Wi-Fi 7 and Thread: A Mesh Network Harmony

In the early 2000s, mesh networks were on the verge of being everywhere and connecting everything. Daisy-chaining many devices like beads on a string would “accommodate hundreds or thousands of nodes” and provide “low, up-front cost, easy network maintenance, robustness, and reliable service coverage,” according to mesh-networking forecasts from 2004 and 2005, respectively.

But it would take over two decades to get there. During that time, a range of mesh protocols and standards emerged, each…