As advanced network technologies such as Wi-Fi 6 and 6E become widespread in businesses and homes, chip manufacturers have also begun their product layout in the field of Wi-Fi 7, a new generation of wireless network technology. On May 4, Qualcomm brought the third generation of Qualcomm professional networking platform portfolio that supports Wi-Fi 7 networks.
As a well-known manufacturer, Qualcomm has been a global Wi-Fi leader since 1998, and the Wi-Fi 7 professional networking solution released this time is also the first "world's most scalable" solution, which has ushered in a substantial upgrade in terms of performance and functionality.
As a new generation of wireless network technology, Wi-Fi 7 has achieved a variety of performance improvements, and the third generation of Qualcomm professional networking platform portfolio that supports Wi-Fi 7 networks also has a maximum physical layer rate of up to 33Gbps, which is quite significant compared to the current advanced Wi-Fi 6 can support a maximum 6Gbps rate.
Achieving such an amazing theoretical upper limit is inseparable from the newly added 320MHz channel, which doubles the maximum channel bandwidth compared to the 160MHz channel of Wi-Fi 6 and enables lower latency transmission. With the new frequency band 6GHz of the third-generation Qualcomm professional networking platform, the third-generation Qualcomm professional networking platform portfolio provides users with a faster network connection experience with higher performance, Qualcomm automatic frequency control scheme and 4K QAM advanced modulation technology.
The addition of the 6GHz band also provides theoretical support for another new feature of Wi-Fi 7, "multiple connections."< Relying on multi-band collaboration, the third-generation Qualcomm Professional Networking Platform enables multi-connection technology to transmit data simultaneously or alternately across multiple frequency bands to avoid wireless interference and provide definitive, predictable low latency, or to take advantage of the high-performance 5GHz and 6GHz bands for optimal throughput and multi-connection latency.
Compared with the "link selection" and other features that have been widely used in Wi-Fi 6, the "multi-connection" of Wi-Fi 7 can have more high-performance frequency bands to choose from, and it will be more intelligent in the transmission of data, bringing users a more stable, convenient and fast experience.
In addition, in the face of unavoidable interference, the third-generation Qualcomm professional networking platform also supports the new Wi-Fi 7 feature of adaptive interference punching. When the expected bandwidth is interfered with and the performance cannot be fully released, it can specially "punch" the interference, so that the remaining channel bandwidth can also be networked normally, so as to maximize the utilization and high-performance transmission guarantee under interference.
Combined with the highlights mentioned above, Qualcomm still brings different solution options for customers to customize the design this time to adapt to different network usage needs. The platform's full portfolio includes:
o Qualcomm 1620 Professional Networking Platform: Supports quad-band 16-channel data stream connection, peak wireless capacity of 33.1Gbps, for sports venues, large enterprises and top-level home mesh network systems.
o Qualcomm 1220 Professional Networking Platform: Supports tri-band 12-channel data stream connection with a peak wireless capacity of 21.6Gbps for enterprise-level, small and medium-sized enterprises, production and consumers, and top-level home mesh network systems.
o Qualcomm 820 Professional Networking Platform: Supports quad-band 8-channel data stream connection with a peak wireless capacity of 13.7Gbps, for enterprise-level, small and medium-sized enterprises, production and consumers, and top-level home mesh network systems.
o Qualcomm 620 Professional Networking Platform: Supports tri-band 6-channel data stream connection with a peak wireless capacity of 10.8Gbps for enterprise-level, small and medium-sized enterprises, gaming applications and home mesh networking systems.
In terms of ecology, Qualcomm has released the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connection system FastConnect 7800 in February 2022, combined with the third-generation Qualcomm professional networking platform mentioned above, which has undoubtedly created a leading Wi-Fi 7 ecosystem. In addition, the third generation of Qualcomm professional networking platform has also entered the "has been sampled" stage, I believe that in the near future, we will have the opportunity to see the landing of this new professional networking solution mass production, and enjoy the wireless network experience it brings.