WiFi 8 is coming! The most comprehensive technical interpretation.
Recently, Intel stated in a white paper that Wi-Fi 8 represents a significant advancement in wireless technology in the era of artificial intelligence. Different from previous generations of products that mainly focused on peak speed, Wi-Fi 8 aims to provide ultra-high reliability, intelligent and context-aware networks, and deterministic performance. As the demand for stable, low-latency, and high-throughput connections in consumer and enterprise environments continues to grow, Wi-Fi 8 meets these needs by ensuring stable performance, even in congested or mobile scenarios such as homes, offices, and airports.
By prioritizing critical traffic and supporting seamless coexistence with other technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 8 sets a new standard for wireless reliability. This enables the emergence of some new applications, such as wireless gaming and advanced virtual meetings, where reliability and intelligent traffic management are crucial. Wi-Fi 8 is expected to become the foundation for future connections, providing smarter and more reliable wireless solutions for all users. Wi-Fi 8 will also drive innovation in the field of context awareness and widely apply artificial intelligence technology.
In summary, Wi-Fi 8 is the integration of wireless technology and artificial intelligence. Wi-Fi 8 is not just about speed but also about providing reliability, intelligence, and security to meet future needs.
Introduction
Wi-Fi is the most popular way to access the Internet globally. It is ubiquitous, covering everything from smartphones, laptops to TVs, smart home appliances, and industrial sensors. Few technologies have had such a profound and lasting impact as Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi not only brings convenience but is also an indispensable infrastructure supporting our digital lives.
However, the development of Wi-Fi lies not only in its social popularity but also in its continuous technological evolution. The latest generation of Wi-Fi technology currently on the market (expected to be launched by the end of 2025) is Wi-Fi 7, which was officially commercialized through the Wi-Fi Alliance's certification program in December 2023. Wi-Fi 7 introduced several significant technological advancements, such as supporting a wider 320 MHz channel (twice the channel supported by Wi-Fi 6), higher-order 4K-QAM modulation, top-notch WPA3 security protection, and multi-link operation, enabling concurrent or synchronous operations on multiple links (e.g., channels) simultaneously.
Looking ahead, innovation in the next decade will revolve around the demand for ultra-reliable, deterministic, secure, and intelligent connections, which will be mainly driven by artificial intelligence-powered applications that consume and generate large amounts of data. These new applications will also change the way people behave and use technology.
This is where Wi-Fi 8 comes in: it is a technology designed from the ground up to meet the ever-changing needs of users and the requirements of a new generation of intelligent applications that will be widely used in homes, enterprises, and other places. Interoperable Wi-Fi 8 devices are expected to be launched starting from the end of 2027. Wi-Fi 8 is based on the IEEE P802.11bn standard revision but is expected to include features beyond IEEE P802.11bn, such as those supporting future context-aware experiences, like Wi-Fi sensing and Wi-Fi short-range ranging.
Different from Wi-Fi 7, which mainly aims to break speed records, Wi-Fi 8 aims to make wireless connections more reliable, stable, and intelligent. Its core goal is to make Wi-Fi perform better in real-world environments, whether it's in a busy home, a crowded apartment, a large office, an airport, or even when you're on the move.
Value Proposition of Wi-Fi 8
The value proposition of Wi-Fi 8, as shown in Figure 1, consists of four main aspects.
1. Optimized Network: Network optimization is the traditional value proposition of each generation of Wi-Fi, which introduces new features to improve spectrum efficiency, reduce latency, lower client power consumption, increase capacity and/or data rate, and expand coverage. As described later, Wi-Fi 8 defines functions to further expand this aspect, such as new channel access, energy-saving, modulation and coding schemes (MCS), and extended coverage schemes.
2. Determinism: This aspect started with Wi-Fi 7 and is expanded in Wi-Fi 8. It includes mechanisms designed to provide consistent, reliable, and deterministic operations for Wi-Fi clients. In this context, deterministic operation means transmitting data to an application through a Wi-Fi link with the required reliability (e.g., 95%) and within a given latency range (e.g., 10 milliseconds). In Wi-Fi 8, some new mechanisms are defined to enhance Wi-Fi's deterministic capabilities, such as priority-enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) and coexistence mechanisms.
3. Stronger Security and Privacy: Security and privacy have become core themes for each new generation of Wi-Fi. We expect Wi-Fi 8 to enhance the privacy of users and devices by supporting IEEE 802.11bi extensions (e.g., encrypting the entire association process and protecting many previously unprotected management frames). Wi-Fi 8 is also expected to support secure control frames and define new security mechanisms to enable low-latency roaming between access points (APs).
