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 to 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.
• 4K QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) provides higher peak data rates by enabling each signal to more densely embed greater amounts of data.
• Spectrum puncturing helps accommodate interference in wide channels by allowing subchannels to operate within wide channels by opening up 20 MHz increments.

Wi-Fi 7 also takes advantage of the efficiency features from Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E (IEEE 802.11ax) which include:

• OFDMA - An enhanced multi-user feature that effectively shares channels to increase network efficiency. Multiple devices with varying bandwidth needs can be served simultaneously.
• MU-MIMO - Enhanced to allow multiple devices to transmit simultaneously, handling large packets like streaming HD video more efficiently.
• Target Wake Time (TWT) - Minimizes device contention and extends the battery life of clients using a scheduling scheme negotiated with the APs.
• Enhanced IoT handling - An operating mode for low-power, low-bandwidth devices like sensors, automation and medical devices.
• WPA3 and Enhanced Open - Keep guest traffic encrypted per user session and device with enhanced security algorithms.

Today's Wi-Fi networks are limited by the available spectrum. As organizations increase their use of high-definition video streaming, onboard increasing numbers of client and IoT devices, and continue transitioning to cloud services, Wi-Fi congestion increases, and user experience suffers.

The Wi-Fi 6E standard opened the 6 GHz band, resulting in tremendous wireless capacity gains. The new Wi-Fi 7 standard builds on the capacity gains of this clean spectrum and introduces improvements to support:

• More data and many more simultaneous transmissions at faster speeds with 320 MHz channels that are double the width of Wi-Fi 6's 160 MHz channels.
• Improved load balancing and higher throughput with multilink operation (MLO) that enables Wi-Fi 7 devices to connect on different channels across frequency bands at the same time.
• Higher peak data rates with 4K QAM that more densely packs data into each signal with higher transmission rates than Wi-Fi 6.
• Improved usage of wide channels by accommodating interference with spectrum puncturing.

When planning upgrades and refreshes of wireless infrastructure, organizations should consider future requirements for capacity, performance, and connectivity. Criteria for evaluating Wi-Fi 7 access points should include:

• Simplify operations by using AI and machine learning to automate optimization and provide actionable recommendations to remediate issues.
• Deliver built-in security with unified policy enforcement across wired and wireless networks and support for Policy Enforcement Firewall (PEF) capabilities.
• Offer secure, energy efficient IoT capabilities to enable you to leverage access points as an IoT connectivity platform using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, or USB ports.
• Enable self-location for indoor location services.
• Provide flexibility to manage on-premise, in the cloud, or as a service and to deploy with or without gateways.
• Be Wi-Fi CERTIFIED to indicate that they have met industry-agreed standards for interoperability, security, and a range of application specific protocols.

Critical user and IoT applications and AI workloads depend on secure, seamless connectivity. HPE Aruba Networking AI-powered Wi-Fi 7 delivers the high-performance, high-capacity coverage needed – managed by HPE Aruba Networking Central – for unified management, observability, and security across distributed wired and wireless environments.

HPE Aruba Networking's Wi-Fi 7 solution includes the HPE Aruba Networking 750 Series Campus Access Points that optimize coverage and performance with customizable tri-band radio configuration for 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. Powerful IoT support includes dual IoT radios (BLE and Zigbee) and two USB connectors. Dual 10 GbE wired ports provide secure, high-speed, and redundant wired connectivity. Precision locationing with sub one meter accuracy supports a wide range of applications with floor level mapping.

These game changing access points go beyond the standard to strengthen network security, provide precise location-based services, and create an IoT platform with enterprise-grade security.