Minimum 802.11 SNR Sensitivity

802.11ax access points that support 1024-QAM have new modulation and coding schemes (MCS) that define higher data rates. As with 256-QAM, 802.11ax APs will need very high SNR thresholds (~35 dB) to use 1024-QAM modulation. 

In the table, the individual Modulations and the signal levels and SNR (signal to noise ratio) required for them are shown.

table: 
Modulation Techniques
MCS IndexModulationCoding RateRelative constellation error (dB)
0BPSK1/2-5
1QPSK1/2-10
2QPSK3/4-13
316-QAM1/2-16
416-QAM3/4-19
564-QAM1/2-22
664-QAM3/4-25
764-QAM5/6-27
8256-QAM3/4-30
9256-QAM5/6-32
101024-QAM3/4-35
111024-QAM5/6-35
Modulation TechniquesRateMin Sesitivity @ 20 MHzMin Sesitivity @ 40 MHz (dBm)Min Sesitivity @ 80 MHz (dBm)Min Sesitivity @ 160 MHz (dBm)
BPSK1/2-82-79-76-73
QPSK1/2-79-76-73-70
QPSK3/4-77-74-71-68
16-QAM1/2-74-71-68-65
16-QAM3/4-70-67-64-61
64-QAM2/3-66-63-60-57
64-QAM3/4-65-62-59-56
64-QAM5/6-64-61-58-55
256-QAM3/4-59-65-53-50
256-QAM5/6-57-54-51-48
1024-QAM3/4-54-51-48-45
1024-QAM5/6-52-49-46-43