4. AI-Enabled: The ability to support mechanisms specifically developed for artificial intelligence applications is a new value proposition brought by Wi-Fi 8. In addition to expanding Wi-Fi's quality of service (QoS) framework and enabling more flexible resource management, Wi-Fi 8 will also support the development of new artificial intelligence applications that utilize the existing capabilities of Wi-Fi devices. More specifically, Wi-Fi 8 devices will be well-suited for building Wi-Fi sensing applications based on IEEE 802.11bf and Wi-Fi short-range ranging applications based on IEEE 802.11az, which can sense context and be intelligent.
Defining Application Scenarios
Wi-Fi 8 aims to meet the growing needs of consumers and enterprises by providing ultra-high reliability, lower latency, and higher throughput. The improvements of Wi-Fi 8 are not just about increasing speed but also about making wireless connections smarter, more stable, and reliable, even in the most challenging environments. Next, we will introduce some application scenarios that can significantly benefit from the new features of Wi-Fi 8.
1. Response Speed Comparable to Wired Networks: In a home environment, there will be a variety of devices with different Wi-Fi functions that need to coexist. In 2023, a typical American home had about 17 to 20 Wi-Fi-connected devices, and it is expected that this number will almost double by the end of this decade. Many devices will exchange traffic simultaneously, leading to a scenario as shown in Figure 2: a high-end gaming PC using Bluetooth headphones, a device conducting a virtual meeting, IoT devices, and some older smartphones sharing the same network. The main advantages of Wi-Fi 8 in this scenario are:
Latency-sensitive traffic (e.g., gaming and virtual meeting traffic) will be given the highest priority.
All devices can operate harmoniously and coexist well with Bluetooth devices.
Even when the network is busy, a smooth gaming experience comparable to a wired network can be obtained.
"Dead zones" will become a thing of the past. The coverage of Wi-Fi signals will be wider, and more devices can be connected.
Modern homes are filled with various smart devices - thermostats, cameras, sensors, and entertainment systems - all of which require a reliable and always-on network connection. Wi-Fi 8 can maintain a stable connection at the edge of the coverage area and support more devices to connect simultaneously, making it an ideal choice for smart homes.
2. Enterprise Applications: Enterprise application scenarios (as shown in Figure 3) are usually characterized by a high density of devices and access points (APs), such as airports, conference centers, and stadiums. In such an environment, network congestion is common due to a large number of devices using various wireless technologies and occupying the unlicensed spectrum. This can lead to connection interruptions and performance degradation. Wi-Fi 8 can provide stable connections for thousands of simultaneously operating users and devices, ensuring smooth streaming, fast web access, and uninterrupted communication. The main advantages of Wi-Fi 8 include:
APs can work together to allocate resources and reduce interference.
Lower client power consumption can extend the battery life of devices.
The video and voice quality of all users can be improved without adding more APs.
When users move around in a large office building or switch between APs within an enterprise, the improvements in roaming reliability and latency of Wi-Fi 8 can reduce interruptions. This is particularly important for real-time applications (e.g., industrial robots moving on a factory floor, voice and video calls), as even a brief disconnection can affect the user experience.
3. AI-Enabled Context Awareness: This is a new type of application scenario that will be promoted after the popularization of Wi-Fi 8. As shown in Figure 4, imagine a meeting room where a speaker is live-streaming a presentation in real-time to on-site and online participants via Wi-Fi 8 while projecting slides. Just by using gestures, a PC or a meeting system can detect the speaker's instructions using Wi-Fi sensing technology to control the presentation. When a new speaker takes the stage, their PCs can automatically and securely detect the distance between each other using Wi-Fi and prompt both users whether to transfer the screen-sharing control to the next speaker. When a speaker leaves the podium or the meeting room, their PC will automatically disconnect from the meeting system according to the pre-configured geofence. The main advantages of Wi-Fi 8 include:
Automatic short-range detection enables seamless device joining of meetings.
AI models can use Wi-Fi sensing technology to detect gestures, judge room occupancy, and the presence of devices.
Devices can automatically join or leave a meeting based on the user's online status.
4. Immersive Real-Time XR Collaboration: In this scenario, colleagues use immersive XR systems for remote collaboration, and the devices are wirelessly connected to an access point (AP) or a PC, as shown in Figure 5. The determinism of traffic transmission is crucial to ensuring a smooth user experience, especially when the XR system operates within the coverage area of an infrastructure Wi-Fi network. The main advantages of Wi-Fi 8 include:
Deterministic low latency and high Wi-Fi capacity ensure real-time response.
Multi-AP scheduling can efficiently coordinate devices.
Sensors (e.g., using Wi-Fi sensing and vision) support full-body tracking and interaction, enabling a smooth XR experience.
In summary, Wi-Fi 8 is designed to enhance the resilience and efficiency of wireless networks, especially in scenarios where reliability, coverage, and stable performance are crucial. Its advantages will cover daily home use, enterprise operations, smart infrastructure, and various emerging applications with higher requirements for wireless technology.
