W H I T E P A P E R

AnIntroductionto802.11ac

SigurdSchelstraete
PrincipalEngineer QuantennaCommunications,Inc.

September2011

Contents
Introduction ................................................................... 1 Overviewof802.11acFeatures ..................................... 3 ModulationEnhancements ....... 4 IncreasedNumberofStreams ....................................... 7 MACImprovements ....................................................... 8 Conclusion ...................................................................... 8 Appendix ........................................................................ 9 References.................................................................... 10

Introduction
802.11acisthenameofaproposedamendmenttotheIEEE802.11specificationforWirelessLocalArea Networks(WLANs).IEEEtaskgroupTGacwasstartedinNovember2008toconsidertechnicalproposals andtodraftatextproposalfortheamendment.Thisworkiscurrentlystillindraftstage,withfinalapproval targetedforDecember2013.Onceapproved,itwillbecomeanofficial802.11amendmentunderthename 802.11ac.Eventhoughtheworkhasnotbeenofficiallyapprovedyet,wewillrefertoitas802.11acinthis document. Themaingoalofthenew802.11acamendmentwastosignificantlyincreasethethroughputwithinthe BasicServiceSet(BSS).Theofficialtargetrates,asdefinedatthestartoftheproject,areamaximum MultiStation(MultiSTA)throughputofatleast1Gbpsandamaximumsinglelinkthroughputofatleast 500Mbps.Thesehigherratesaremotivatedbythecontinuingtrendtotransitiondevicesandapplications fromfixedlinkstowirelesslinksandbytheemergenceofnewapplicationswitheverhigherthroughput requirements. Existing802.11technologiesoperateinthe2.4GHzband(802.11b,802.11g),the5GHzband(802.11a), orboth(802.11n).802.11acoperatesstrictlyinthe5GHzband,butsupportsbackwardscompatibilitywith other802.11technologiesoperatinginthesameband(mostnotably802.11n). Toachieveitsgoals,802.11acreliesonanumberofimprovementsinboththeMACandPhysicalLayer (PHY). ThePHYimprovementsinclude: Increasedbandwidthperchannel Increasednumberofspatialstreams Higherordermodulation256QuadratureAmplitudeModulation(QAM) MultiUserMultipleInputMultipleOutput(MUMIMO)

InadditiontothesenewPHYfeatures,802.11acalsosupportsanumberofadvanceddigitalcommunication conceptsthatwerefirstintroducedin802.11n,suchasspacedivisionmultiplexing,LowDensityParity Check(LDPC)coding,shortenedguardinterval(shortGI),SpaceTimeBlockCoding(STBC),andexplicit feedbacktransmitbeamforming(TxBF). TheMediaAccessControl(MAC)layerincludesmanyoftheimprovementsthatwerefirstintroducedwith 802.11n.OnenotableenhancementisthelargermaximumsizeofaggregateMACProtocolDataUnits (MPDUs).Also,theRequesttoSend/CleartoSend(RTS/CTS)mechanismhasbeenenhancedtoallowmore efficientimplementationofdynamicbandwidthoperation. Table1summarizessomeoftheadvancedfeaturesusedin802.11n,802.11ac,orboth.Welldiscussthem inmoredetailinthenextsection.

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T A B L E 1 Featuresof802.11nand802.11ac

While802.11acpromisesbigincreasesinPHYrates,itisimportanttoseethisperformanceimprovement incontext.Specifically,onehastobeawareoftheimpactthatinterferencewillhaveontheactual throughputofwiderbandwidthsystems.Thisaspectwillbecoveredinsomelengthlaterinthispaper.

Overviewof802.11acFeatures
Introduction
802.11acsharesmanyfeatureswith802.11n.Advancedcoding(LDPC)isusedforincreasedcodinggain. STBCtechnologycanbeusedfortransmitterdiversity.Anumberofotherfeaturesprovidevariouslevels ofperformanceimprovement,suchasexplicitfeedbackTxBF,andshortGI.Thesefeaturesareessentially identicalin802.11acand802.11n.Belowwewilldiscussandevaluatefeaturesthattrulydistinguish 802.11acfrom802.11n.

