Measurement-based coexistence studies of LAA & Wi-Fi deployments in Chicago

TL;DR

This study presents initial measurement data on the coexistence of LTE-Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) and Wi-Fi in Chicago, revealing ongoing challenges in dense urban environments with multiple channel aggregations.

Contribution

First empirical measurement campaign analyzing real-world LAA and Wi-Fi coexistence in Chicago, providing practical insights into their interaction.

Findings

Coexistence remains challenging in dense urban areas.

LAA and Wi-Fi often compete for the same channels.

Further research is needed to improve coexistence strategies.

Abstract

LTE-Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) networks are beginning to be deployed widely in major metropolitan areas in the US in the unlicensed 5 GHz bands, which have existing dense deployments of Wi-Fi as well. Various aspects of the coexistence scenarios such deployments give rise to have been considered ina vast body of academic and industry research. However, there is very little data and research on how these coexisting networks will behave in practice. The question of fair coexistence between Wi-Fi and LAA has moved from a theoretical question to reality. The recent roll-out of LAA deployments provides an opportunity to collect data on the operation of these networks as well as studying coexistence issues on the ground. In this paper we describe the first results of a measurement campaign conducted over many months, using custom apps as well as off-the-shelf tools, in several areas of Chicago where the major carriers have been expanding LAA deployments. The measurements reveal that coexistence between LAA and Wi-Fi in dense, urban environments where both systems aggregate multiple channels, continues to be a challenging problem that requires further research.