WiFi allows for the connection of devices and people around the globe. It has proven to be a monumental and revolutionary tool that keeps the world connected. However, recent WiFi advancements are numerous and at times confusing. WiFi has grown significantly over the years, yet few understand the scope and scale of WiFi progression as a whole. This paper tackles that problem, providing a broad literature review on the advancements of key WiFi features to date. This paper will center on seven key areas of focus: (1) bandwidth, (2) battery life, (3) traffic collisions, (4) interference, (5) data-intensive transmissions, (6) numerous devices, and (7) peak throughput/modulation. Each section will focus on WiFi's problems, how those problems were fixed, as well as the limitations of existing solutions. Moreover, the paper explains the role of new unreleased technologies in these seven areas. This includes exploring the upcoming WiFi 8 standard based on the IEEE 802.11bn "Ultra High Reliability" (UHR) specification and how it builds upon current specifications. Compared to previous specifications, WiFi 8 marks a stronger and more significant shift toward prioritizing reliability over pure data rates. Beyond a sole literature review, this paper uses a novel analogy. A road/highway analogy will be integrated throughout the paper to facilitate understanding of networking mechanisms. This paper is approachable and is written such that someone with very little WiFi knowledge should come away with a strong understanding of WiFi. As is typical of literature review papers, technical claims will be grounded in prior work.

翻译：Wi-Fi实现了全球设备与人员的互联。它已被证明是一项保持世界互联的、具有里程碑意义的革命性工具。然而，近期的Wi-Fi技术进展繁多且有时令人困惑。尽管Wi-Fi在过去数年间已取得显著发展，但很少有人能整体把握其演进的范围与规模。本文旨在应对这一问题，对迄今关键Wi-Fi功能的进展进行了广泛的文献综述。本文将聚焦于七个关键领域：(1) 带宽，(2) 电池续航，(3) 流量冲突，(4) 干扰，(5) 数据密集型传输，(6) 海量设备连接，以及 (7) 峰值吞吐量/调制。每个部分将重点阐述Wi-Fi面临的问题、这些问题的解决方案，以及现有方案的局限性。此外，本文还阐释了尚未发布的新技术在这七个领域中的作用。这包括探讨基于IEEE 802.11bn "超高可靠性" (UHR) 规范的下一代Wi-Fi 8标准，以及它如何构建于现有规范之上。与此前的规范相比，Wi-Fi 8标志着一次更强大、更显著的转变，即从单纯追求数据速率转向优先保障可靠性。除文献综述外，本文还采用了一种新颖的类比方法。全文将贯穿使用道路/高速公路的类比，以促进对网络机制的理解。本文力求通俗易懂，即使是对Wi-Fi知识了解甚少的读者，在阅读后也能对Wi-Fi形成深入的理解。正如文献综述类论文的惯例，本文的技术主张均以已有研究为基础。