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ModulationEnhancements
Likemostrecentwirelessspecification,802.11acusesOrthogonalFrequencyDivisionMultiplexing(OFDM) tomodulatebitsfortransmissionoverthewirelessmedium.Whilethemodulationapproachisidentical tothatusedin802.11n,802.11acoptionallyallowstheuseof256QAMinadditiontothemandatory QuadraturePhaseShiftKeying(QPSK),BinaryPSK(BPSK),16QAMand64QAMmodulations.256QAM increasesthenumberofbitspersubcarrierfrom6to8,resultingina33%increaseinPHYrateunderthe rightconditions.Itshouldbenotedhoweverthat256QAMcanonlybeusedinhighsignaltonoiseratio (SNR)scenarios(acrosstheusedspectrumanddesiredstreams);i.e.forveryfavorablechannelconditions. Thesupportof256QAMwillincreasethemaximumPHYratethatcanbesupportedbythesystem,butwill havenoeffectintypicalscenariosandwillnotleadtoanyreachincreasefortheservice.Also,supporting 256QAMrequirestransmitterandreceivertobedesignedsuchthattheinherentSNR(transmitandreceive ErrorVectorMagnitude,orEVM)ofthesystemisabletoaccommodatethehigherconstellation. ThiswillmaketheRFdesignofasystemthatsupports256QAMmorechallenging.Unlike802.11n,802.11ac doesnotsupporttheuseofunequalmodulation(UEQM).Thismeansthatallstreamsinamultistream transmissionhavetobemodulatedwiththesameconstellationsize.UEQM,bycontrast,enablesthesystem tomodulateweakerstreamswithlowermodulations,whichallowsformorefinegrainedoptimizationof thedataratetoaparticularchannelenvironment.Thismaybeimportantforhighernumbersofstreams, especiallyincombinationwithbeamforming.

Increasedbandwidth
Themostnotablefeatureof802.11acistheextendedbandwidthofthewirelesschannels.802.11ac mandatessupportof20,40and80MHzchannels(versus20and40MHzin802.11n).Optionally,theuse ofcontiguous160MHzchannelsornoncontiguous80+80MHzchannelsisalsoallowed.Thedoubling ofthechannelbandwidth(from40to80MHz)isaveryefficientwaytoincreaseperformanceinacost efficientway.Alternatively,an80MHzsystemcanusealowernumberofantennastoprovidethesame performanceasa40MHzsystem.However,thisapproachshouldbeweighedagainstotherspectrally efficienttechniquesthatprovideperformanceincrease.Inaddition,inmostrealisticscenariosthe performanceisnotonlyafunctionofthePHYrate,butwillalsobeaffectedbyinterferencefromother networksincloseproximity.Differentbandwidthlevelswillbeaffecteddifferentlyinaninterference scenario.Also,reducingthenumberofantennaseliminatesdiversityandreducestherobustnessofthe transmission.Theseaspectswillbediscussedfurtherbelow.

Costofincreasedbandwidthsolution
Bydoublingthebandwidth(from40to80MHz),eachspatialstreamcanroughlysupporttwicethenumber ofbitspersymbol.Assuch,an80MHzsinglestreamtransmissioncanprovidethesameperformanceasa twostream40MHztransmission.Tosupporttwostreams,bothtransmitterandreceivershouldhaveat leasttwoantennas,whilethesinglestreamtransmissioncanbesent(orreceived)withasingleantenna. Thismeansthatan80MHzsystemsdesignedwithonlyasingleRFandbasebandtransmit/receivechain requireslesshardwareforthesameperformancethana40MHzsystemdesignedwithtwoRFandbase bandtransmit/receivechains.Itistruethatthe80MHzRFandbasebanddesignwillbemoredemanding thanthe40MHzdesign,butitislikelythatsomecostadvantageremainsforthewiderbandwidthsystem. However,singleantennasystemswillnotprovidethereliabilitythatisrequiredforcertainQualityofService (QoS)scenarios.Even80MHzsystemswillneedmultiplechainstoreliablytransportvideo.Anyremaining costadvantageisexpectedtobecomemarginalovertimeassiliconcostsdecrease.

