As Wi-Fi 6 evolve, Wi-Fi 7 is ready to take connectivity to new heights. With extraordinary features like multi-link operation, these technologies are set to realign smart homes and IoT. EFY’s Akanksha sits down with Sivaram Trikutam from Infineon Technologies to discuss what’s next…
Q: How do IoT devices enhance daily life, and how can they be designed for minimal maintenance?
A: IoT devices enhance daily life by providing convenience, efficiency, and security. Devices like smart thermostats, robotic vacuums, and video doorbells allow users to control their environment remotely, optimising energy consumption by 10-20%. These devices perform autonomous adjustments with AI integration, requiring minimal user intervention. Moreover, predictive maintenance technologies monitor device performance, and pre-emptively resolving issues, ensuring longevity and minimal upkeep.
Q: How is adopting IoT solutions impacting urbanisation and addressing challenges in India?
A: India’s rapid urbanisation, projected to see 40% of the population in cities by 2036, presents significant infrastructure and resource management challenges. IoT solutions are critical in addressing these by optimising public transportation, enabling unified payment systems, and improving energy metering. IoT can monitor and adjust resource usage in agriculture and building management to align with decarbonisation and sustainability goals, making smart cities more resilient.
Q: What are the most significant advancements in Wi-Fi technology in recent years?
A: Wi-Fi technology has shifted from increasing data rates to improving network efficiency, particularly for environments with many connected devices. Wi-Fi 6 introduces technologies like OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) and MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple input, multiple output), improving device management in crowded networks. Additionally, Wi-Fi sensing, which uses Wi-Fi signals to detect motion and presence, has emerged, enhancing home security energy management, and creating smarter living environments.
Q: What is the primary focus of Wi-Fi 6 compared to previous generations?
A: Wi-Fi 6 primarily focuses on improving network efficiency rather than boosting data rates. This includes optimising performance for multiple connected devices, especially in densely populated environments, through technologies like OFDMA and MU-MIMO.
Q: How does Wi-Fi 6 manage network efficiency with multiple devices?
A: Wi-Fi 6 employs OFDMA and MU-MIMO to allow multiple devices to share bandwidth simultaneously, significantly reducing latency and improving overall network efficiency, particularly in homes or offices with many devices.
Q. What are the key challenges of OFDMA in Wi-Fi 6 and 7? How to ensure efficient bandwidth, low latency, and strong signal?
A: OFDMA in Wi-Fi 6 boosts network performance by allowing multiple devices to communicate simultaneously on a single channel, enhancing efficiency and reducing latency, especially for IoT. Synchronisation of devices is key, and efficient resource allocation algorithms are needed. Infineon’s Wi-Fi 6 portfolio supports OFDMA, with tailored recommendations available from our technical team.
Q. How does TWT in Wi-Fi 6 and 7 6 boost IoT battery life, and what challenges arise in balancing energy efficiency with performance?
A. Target wake time (TWT) in Wi-Fi 6 and extended in Wi-Fi 7 enhances battery life, crucial for IoT devices like smart home security cameras and locks. Compared to Wi-Fi 4 and 5, TWT allows longer sleep durations, reducing standby power while staying connected. Devices set individual wake-up schedules, minimising congestion, and boosting efficiency, though longer sleep settings may increase wake-up latency.
Q. How does beamforming enhance Wi-Fi 6 and 7, and what challenges affect its signal robustness in the 6GHz band?
A. Beamforming enhances Wi-Fi by using multiple antennas to direct signals toward specific devices, boosting coverage, range, and efficiency, especially in multi-device setups. Wi-Fi 6 and 7 support multi-user beamforming across 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands, with up to eight antennas possible. However, cost and practicality usually limit IoT devices to one to two–antennas based on frequency needs and use cases.
Q. What channel sync challenges does Wi-Fi 7’s MLO face, and how can performance stay seamless?
A. Multi-link operation (MLO) in Wi-Fi 7 allows devices to communicate over multiple frequency bands (2.4GHz, 5GHz, or 6GHz) simultaneously, selecting the best available band for optimal performance. Wi-Fi 7 supports modes like simultaneous transmit and receive (STR), multi-link single radio (MLSR), and enhanced MLSR, each suited to diverse needs such as STR for high-performance (e.g., VR) and MLSR for cost-effective IoT applications. Effective channel selection and smooth transitions are essential for minimising system overhead and improving user experience.
