In today’s hyper-connected world, reliable and high-speed wireless connectivity is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. WiFi standards have evolved rapidly. WiFi 6, which has been around for only a few years, is now being replaced by WiFi 7 or IEEE 802.11be. Equipment manufacturers are now rushing to phase in WiFi 7 products. Compex has released its latest WiFi 7 module WLE7002E25 to help shorten time to market. The Compex WLE7002E25 is a dual band concurrent 2×2 2.4GHz and 2×2 5GHz radio based on Qualcomm’s Waikiki high performance WiFi 7 chipset which is capable of over 10Gbps raw data rate. It is in a stardard miniPCIe form factor.
1. Standard MiniPCIe Form Factor
The standard miniPCIe footprint means that WLE7002E25 is readily compatible with existing systems and designs, particularly customers whose devices have been using WiFi 4 or WiFi 5 standard miniPCIe module. This simplifies integration since device manufacturers do not need to make modifications on their hardware to support a new generation WiFi module, thus reduces development costs and accelerates time-to-market.
Below diagram shows the dimension difference between Qualcomm’s high performance Waikiki M.2 E-key reference design and Compex’s standard size miniPCIe module using the same Waikiki chipset:
2. Lower Power Consumption, Impressive Transmit Power
Compex’s RF engineers set themselves the twin targets of condensing the Qualcomm reference design by about 50% to an industrial standard form factor, as well as reducing its power consumption significantly. Compared with the high performance Qualcomm reference design, Compex is able to achieve the size and consumption targets with a little loss in performance. The following is a comparison of the RF power outputs and consumption between Compex WLE7002E25 and QualcommWK03.2 reference board.
3. Multi-Link Operation (MLO)
An Important differentiator of WiFi 7 to WiFi 6 is MLO (Multi Link Operation). This allows a client to connect to the AP through multiple bands simultaneously. This has significant advantage in reducing latency. Latency is of critical importance to interactive applications such as games, robotics, real-time translation, teleconferencing and etc.
Compex’s WLE7002E25 supports MLO between its 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. It also implements MLO signals between adapters to support MLO between the WLE7002E25 and other WiFi 7 modules such as Compex’s 4×4 6GHz module WLE7000E6.
4. Open Source Ath12k Support on Foreign Platform
Compex Systems recognize the importance of supporting customers’ products integration with open source ath12k. Ath12k integration support for non-Qualcomm platforms such as x86 embedded boards is also available.
5. Competitive Pricing
Compex’s WLE7002E25 is only marginally more expensive than WiFi 6 products of similar configurations. This is to encourage direct migration from WiFi 4 and WiFi 5 to WiFi 7, skipping the WiFi 6 development time and costs.
Investing in the Future
The Compex WLE7002E25 represents more than just a Wi-Fi module; it’s an investment in the future. With its cutting-edge technology, comprehensive features, and diverse application potential, the Compex WLE7002E25 stands poised to rewrite the rules of wireless connectivity.