Broadcom gets early start on WiFi 8 with next-gen wireless routing kit

The Wi-Fi 8, aka 802.11bn, specification awaits final ratification, but that hasn't stopped networking vendors from rolling out new and potentially cheaper wireless chipsets. Broadcom on Wednesday became the latest vendor to reveal Wi-Fi 8 products, including three Wi-Fi 8 compatible system-on-chips aimed at high-end wireless routers and mesh devices. Unlike past chips, Broadcom is integrating application processing, network processing, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios, and Ethernet PHY into a single die, a design that reduces power consumption and heat production. Recent generations of Wi-Fi have seen available bandwidth exceed gigabit speeds, so the chips are designed to support both multi-gigabit WAN and LAN ports. Wi-Fi 7 bumped the max channel width from 160 to 320 MHz, effectively doubling the per-stream bandwidth to end devices. Peak bandwidth of 46 Gbps is technically possible but most consumer devices are likely to top out at less than 5 Gbps. That's because the wider channel widths that enabled the speedier connectivity also introduced a few headaches in the process. The wider the channel, the higher the bandwidth, but also the greater the potential for interference. Wi-Fi 8 aims to address some of these issues. Notable improvements include support for Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR), which is designed to help mesh devices or campus access points adjust their signal strengths to minimize noise and improve signal integrity. Similarly, coordinated beamforming (Co-BF) will allow devices to direct their signal toward the intended receiver while minimizing interference with other devices. Meanwhile, a technology called Dynamic Sub-channel Operation (DSO) promises to boost throughput by more than 20 percent by enabling routers and access points to assign devices to individual sub channels. Combined, the improvements in the Wi-Fi 8 spec aim to make more of the peak theoretical bandwidth promised by Wi-Fi 7 accessible to users. Broadcom's new wireless routing chipsets come in three flavors. The BCM6772 is an entry level model aimed at mass-market wireless routers that's equipped with 2x2 radios on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. For mid-market devices, Broadcom's BCM6774 offers a higher capacity 4x4 radio for the 5 GHz band. And finally at the high-end is the BCM6776, which adds a pair of PCIe 3.0 controllers and support for speedier LPDDR memory. The first of these chips are already rolling out to customers for evaluation and integration into future products. While Broadcom hasn't announced specific devices powered by the chips, its partners include TP-Link, NetGear, Asus, and a slew of other wireless device makers. But before you get too excited, it's going to be a bit before you start seeing Wi-Fi 8 compatible devices hit the market. According to a Dell'Oro Group report from earlier this year, the new spec isn't expected to take off until 2028. So, if you just upgraded to Wi-Fi 7, you aren't missing anything, yet. (R)