Beyond wi-fi 7: spatial reuse through multi-ap coordination

Imputato, Pasquale; Avallone, Stefano; Smith, Malcom; Núñez Cuadrado, David; Bellalta, Boris

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2023.110160

Beyond wi-fi 7: spatial reuse through multi-ap coordination

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Imputato P, Avallone S, Smith M, Nunez D, Bellalta B. Beyond wi-fi 7: spatial reuse through multi-ap coordination. Comput Netw. 2024 Feb;239:110160. DOI: 10.1016/j.comnet.2023.110160

Abstract

Wi-Fi 7, based on the IEEE 802.11be amendment, is designed to increase the maximum achievable throughput, expand the range of operating frequencies, and improve latency and jitter in worst-case scenario. In the context of the discussions to shape what Wi-Fi 8 will be, the IEEE 802.11 WG is evaluating multi-AP coordination as a strategy to further improve network performance in several aspects. MAC-driven multi-AP coordination strategies include coordinated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (c-OFDMA), coordinated Time Division Multiple Access (c-TDMA), and coordinated Spatial Reuse (c-SR). In c-OFDMA, a set of APs transmit during a Transmission Opportunity on different channels, whereas in c-TDMA, the APs take turns transmitting on the same channel during a Transmission Opportunity. Instead, in c-SR, a set of APs transmit simultaneously on the same channel and during the same Transmission Opportunity. In this paper, we focus on c-SR. We introduce a c-SR interference model and present a strategy based on the proposed model for estimating groups of APs that can transmit successfully simultaneously. We implemented the proposed approach in the multi-AP coordination framework of ns-3 that we developed to analyze c-TDMA. We then thoroughly evaluate the performance of the proposed c-SR scheme via ns-3 simulations. The proposed scheme allows increasing the system throughput of a dense deployment up to 2.3 times as well as substantially reducing the Head of Line delay.