MaxLinear, Nokia, Intel, and leading universities across Europe and the United States have collaborated on an IEEE paper titled “Wi-Fi: 25 Years and Counting.” The paper, written by Giovanni Geraci, Francesca Meneghello, Francesc Wilhelmi, David López-Pérez, Iñaki Val, Lorenzo Galati Giordano, Carlos Cordeiro, Monisha Ghosh, Edward Knightly, and Boris Bellalta, covers the evolution of Wi-Fi from its early beginnings to the upcoming Wi-Fi 8 era.
It spans eight generations of Wi-Fi, from IEEE 802.11b to the emerging IEEE 802.11bn (Wi-Fi 8). The paper focuses on core technical breakthroughs rather than listing generations individually. These include innovations that enabled Wi-Fi to scale more than 1000× in data rates, reduce latency, and improve efficiency and reliability.
The article details the evolution of spectrum usage and coexistence, key PHY innovations such as OFDM, MIMO, and advanced coding, MAC-layer advances including OFDMA, scheduling, and spatial reuse, and the shift toward multi-user, multi-link, and multi-AP coordination. It also addresses future-looking topics such as Wi-Fi sensing, security and privacy, mmWave operation, and AI/ML-driven optimization.
The paper examines innovations such as multi-link operation (MLO), multi-AP coordination, wideband spectrum use, energy-saving mechanisms, and advanced PHY/MAC techniques. It describes the transition of Wi-Fi from best-effort connectivity to a QoS-aware communication system.
The collaboration brings together expertise from silicon design, standards development, and academic research across the Wi-Fi ecosystem. The paper addresses requirements for ultra-high throughput, ultra-low latency, and reliability at massive scale in applications including immersive AR/VR, cloud gaming, industrial automation, healthcare, smart cities, and energy-efficient IoT.
It serves as a technical reference covering the context of Wi-Fi’s development and a forward-looking roadmap for its future. The paper is intended for readers involved in designing silicon, deploying networks, contributing to standards, or exploring new Wi-Fi-enabled applications.
