German chip company Infineon is working with module makers such as Quectel to integrate a device that combines tri-radio with Wifi 7, Bluetooth LE 6.0 with channel sounding, and IEEE 802.15.4 Thread, with Matter ecosystem support.

To support continued growth of connected devices in home, industrial and commercial markets, the Airoc ACW741x family includes a 20MHz Wifi 7 device for IoT, provides Wifi 7 multi-link for IoT for enhanced robustness in congested environments, and claims to have the industry’s lowest wifi connected standby power.

Infineon is partnering with Azurewave, Ezurio, Murata and Quectel to develop easy-to-integrate modules using the ACW741x.

“The launch of Infineon’s Airoc ACW741x Wifi 7 tri-radio products marks a new milestone, delivering 20MHz-optimised, ultra-low-power to empower vertical industry users to unlock IoT innovation,” said Delbert Sun, vice-general manager at Quectel (www.quectel.com). “We’re excited to deepen our collaboration with Infineon and explore new opportunities together.”

With the IoT connectivity market projected to reach 30 billion devices by 2030 (transformainsights.com/research/reports/global-iot-forecast-report-2024-2034), IoT device manufacturers continue to demand reliable, energy-efficient and cost-effective products. The Wifi Alliance is introducing the 20MHz device category for Wifi 7 aimed at addressing the needs of the broader IoT ecosystem, and the ACW741x supports 20MHz-only channels, with optimised radio performance and low power consumption.

As wifi-connected IoT devices proliferate across homes and commercial environments, spectrum congestion and interference increasingly undermine wireless connectivity and performance. With Wifi 7 multi‑link for IoT, the device boosts link reliability with adaptive band switching to mitigate congestion and interference. By maintaining concurrent links across 2.4, 5 and 6GHz, multi‑link delivers a more consistent, always‑connected experience for applications such as security cameras, video doorbells, alarm systems, medical devices and HVAC.

“We are committed to our mission of connecting all types of IoT devices by offering robust performance, low-power devices that are easy to integrate,” said Sivaram Trikutam, senior vice president at Infineon (www.infineon.com). “As an increasing number of devices have multi-protocol use cases, an integrated tri-band single-chip device with the industry’s lowest wifi standby power allows suppliers to achieve reliable performance for increasingly congested smart-home and commercial environments.”

The family is suitable for battery-operated applications such as security cameras, door locks and thermostats that require low wifi-connected standby power. Compared with other IoT wifi products on the market, it is claimed to offer up to 15 times lower standby power consumption.

“From the smart home to the factory floor, Wifi 7 improves deterministic behaviour, scheduling efficiency, and robustness of IoT devices in dense environments, bringing an overall network quality upgrade and providing a connectivity foundation for a wide range of IoT applications,” said Kevin Robinson, CEO of the Wifi Alliance (www.wi-fi.org). “With the recent extension of Wifi Certified 7 capabilities to 20MHz-only devices, the Wifi Alliance will deliver the benefits of Wifi 7 for new device categories, enabling the next wave of IoT innovation across smart home, industrial and healthcare settings.”

The ACW741x also integrates wireless sensing capabilities, which adds contextual awareness to smart IoT devices to create differentiated offerings such as home automation and personalisation. Wifi channel state information (CSI) 802.11bf enables enhanced wifi sensing with intelligence sharing between same-network devices, whereas channel sounding delivers accurate, secure, low-power ranging with centimetre-level accuracy.

Combining on-chip integration – including transmit-receive switches, power amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers, power management and a low-power oscillator – with a QFN package that enables low-cost two-layer PCB designs, the ACW741x is said to provides a cost-efficient migration path to Wifi 7.

The family is sampling now, with hardware and software development kits available for development. For more information and to request samples, visit www.infineon.com/promo/acw741x.