I. Overview

The 320MHz ultra-wideband channel, a landmark technological breakthrough of Wi-Fi 7, completely breaks the bandwidth constraints of traditional wireless communication, doubling the single-channel transmission capability from 160MHz in Wi-Fi 6. It's like widening a "normal highway" for wireless data transmission into an "ultra-wide highway," providing fundamental support for high-bandwidth applications and reshaping the speed limits and user experience boundaries of wireless communication.

II. The Traditional Bandwidth Bottleneck

Traditional Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5/6) is limited by spectrum resource allocation and technical architecture, with a maximum single-channel bandwidth of only 160MHz, mostly concentrated in the congested 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The 2.4GHz band, limited by its technical characteristics, has a maximum single-channel bandwidth of only 20MHz, with a speed limit of less than 150Mbps, only meeting basic networking needs. While the 5GHz band supports 80MHz/160MHz bandwidth, due to widespread device adoption and scarce spectrum resources, bandwidth contention easily occurs when multiple devices share the bandwidth, often resulting in a single user's actual usable speed being only 30%-50% of the theoretical value.

With the explosive growth of high-bandwidth demands in scenarios such as 4K/8K ultra-high-definition video, cloud gaming, VR/AR immersive experiences, and industrial big data transmission, the theoretical speed of 160MHz bandwidth (approximately 2.4Gbps) is no longer sufficient to support multi-tasking and high-speed large file transmission. Problems such as slow file loading, video stuttering and buffering, and data transmission interruptions are frequent, making insufficient bandwidth a core bottleneck restricting the upgrade of wireless communication.

III. Core Breakthrough of 320MHz Ultra-Wide Channel

(I) Spectrum Resource Expansion: Unlocking the Potential of the 6GHz Golden Band

The core of the 320MHz ultra-wide channel deployment relies on the spectrum advantages of the 6GHz band. This band adds approximately 1.2GHz of available spectrum, with less interference and high spectrum purity, providing ample resource support for ultra-wide channel deployment. Compared to traditional bands, the 6GHz band supports more flexible channel combination methods, achieving stable deployment of 320MHz single-channel bandwidth through "2×160MHz" or "4×80MHz" channel aggregation, doubling the physical speed compared to Wi-Fi 6's 160MHz bandwidth.

Meanwhile, the 320MHz channel is backward compatible with narrow bandwidth modes such as 80MHz and 160MHz. In scenarios where 6GHz coverage is insufficient, it automatically switches to the 5GHz band's narrow channel transmission, balancing bandwidth performance and coverage, and avoiding compatibility shortcomings caused by technology upgrades.

(II) Leap in Speed Performance: Reconstructing Wireless Transmission Efficiency

The 320MHz ultra-wide channel, by widening the data transmission channel and combining it with Wi-Fi 7's 4096-QAM high-order modulation technology, increases the theoretical single-stream rate from 1.2Gbps in Wi-Fi 6 to 3.0Gbps. The theoretical peak rate for three-stream devices can exceed 9Gbps, more than double that of Wi-Fi 6. In practical applications, the 320MHz channel can achieve 1GB high-definition video downloads within 10 seconds, smooth simultaneous playback of 4K ultra-high-definition video on multiple devices, and buffer-free real-time interaction for VR/AR devices, completely solving the speed pain point of large-bandwidth data transmission.

Furthermore, ultra-wide channels reduce channel contention among multiple devices, allowing a single channel to handle more concurrent data transmissions. In scenarios such as multi-device networking in smart homes and high-density access in enterprise offices, this significantly improves the average available speed for a single user and reduces transmission stuttering caused by bandwidth contention.

(III) Scenario Adaptation Optimization: Supporting High-Bandwidth Demands

The technical advantages of the 320MHz ultra-wideband channel are precisely matched to various high-bandwidth scenarios, achieving an upgrade in experience from "usable" to "easy to use":

Consumer Electronics: Provides high-speed wireless connectivity for flagship mobile phones, computers, TVs, and other devices, supporting smooth 4K cloud gaming and zero-latency local wireless screen mirroring of ultra-high-definition videos, comparable to wired transmission;

Industrial IoT: Meets the needs of industrial sensor big data collection and real-time machine vision transmission. The high throughput of 320MHz ensures that massive amounts of industrial data are quickly uploaded to the cloud, guaranteeing the efficient operation of automated production processes;

Home Entertainment: Adapts to the needs of multiple devices connecting to the network simultaneously, supporting 4K TV viewing in the living room, cloud gaming in the bedroom, and large file downloads in the study, without bandwidth allocation conflicts, improving the overall home networking experience.

IV. Technical Prospects and Development Trends

As a core foundational technology of Wi-Fi 7, the 320MHz ultra-wideband channel will drive wireless communication towards "gigabit wireless普及" (widespread adoption). With the gradual improvement of 6GHz band spectrum planning and the increased support of terminal devices (mobile phones, APs, etc.) for 320MHz channels, this technology will rapidly penetrate into all scenarios, including consumer, industrial, and office environments. In the future, combined with Wi-Fi 7 supporting technologies such as MLO multi-link technology and LDPC enhanced coding, the performance of the 320MHz ultra-wide channel will be further unleashed, potentially achieving wireless speeds exceeding 10Gbps, completely replacing some wired transmission scenarios, and ushering in a new era of all-wireless high-speed communication.