A little more than a year since it was certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi 7 is making inroads as the latest generation of communications technology to offer users ubiquitous wireless device connectivity. As each successive generation of Wi-Fi grows in signal complexity, companies incorporating hardware test into their Wi-Fi product tool chain are advised to give equal weight to test software to ensure optimal system performance.

Wi-Fi 7-enabled electronics, including smartphones, are already reaching store shelves. The Wi-Fi Alliance estimates that more than 233 million Wi-Fi 7 devices entered the market last year, with projections exceeding two billion by 2028.

Expectations for such rapid adoption are driven by the much higher data transfer speeds, larger network capacity and lower latency of Wi-Fi 7 compared to Wi-Fi 6/6E. As I noted in my recent blog on the state of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 7, also known as IEEE 802.11be, increases quadrature amplitude modulation by a factor of four to 4096 QAM, doubles channel density to 320 MHz and adds Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which enables devices to transmit on multiple frequencies simultaneously.

The significant performance leap dictates that automated test and measurement equipment generates and analyzes complex RF signals to ensure standard compliance, device interoperability and the functional co-existence of Wi-Fi 7 with other wireless technologies. This extends to test software, which, for better or worse, many companies traditionally have chosen to develop internally. 

Wi-Fi 7 Stresses Conventional Testing Schemes

Without a comprehensive testing framework, Wi-Fi 7 is prone to performance issues such as latency, bandwidth and range limitations as well as interference from Bluetooth® and older-generation Wi-Fi devices.

At the physical layer, Wi-Fi 7 warrants more stringent Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) testing to evaluate RF transceiver performance. This is because the denser QAM modulation of Wi-Fi 7 accommodates more data bits per symbol, which requires a higher signal-to-noise ratio to maintain signal integrity within the given frequency band.

Tighter EVM tolerances combined with sophisticated signal processing, signal interference and device compatibility requirements mean that custom test software is no longer a practical option. Vendors of Wi-Fi chipsets and access points, burdened by engineering cost constraints and a general lack of in-house RF design expertise, are discovering that developing proprietary test automation software is a cumbersome and time-consuming process that drains resources and dilutes their time-to-market advantage.

These economic factors highlight the importance of an out-of-the box hardware-software test solution that is easily deployed, quickly integrated and fully optimized for multiple environments – from design, validation and testing (DVT) to high-volume manufacturing.

LitePoint Wi-Fi Test Software Reduces Customer Design Overhead

As the leading provider of Wi-Fi test solutions, LitePoint offers a fully integrated, non-signaling tool that measures the raw radio frequency performance of every Wi-Fi standard. LitePoint’s IQfact+ software test solution supports Wi-Fi 7 chipsets – and other wireless standards – with a user-friendly manufacturing test interface, tester control, device-under-test (DUT) control and data logging in one integrated solution.

IQfact+ taps into LitePoint’s library of more than 350 chipset profiles, which is by far the largest in the industry. And as a turnkey test solution, it can be deployed in hours, compared to traditional test automation options, which take weeks or months to deploy and require intimate knowledge of tester and DUT control. 

The software is supported by a dedicated team of LitePoint application engineers who are embedded within leading chipset companies to optimize performance of Wi-Fi 7 chipsets and ensure compatibility with legacy technologies.

Software Test Paves the Way for Wi-Fi Preparation

Wi-Fi 7 brings significant advantages to consumers but introduces rigorous test challenges for device vendors. LitePoint’s IQfact+ is a turnkey software solution that reduces test development time while enabling device makers to retain control over the test processes that optimize the performance of their products.

With the greatest breadth of Wi-Fi chipset support from DVT to high-volume test, LitePoint’s out-of-the box approach to test automation means that manufacturers can focus their time and resources on bringing innovative products to market, not on writing test software or integrating solutions from numerous vendors.