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Powerconsumptionofincreasedbandwidthsolution
WhenenhancedbandwidthisusedtodeliverthesamedataratewithfewerRFchains,thepower consumptionofthedevicewillbelowerbyvirtueofthelowernumberofRFcomponents.Thisgives anadvantagetothe80MHzsystemovera40MHzsystemwithtwostreamsfromthisperspective. However,onehastoconsiderthefactthatasingleantennawillnotsufficeforcertainservices.

Requiredantennadiversity
Increasingthebandwidthenhancestheperformanceofasinglestream.Ifthetargetistoimprovethe PHYrateorthemaximumthroughputofasystemregardlessofQoSconsiderations,thismaybeallthatis needed.Onehastorecognize,however,thattransmissionofhighqualitycontentsuchasvideohasmore requirementsthanjustincreasingthemaximumidealPHYrate.Toensurestabledeliveryofvideo,the numberofantennasshouldbehigherthanthenumberofspatialstreams.Diversityisacriticalpartofstable datadeliverywithQoS(seee.g.[1]).Therefore,even80MHzsystemswillhavetobebuiltusingmultiple antennasiftheyaregoingtobeusedinapplicationsthatrequirestableandreliabletransmissionofdata (suchasvideo).Thisnarrowsthecostandpoweradvantagebetweena(singlestream)80MHzbandwidth systemanda(twostream)40MHzsystem.

Performanceininterferenceenvironment
Theuseofthe5GHzbandhassignificantlyincreasedtheamountofbandwidthavailableforwireless transmission.However,eventhisbandisultimatelyalimitedresource,andeverincreasingcompetition forbandwidthsharewillbearealityforany802.11systemoperatinginthisband. 802.11acspecifiesthat80MHzchannelsconsistoftwoadjacent40MHzchannels,withoutanyoverlap betweenthe80MHzchannels.ThisresultsinchannelallocationsasillustratedinFigure1andFigure2 fortheU.S.andEurope,respectively.Thenumberof80MHzchannelsfortheU.S.is5,whileinEurope andJapanthenumberis4.

F I G U R E 1 USchannelallocationsfor20/40/80/160MHz

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F I G U R E 2 Europeanchannelallocationsfor20/40/80/160MHz

