By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
The target final approval date for Wi-Fi 8 (IEEE 802.11bn) is September 2028 and Wi-Fi chipset leader MediaTek is already sharing its vision for how Wi-Fi 8 will enhance Wi-Fi reliability. A new white paper – the second in the series – highlights Wi-Fi 8 features for enhancing actual performance in everyday Wi-Fi environments. Features include NPCA, in-device coexistence (IDC9, and more. Download the paper here.
Despite current peak Wi-Fi data rates of many megabits per second it is not uncommon for even relatively slow connections – like a typical 25 Mbps Netflix stream – to experience noticeable disruptions in connectivity quality. MediaTek’s new white paper on the future Wi-Fi 8 standard highlights a series of features intended to “address the actual performance that users can reliably achieve in typical, everyday Wi-Fi environments,” MediaTek says.
MediaTek says it expects Wi-Fi 8 products to hit the markets in late 2027. Meanwhile the company is investing heavily in developing the features that will set Filogic Wi-Fi 8 chipsets apart. These include Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA), In-Device Coexistence (IDC), Latency & QoS Enhancement by Preemption, and High Priority (HIP) EDCA. A detailed description of the features can be found in the paper but below is a high-level summary.
Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA) falls in the category of features for multi-AP coordination. In all standards previous to future Wi-Fi 8, primary channels are required while this feature permits transmission of data in other available spectrum when the primary channel is occupied. MediaTeak says studies show this solution results in a 37.5% increase in throughput.
Another focus area for MediaTek is improving performance when multiple radios – such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi – are employed by the same device concurrently. Bluetooth packets are sent in scheduled time slots which means the AP should transmit data during Bluetooth packet inactivity but at the moment there is no mechanism for this. MediaTek says that Filogic future Wi-Fi 8 solution will integrates a new IDC protocol delivering a better multi-radio coexistence experience.
To ensure the timely delivery of urgent low-latency data, MediaTek is introducing a TXOP (transmission opportunity) pre-emption function that allows so-called ‘non-TXOP’ holders to temporarily interrupt ongoing transmissions for urgent messages. This feature is important for example for gaming or wherever mission critical low-latency connectivity is required.
Finally MediaTek is developing a feature – named High Priority EDCA – which will improve the ability of high-priority packets (such as audio packets) to gain channel access when for example there is a high density of audio usage over Wi-Fi. This feature will reduce or avoid latency spikes in audio transmissions over Wi-Fi, MediaTek says.
For more also don’t miss MediaTek VP James Chen speaking at Wi-Fi World Congress in Mountain View, California, on April 29. Also read MediaTek’s first Wi-Fi 8 white paper from November 2024 here.
/Claus.
