Why ultra high reliability for Wi-Fi 8 matters

Wi-Fi 8 UHR is being designed to deliver longer range, better reliability, improved performance, and more security

In a departure from an almost 30-year-old pattern, Wi-Fi 8 — based on the forthcoming IEEE 802.11bn standard — will not come to market with an increase in peak speed as compared to its predecessor. However, the next-gen of this ubiquitous connectivity medium, which is projected to start certification in the beginning of 2028, has been dubbed Wi-Fi 8 Ultra High Reliability (UHR). In the context of real-world consumer and enterprise use cases, this marks a strategic shift toward delivering consistent, dependable connectivity for increasingly device-dense environments rather than chasing pure throughput.  

 “User experience is key,” stated James C Chen, Vice President of Product Technology and Marketing at MediaTek. “In this day and age of real-time and latency sensitive applications highlighted by more Agentic AI, responsiveness, reliability and always-on connectivity mean more than another 1 or 2 Gbps of speed increases. You can continuously increase the horsepower of an engine but if it can’t translate that speed to the ground, then its of limited use. That’s the focus of Wi-Fi 8, putting Wi-Fi to better use.”

Wi-Fi 7,which began certification in January 2024, can deliver a theoretical peak downlink speed of 46 Gbps using 16 spatial streams, 320 megahertz channels in 6 GHz bands, 4096 QAM, with support for Multi-Link Operation (MLO). Wi-Fi 8 will introduce a new class of capabilities that are optimized for environments where jitter, interference, and range, not peak speed, are the primary impediments. 

Given the outlook for impactful use cases like extended reality, cloud-based gaming, industrial automation, and real-time communications, it’s important that the next generation of Wi-Fi focuses on speed and consistent, predictable, seamless performance in multi-device, multi-access point (AP) scenarios. 

In many ways, Wi-Fi 8 represents an evolution of Wi-Fi 7 rather than a radical departure; but there are several key architectural upgrades that will deliver ultra high reliability. 

1. Longer range and higher speeds at a given range: Enhanced Long Range (ELR) brings optimizations to ensure signal resilience across longer distances. Unequal modulation allows APs to transmit higher speeds at any given range. And Distributed Resource Unit (DRU) technology improves range but spreading resource units across a wider channel bandwidth enabling higher transmit powers. 
2. Smarter coordination: Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR) and Coordinated Beamforming (Co-BF) allow mesh nodes and APs to manage interference while sharing spectrum. And Muilti-AP allows seamless roaming which will ensure better device handoff between APs without degradation for a smoother user experience.
3. Better reliability with improved error correction and roaming: Improved Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding enhances error correction at range and in noisy environments. More Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) options provide more granular rate selection and more precise matching to real-time signal conditions allowing for higher speeds at a given distance. 
4. Smarter spectrum use and adaptive channel access: Dynamic Sub-Channel Operation (DSO) allows APs to dynamically assign sub-channels to different clients based on changing situational conditions. Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA) enables data transmission on side channels when the primary channel is congested. DSO and NPCA respectively reduce bandwidth waste and improve effective throughput. 
5. Stronger security: Wi-Fi authentication and management frames can now be encrypted to help prevent jamming, spoofing, and other malicious actions that could disrupt Wi-Fi-based services. 

“Unlike our competitors, MediaTek’s Wi-Fi 8 platform solutions are built on top of and further extends our Wi-Fi 7 Filogic architecture, such as our single-chip MLO,“ remarked Chen. “By doing so we can provide stability, software reuse, and a faster time to market for our customers across broadband, enterprise, consumer and other market segments.”

Previous generations of Wi-Fi have largely been defined by speed. Wi-Fi 8, reflecting the reality of how people use connected devices, is obviously fast, but it’s also ultra reliable because that’s what real users really need. 

Here are additional resources to help you understand MediaTek’s approach to Wi-Fi: 

• Article: MediaTek on the ‘radical change in architecture’ for Wi-Fi 7
• Article: Why agentic AI in home gateways could be a game-changer for operators
• White paper: Pioneering the Future with Wi-Fi 8, Part one: Fast efficient spectrum
• White paper: Pioneering the Future with Wi-Fi 8, Part two: Reliable Communication