Wi-Fi 8 standards aren’t set to be released until late 2028 or 2029, but early discussions about Wi-Fi 9 are already underway.
Klaus Doppler, the head of Wi-Fi Research at Nokia’s Centre of Excellence, was part of those talks at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 meeting held in Vancouver, British Columbia last week.
The next generation of Wi-Fi will evolve alongside 6G technology, he wrote in a blog about the expected requirements of Wi-Fi 9. It will need to support applications where “responsiveness, reliability, and predictability are just as critical as speed.”
Standards for Wi-Fi 8 are expected to shift focus from raw speed to reliability, with emphasis on more consistent throughput and smoother handoff between access points, Qualcomm Vice President of Technical Standards Rolf de Vegt told Telecompetitor last year. Wi-Fi 8 sill support the processing speeds required for immersive AI environments.
By the time Wi-Fi 9 is released, networks will need to enable multi-gig speeds with sub-5ms latency and zero tolerance for packet loss, Dopper wrote. Access points will need to connect dozens of devices at these speeds, and the technology will need to minimize power consumption for both access points and mobile devices.
The working group is planning for a Wi-Fi standard robust enough to support consumer devices like laptops and smartphones, plus the following emerging technologies:
- Extended Reality devices (VR, AR, and M)
- Cloud gaming platforms
- Real-time 3D environments
- Tactile and haptic technologies that allow users to receive physical feedback
The post about Wi-Fi 9 didn’t lay out technical specifics, but was a call to action for the industry as a whole.
“We are calling for early alignment across the industry around clear performance goals and use-case-driven requirements, ensuring that the next generation of Wi-Fi evolves alongside fibre broadband and future 6G networks,” Dopper wrote in his Wi-Fi 9 post.
“Close coordination across wireless and wireline technologies will be essential to deliver consistent, predictable performance across environments.”
