WAP access is available.
The Wi-Fi Alliance is a non-profit organization that owns the Wi-Fi trademark. Manufacturers may use the trademark to brand products certified for Wi-Fi interoperability. It is based in Austin, Texas.
IEEE 802.11n-2009, or 802.11n, is a wireless-networking standard that uses multiple antennas to increase data rates. The Wi-Fi Alliance has also retroactively labelled the technology for the standard as Wi-Fi 4. It standardized support for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), frame aggregation, and security improvements, among other features, and can be used in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequency bands.
Qualcomm Atheros is a developer of semiconductor chips for network communications, particularly wireless chipsets. The company was founded under the name T-Span Systems in 1998 by experts in signal processing and VLSI design from Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and private industry. The company was renamed Atheros Communications in 2000 and it completed an initial public offering in February 2004, trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol ATHR.
IEEE 802.11 – or more correctly IEEE 802.11-1997 or IEEE 802.11-1999 – refer to the original version of the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard released in 1997 and clarified in 1999. Most of the protocols described by this early version are rarely used today.
IEEE 802.11a-1999 or 802.11a was an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless local network specifications that defined requirements for an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system. It was originally designed to support wireless communication in the unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) bands as regulated in the United States by the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Section 15.407.
IEEE 802.11b-1999 or 802.11b is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking specification that extends throughout up to 11 Mbit/s using the same 2.4 GHz band. A related amendment was incorporated into the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard.
IEEE 802.11g-2003 or 802.11g is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 specification that operates in the 2.4 GHz microwave band. The standard has extended link rate to up to 54 Mbit/s using the same 20 MHz bandwidth as 802.11b uses to achieve 11 Mbit/s. This specification, under the marketing name of Wi‑Fi, has been implemented all over the world. The 802.11g protocol is now Clause 19 of the published IEEE 802.11-2007 standard, and Clause 19 of the published IEEE 802.11-2012 standard.
The Wireless Gigabit Alliance was a trade association that developed and promoted the adoption of multi-gigabit per second speed wireless communications technology "WiGig" operating over the unlicensed 60 GHz frequency band. The alliance was subsumed by the Wi-Fi Alliance in March 2013.
WiGig, alternatively known as 60 GHz Wi-Fi, refers to a set of 60 GHz wireless network protocols. It includes the current IEEE 802.11ad standard and also the IEEE 802.11ay standard.
IEEE 802.11ac-2013 or 802.11ac is a wireless networking standard in the IEEE 802.11 set of protocols, providing high-throughput wireless local area networks (WLANs) on the 5 GHz band. The standard has been retroactively labelled as Wi-Fi 5 by Wi-Fi Alliance.
IEEE 802.11ah is a wireless networking protocol published in 2017 called Wi-Fi HaLow as an amendment of the IEEE 802.11-2007 wireless networking standard. It uses 900 MHz license-exempt bands to provide extended-range Wi-Fi networks, compared to conventional Wi-Fi networks operating in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands. It also benefits from lower energy consumption, allowing the creation of large groups of stations or sensors that cooperate to share signals, supporting the concept of the Internet of things (IoT). The protocol's low power consumption competes with Bluetooth, LoRa, and Zigbee, and has the added benefit of higher data rates and wider coverage range.
Multiple-input, multiple-output orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) is the dominant air interface for 4G and 5G broadband wireless communications. It combines multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology, which multiplies capacity by transmitting different signals over multiple antennas, and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), which divides a radio channel into a large number of closely spaced subchannels to provide more reliable communications at high speeds. Research conducted during the mid-1990s showed that while MIMO can be used with other popular air interfaces such as time-division multiple access (TDMA) and code-division multiple access (CDMA), the combination of MIMO and OFDM is most practical at higher data rates.
IEEE 802.3bz, NBASE-T and MGBASE-T are standards released in 2016 for Ethernet over twisted pair at speeds of 2.5 and 5 Gbit/s. These use the same cabling as the ubiquitous Gigabit Ethernet, yet offer higher speeds. The resulting standards are named 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T.
Wi-Fi 6, or IEEE 802.11ax, is an IEEE standard from the Wi-Fi Alliance, for wireless networks (WLANs). It operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, with an extended version, Wi-Fi 6E, that adds the 6 GHz band. It is an upgrade from Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), with improvements for better performance in crowded places. Wi-Fi 6 covers frequencies in license-exempt bands between 1 and 7.125 GHz, including the commonly used 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, as well as the broader 6 GHz band.
IEEE 802.11ay, Enhanced Throughput for Operation in License-exempt Bands above 45 GHz, is a follow-up to IEEE 802.11ad WiGig standard which quadruples the bandwidth and adds MIMO up to 8 streams. Development started in 2015 and the final standard IEEE 802.11ay-2021 was approved in March 2021.
IEEE 802.11bn, dubbed Ultra High Reliability (UHR), is to be the next IEEE 802.11 standard. It is also designated Wi-Fi 8.