While many users are still transitioning to WiFi 6, and WiFi 7 has only recently become available, discussions about WiFi 8 are already underway. Contrary to expectations of doubled bandwidth, WiFi 8 will likely focus on optimizing the efficiency of existing transfer rates.
Optimizing Device-Access Point Coordination
According to MediaTek, WiFi 8 will prioritize enhanced coordination between access points and connected devices. Several key improvements are expected:
- Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR): Improves communication between access points to optimize power output and potentially increase throughput by 15-25%.
- Coordinated Beamforming (Co-BF): Directs signals more precisely in mesh networks, potentially enhancing throughput by 20-50%. MediaTek claims significant throughput improvements with their next-gen Filogic technology using Co-BF.
- Dynamic Sub-Channel Operation (DSO): Dynamically allocates bandwidth based on device capabilities, potentially boosting throughput by up to 80%.
- Refined Modulation: Introduces finer throughput adjustments for smoother transitions in signal strength, potentially improving transmission by 5-30% while moving around.
The throughput offered by Coordinated Beamforming (Co-BF) in next-generation MediaTek Filogic is significantly enhanced, with increases ranging from 20 percent to 50 percent in a mesh network setup...
Essentially, WiFi 8 aims to refine the existing WiFi 7 standard, maintaining the same 23Gbps bandwidth, 4096QAM modulation, number of channels, and frequency bands (2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz).