A Scheduler for Real-Time Service in Wi-Fi 8 Multi-AP Networks With Parameterized Spatial Reuse

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fast scheduler leveraging Wi-Fi 8's Multi-AP coordination and Parameterized Spatial Reuse to significantly reduce delays for real-time applications in dense Wi-Fi networks.

Contribution

It proposes a novel scheduler that enables frequent PSR transmissions for RTA traffic, improving delay performance in multi-AP Wi-Fi 8 networks.

Findings

Almost halves delay for RTA traffic

Maintains quality of service for other traffic

Uses Multi-AP coordination for efficient scheduling

Abstract

Real-time applications (RTAs) require low delays and impose a significant challenge to Wi-Fi. In Wi-Fi, high delays are often caused by waiting for the channel to become idle. This problem can be solved with Parameterized Spatial Reuse (PSR), which allows a station (STA) to transmit its frame with reduced power simultaneously with a triggered uplink transmission in an overlapping network. The PSR opportunity depends on the pathloss between involved STAs, so the same transmission may allow PSR for one STA but not for another one. Thus, to satisfy tight delay constraints in dense overlapping networks, access points (APs) in the same area shall often allow PSR for every STA with RTA traffic. This letter proposes a fast scheduler enabling frequent PSR transmissions for RTA traffic. The scheduler uses Multi-AP coordination, the feature of upcoming Wi-Fi 8. With simulations, we show that it almost halves the delay for RTA traffic and does not deteriorate the quality of service for other traffic compared with an airtime fairness scheduler.