Abstract

Huawei Technologies commissioned Tolly to evaluate the performance and feature set of Huawei AirEngine Wi-Fi 7 access points. The main focus of the project was to validate single-user and multi-user wireless performance, Wi-Fi 7 feature behavior, mesh backhaul capability, user capacity, and a broad range of advanced enterprise features across Huawei’s AirEngine Wi-Fi 7 AP portfolio.  

The report covers a broad set of indoor, outdoor, wall-plate, industrial, and high-end models, including AirEngine 5573-23W, 5776-26, 5576I-X6EH, 5773-23W, 5776-56T, 5776-57, 5776-57T, 5776I-X6H, 5776I-X6EH, 5776I-X7H, 6776-X6H, 6776-X6ETH, 6776I-X6ETH, 6776-58TI, 8776-X7F-T, and 8776-X7T-T. In single-user throughput testing with a Wi-Fi 7 phone endpoint and Keysight IxChariot, all tested Huawei AirEngine Wi-Fi 7 APs delivered more than 2.3Gbps on the 5GHz radio with 160MHz channel bandwidth, while tested 6GHz radios with 320MHz bandwidth delivered more than 4.5Gbps. Specific results included 4.754Gbps UDP downstream for the AirEngine 6776I-X6ETH, 4.710Gbps for the 5776-57, and 4.610Gbps for the 5776-57T in 6GHz/320MHz testing.  

Tolly also validated key Wi-Fi 7 enhancements. In 4096QAM coverage testing with the AP mounted 3 meters high and the client located 10 meters away, tested models delivered about 1.04Gbps to 1.09Gbps TCP downstream at 5GHz/80MHz. MU-MIMO testing with three Wi-Fi 7 clients showed aggregate 5GHz TCP downstream throughput up to 2.79Gbps at 160MHz on the AirEngine 5776I-X7H and 6776I-X6ETH. For same-channel dense deployments, Huawei’s Dynamic-Zoom Smart Antenna improved dual-STA aggregate throughput on the AirEngine 6776-X6H by 76% at 80MHz and 82% at 40MHz when switching from omnidirectional to directional high-density mode.  

Outdoor and industrial mesh backhaul results were also strong. At 0 meters, the AirEngine 6776I-X6ETH achieved 4.6Gbps mesh backhaul on 6GHz/320MHz, while the 5776I-X6EH reached 4.5Gbps and the 5776I-X6H reached 4.45Gbps on 5GHz/160MHz. At 200 meters, tested throughput ranged from 1.24Gbps to 1.82Gbps depending on model. User-capacity testing showed support for up to 1,200 users per AP on several models and up to 1,800 users on the 5776-56T and 6776I-X6ETH. Tolly also verified that selected dual-radio models could support 30 concurrent users streaming 4K video smoothly.  

Beyond raw performance, the report highlights extensive enterprise features, including MLO high availability, Leader AP operation without a dedicated WAC, VIP Lane superframe preemption, Wi-Fi Shield, dual-PoE redundancy on selected models, CSI-based personnel sensing, integrated NearLink and Bluetooth for IoT, MACsec, IPv6 user support, IoT card-slot expansion, spectrum analysis, 802.11r fast roaming on 6GHz with less than 10ms roaming time, and iCSSR spatial reuse. In the iCSSR test, the AirEngine 6776-X6H improved same-frequency three-AP network throughput from 702Mbps to 1,119Mbps, a 59.4% gain. Overall, the report presents Huawei AirEngine Wi-Fi 7 APs as a high-performance and feature-rich enterprise WLAN portfolio spanning high-throughput indoor access, outdoor mesh, dense-user environments, and integrated IoT and security use cases.  

The following wireless APs were tested:

• AirEngine 5573-23W — Wall-plate Wi-Fi 7 AP model included in the single-user throughput tests; delivered more than 2.3Gbps on 5GHz with 160MHz bandwidth.  
• AirEngine 5776-26 — Wi-Fi 7 AP model included in the evaluated AirEngine portfolio.  
• AirEngine 5576I-X6EH — Outdoor Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for single-user throughput and MU-MIMO performance; also used in outdoor mesh backhaul testing.  
• AirEngine 5773-23W — Wall-plate Wi-Fi 7 AP model included in the single-user throughput tests.  
• AirEngine 5776-56T — High-capacity Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for single-user performance, support for up to 1,800 users, and 30 concurrent 4K video streams.  
• AirEngine 5776-57 — Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for high single-user 6GHz throughput and support for up to 1,200 users.  
• AirEngine 5776-57T — Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for high 6GHz single-user throughput and 30 concurrent 4K video streams.  
• AirEngine 5776I-X6H — Outdoor Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for single-user throughput, MU-MIMO, and outdoor mesh backhaul performance.  
• AirEngine 5776I-X6EH — Outdoor Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for single-user throughput, MU-MIMO, mesh backhaul, and support for up to 1,200 users.  
• AirEngine 5776I-X7H — Outdoor Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for single-user throughput, MU-MIMO, and support for up to 1,200 users.  
• AirEngine 6776-X6H — Indoor Wi-Fi 7 AP model used in multiple feature tests, including 4096QAM coverage, Dynamic-Zoom Smart Antenna, user capacity, and iCSSR performance.  
• AirEngine 6776-X6ETH — Indoor Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for single-user throughput, 4096QAM coverage, MU-MIMO, and Dynamic-Zoom-related dense deployment scenarios.  
• AirEngine 6776I-X6ETH — Outdoor/industrial Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for high single-user throughput, MU-MIMO, mesh backhaul, support for up to 1,800 users, and 30 concurrent 4K video streams.  
• AirEngine 6776-58TI — Wi-Fi 7 AP model highlighted for dual-PoE redundancy and flexible IoT card-slot expansion.  
• AirEngine 8776-X7F-T — High-end Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for 4096QAM coverage at 10 meters.  
• AirEngine 8776-X7T-T — High-end Wi-Fi 7 AP model validated for 4096QAM coverage at 10 meters.