Technical Overview
To achieve its value proposition and meet the expected application scenarios, Wi-Fi 8 introduces a series of new features. The IEEE P802.11bn working group is defining the PHY and MAC changes to the IEEE 802.11 standard, which will serve as the basis for Wi-Fi 8. When defining the project goals of IEEE P802.11bn, the working group agreed on the following improvement goals for 802.11bn: a throughput increase of at least 25% (especially in long-distance or interference scenarios), a latency reduction of 25% (faster response under high load), and a packet loss rate reduction of 25% in scenarios such as access point roaming.
These metrics may sound technical, but for users, it means smoother streaming, more responsive gaming, and more reliable video calls, even in scenarios where earlier Wi-Fi might have performed poorly. Wi-Fi 8 will make the connection closer to a "wired" connection - stable, low-latency, and efficient - while also increasing the speed.
Advanced Wi-Fi 8 devices are also expected to support functions defined beyond the IEEE P802.11bn standard revision. These devices will support Wi-Fi sensing and Wi-Fi short-range ranging, enabling context awareness, which will be the foundation for new AI-enabled applications.
In this section, we will detail these main new features and what they mean for end-users.
1. Faster and More Stable Connection
One of the focuses of Wi-Fi 8 is to improve the link reliability and performance of devices in poor network environments, such as at the network edge or in congested channels. Wi-Fi 8 addresses this issue through the following improvements:
1. Smarter Modulation and Coding (MCS) for Each Spatial Stream: If a device supports multi-streams (MIMO technology), previous Wi-Fi forced all streams to use the same MCS. Wi-Fi 8 introduces unequal MCS, which means each stream can use the best coding according to its own situation. Simply put, if one stream has a slightly weaker signal, it can transmit data more stably, while another stream uses a faster MCS, instead of all streams reducing the speed to match the stream with the weakest signal. This can improve the overall throughput and transmission distance. For example, a laptop with 2x2 MIMO may maintain a higher speed at the far end of a house because it is not affected by the weaker antenna.
2. Finer MCS Grid: Wi-Fi 8 adds several intermediate modulation methods, including QPSK rate 2/3, 16-QAM rate 2/3, 16-QAM rate 5/6, and 256-QAM rate 2/3. This means that when the signal strength decreases, the device doesn't need to drop from a very high-speed MCS to a much lower rate like Wi-Fi 7 but has more "intermediate" options. That is, at medium signal strength, Wi-Fi 8 can provide a higher rate than Wi-Fi 7 because Wi-Fi 7 has to choose a less ideal rate. In general, the average network speed across the whole house will increase.
3. Better Error Correction Capability: Wi-Fi 8 defines a longer LDPC codeword, which is twice the length of that in Wi-Fi 7, i.e., 3888 bits. This provides a more powerful error correction code, equivalent to doubling the number of error checks. Therefore, even when the signal is weak or there is noise, the link can maintain higher reliability and efficiency. In daily use, this means fewer retransmissions and a more stable connection as the distance increases.
4. Extended Range Mode: For extreme situations at the edge of the connection (e.g., IoT application scenarios), Wi-Fi 8 introduces an enhanced long-range mode, mainly used in the 2.4 GHz band. This mode is not designed to provide high performance but to ensure that edge devices can maintain a connection in areas where the previous connection was extremely poor. It doesn't expand the coverage area but extends the effective range by maintaining the connection before it is completely disconnected. So, your device can maintain a Wi-Fi connection even in the corner of the yard where the Wi-Fi 7 signal might be interrupted.
5. Stronger Device Uplink: Usually, the transmission power of an access point (AP) is sufficient for client devices to "hear," but due to transmission power limitations, regulations, etc., client devices may not be able to "hear" the AP's signal. The regular RU (RRU) scheme in Wi-Fi 7 exacerbates this problem, as it requires the client to concentrate its transmission power on a part of the channel bandwidth. However, Wi-Fi 8 provides a new uplink mechanism called distributed RU (DRU), which allows client devices to spread their uplink signals across the entire channel bandwidth, thus maximizing the use of power within the legal limits. This means that the Wi-Fi of a laptop or a mobile phone can not only download data over a long distance but also upload or communicate reliably over a long distance. In addition, distributed RU can also improve the uplink budget of devices located at the edge of the network, thereby increasing the data rate at which they communicate with the access point (AP).
All these improvements mean that Wi-Fi 8 is faster and more reliable in long-distance transmission. In a multi-room environment, compared with Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 8 should have a higher speed at the same long-distance location. For example, if the speed of Wi-Fi 7 in an upstairs bedroom is 50 Mbps, the speed of Wi-Fi 8 at the same location may reach