Tuning Channel Access to Enable Real-Time Applications in Wi-Fi 7

TL;DR

This paper evaluates two backward-compatible channel access methods in Wi-Fi 7 to meet real-time application QoS needs, demonstrating improved efficiency and latency control through mathematical modeling.

Contribution

It introduces and analyzes two novel channel access strategies for Wi-Fi 7 that ensure RTA QoS compliance while enhancing overall channel efficiency.

Findings

Both approaches satisfy RTA latency and packet loss requirements.

Preliminary channel access achieves up to 60% higher efficiency for non-RTA traffic.

Methods are validated through mathematical modeling.

Abstract

Real-Time Applications (RTA) are among the most important use cases for future Wi-Fi 7, defined by the IEEE 802.11be standard. This paper studies two backward-compatible channel access approaches to satisfy the strict quality of service (QoS) requirements of RTA on the transmission latency and packet loss rate that have been considered in the 802.11be Task Group. The first approach is based on limiting the transmission duration of non-RTA frames in the network. The second approach is based on preliminary channel access to ensure the timely delivery of RTA frames. With the developed mathematical model of these approaches, it is shown that both of them can satisfy the RTA QoS requirements. At the same time, the preliminary channel access provides up to 60% higher efficiency of the channel usage by the non-RTA traffic in scenarios with very strict RTA QoS requirements or with low intensity of the RTA traffic.