Q. How can engineer balance backward compatibility with feature optimisation in Wi-Fi 6 and 7?
A. Wi-Fi standards prioritise backwards compatibility, and certification testing ensures legacy network support. Infineon’s Wi-Fi products are rigorously tested for reliable, robust interoperability across various networks. Wi-Fi 6 introduced Preamble Puncturing for channel optimisation and spatial reuse to manage interference. Wi-Fi 7 adds multi-RU capability, combining resource units to avoid high-interference areas, enhancing channel use with greater flexibility.
Q: How is Wi-Fi evolving with Wi-Fi sensing, and what are its applications?
A: Wi-Fi sensing is a revolutionary advancement that uses Wi-Fi signals to detect movement and presence in an environment. Applications include home security, where it can detect intrusions, energy efficiency optimisation by adjusting lighting and HVAC systems based on occupancy, and even seamless activity transitions such as media playback following a user from room to room.
Q: What advancements in latency reduction are introduced in Wi-Fi 7 compared to Wi-Fi 6?
A: Wi-Fi 7 introduces MLO, allowing devices to connect to multiple frequency bands simultaneously. This capability significantly reduces latency, improving performance for tasks sensitive to delays, such as gaming, AR/VR applications, and real-time IoT operations.
Q: What are the key improvements introduced by Wi-Fi 7, and how will they impact future IoT devices?
A: Wi-Fi 7 will bring substantial improvements in terms of latency, capacity, and throughput. These enhancements will support IoT devices that require real-time responsiveness, such as smart healthcare or autonomous systems, enabling faster, more efficient communication and control while maintaining energy efficiency.
Q. How does 6GHz in Wi-Fi 6/ and 7 impact design, and what RF and signal integrity challenges arise?
A. The introduction of 6GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi marks a major advancement, tripling available bandwidth beyond the crowded 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. With rising device connectivity across sectors like smart homes and enterprises, 6GHz provides essential relief. Infineon’s AIROCTM Wi-Fi 6 portfolios already support 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz with integrated RF components, simplifying design for customers. This integration minimises design complexity by managing power amplification, linearity, and noise, enabling a seamless upgrade to 6GHz capabilities in products.
Q: How will Wi-Fi sensing technology impact everyday life and industrial applications?
A: Wi-Fi sensing will transform how spaces react to human presence. In homes, it could automatically adjust settings for comfort, while in industrial applications, it could enhance worker safety by detecting presence in hazardous areas or improve logistics by tracking movements within facilities.
Q: How is connectivity shaping the future of microcontrollers?
A: Connectivity is driving the evolution of microcontrollers, which now need capabilities beyond traditional processing, including support for over-the-air updates, security protocols, and real-time communication. This shift is crucial for IoT applications, where always-on, secure, and reliable performance is essential.
Q: What are connected microcontrollers, and why are they important?
A: Connected microcontrollers combine traditional microcontroller functionality with integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other communication standards, enabling IoT devices to stay connected while maintaining low power consumption. These are critical for smart home devices, wearables, and industrial IoT systems.
Q: What role do firmware updates play in maintaining the reliability and security of IoT devices?
A: Firmware updates are critical for ensuring IoT device security and functionality. They provide ability to fix bugs, close security vulnerabilities, and enhance device capabilities, which is particularly important in a landscape where cyber threats and new requirements continually evolve.
Q: How do different connectivity solutions complement each other?
A: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and UWB each have distinct strengths. Wi-Fi provides high-speed data transfer, Bluetooth is ideal for low power and short-range communication, and UWB excels in precise location tracking. These technologies can be combined to meet diverse IoT needs, such as secure proximity-based access control with UWB while maintaining data connectivity via Wi-Fi.
Q: What challenges are faced when integrating security features into IoT devices without compromising convenience and reliability?
A: Integrating sturdy security measures often create an obstacle to user convenience and system reliability. balancing these requires solutions like secure firmware updates and hardware-based encryption, combined with user-friendly designs to protect against vulnerabilities while maintaining usability.
Q: What are manufacturers’ primary design challenges when developing products for Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7?
A: Manufacturers face challenges such as increased power consumption from advanced features like TWT and MLO, managing thermal modulation for higher modulation schemes, such as 4K-QAM and interference management from overlapping standards like Bluetooth and 5G, especially in 6GHz band.
Q: What solutions are you offering to help manufacturers to overcome the challenges?
A: Infineon provides energy-efficient chipsets, advanced power management solutions, and materials like gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) for better thermal control. Its multi-radio coexistence technology minimises interference between Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other standards, ensuring optimal performance.
Q: What do you think the future holds for Wi-Fi, beyond Wi-Fi 7?
A: Wi-Fi will continue integrating with cellular networks to provide seamless connectivity transition. Innovations in Wi-Fi sensing and mesh networking will extend Wi-Fi’s capabilities by making it an integral part of home automation, security, and health monitoring.