For20and40MHzsystems,oneoftheprimarymechanismsforinterferencemitigationisajudicious channelselectionalgorithm.Thisallowsneighboringnetworkstoessentiallyavoideachotherbyusing differentchannelswhentheyarewithineachothersrange.Channelscanbereusedbynetworksthat aresufficientlyfarremoved. Withonlyfourorfiveavailable80MHzchannels,itbecomesmuchharderforan80MHzsystemtoavoid interferencefromneighboringnetworks(whichcouldbeeither80MHznetworksor20/40MHznetworks). OverlappingBaseStationSubsystem((OBSS)problemswillbemoreprevalentfor80MHzsystems.This meansthatneighboring80MHznetworkswillhavetosharethesamechannelwithaneighboringBSS, witheachgettingaccessonlypartofthetime.Inaddition,an80MHzsystemisdisadvantagedbythefact thatallfour20MHz(ortwo40MHz)channelswithwhichitoverlapshavetobeclearbeforethe80MHz transmissionisallowedtostart.Evena20or40MHztransmissioninpartofthe80MHzchannelwill preemptthecomplete80MHzchannelfromsending.Thisreducestheprobabilitythatan80MHzsystem willgainaccesstothechannelinadenseenvironment.Itshouldbenotedthat802.11acprovidesa mechanismfor80MHztofallbacktolowerbandwidthmodes,butonlyundersomeconditions(for instance,40MHztransmissiononthesecondarychannel,only,isnotallowed).Also,thismechanismis optionalandneednotbeimplementedtobe802.11accompliant. Figure3illustratesapossibledifferenceininterferencescenariosbetweenan80MHzsystemanda40MHz system.Figure3(a)showsan80MHzsystemoccupyingfour20MHzchannels,whileoneofthe20MHz channelsisalsousedbyalegacy20MHzsystem.Inthisscenario,the80MHzsystemhasnowaytoavoid theoccupiedchannelandhastoshareaccesstothemediumwiththe20MHzsystem.Ifaccessisequally sharedbetweenthetwosystems,thecapacityofthe80MHzsystemiscutinhalf.Notethatthe80MHz systemcannotfallbackto40MHztransmissioninthiscase,sincetheoverlaphappensintheprimary40 MHzchannel.Incomparison,Figure3(b)showshowa40MHzsystemcanavoidtheoccupied20MHz channelbychannelselection.Inthisscenario,the40MHzsystemhasfullunsharedaccesstothemedium. Asinglestream40MHzsystemwouldhavethesamecapacityasthesinglestream80MHzsystemshown inscenario3(a).Ifthesame40MHzsystemweretosupporttwostreams,however,itscapacitywouldbe doublethatofthesinglestream80MHzsystemshowninscenario3(a).
F I G U R E 3 Twointerferencescenarios
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Therearemanydifferentinterferencescenarios,andtheaboveexampleonlyaimstoillustratethe importanceoffullyunderstandinginterferencedynamicsandimplicationswhenitcomestoassessing thetruecapacityofasystem.Itisalsoimportanttorealizethatoneisunlikelytoencountergreenfield scenarioswithoutlegacyorother802.11acsystems,wherenopreexistinginterferencerelatedconstraints exist.Interferencewillvirtuallyalwaysbeanissue,toonedegreeoranother. Intheappendix,weincludesimulationresultsthatcompare80MHzand40MHzperformanceinaspecific simulationscenario.Thisfurtheremphasizesthefactthatperformanceis,toalargeextent,dependenton theinterferenceenvironment.Theinterferenceissueisveryimportanttoserviceproviders,whereitis essentialthatthewirelessinfrastructurebefutureproofed. Tobecompetitiveinaninterferenceenvironment,itisimportantforan80MHzsystemtohaveafallback modetolowerbandwidthlevelsthatprovidesimilarperformance.Thismeanstheequipmenthasto supportasufficientnumberofantennastofullyandeffectivelyexploitthebenefitsofchanneldiversity.

IncreasedNumberofStreams
802.11acallowssupportforupto8spatialstreamsupfromamaximumof4streamsin802.11n. Supportformorethanonespatialstreamisoptional,however.Itisnotclearwhetherarealworld, singleuserMIMOchannelcanrealisticallysupportthatmanystreams.Theincreasednumberofstreams maybemostusefulincombinationwithMUMIMO.

MUMIMO
MUMIMOwasaddedto802.11actoaddressthemultiSTAthroughputrequirement.InMUMIMO, theAccessPoint(AP)orpossiblyanotherSTAtransmitsindependentdatastreamstoseveralSTAs atthesametime.Throughpreprocessingofthedatastreamsatthetransmitter(similartowhathappens inbeamforming),theinterferencefromstreamsthatarenotintendedforaparticularSTAiseliminated atthereceiverofeachSTA.Therefore,intheory,eachSTAreceivesitsdatafreeofinterferencefromthe transmissionsthataresimultaneouslydirectedtowardsotherSTAs.InMUMIMO,thespatialdegrees offreedomareusedtocreateindependenttransmissionstodifferentSTAs,whileinsingleuserMIMO, thesespatialdegreesoffreedomareusedtoincreasethethroughputfromAPtoSTA. ThecomplexityofMUMIMOfallsmostlyontheAP(ortransmittingSTA),wherethepreprocessinghappens. ThereceivingSTAsonlyneedthecapabilitytoreportchannelinformationtotheAPsoitcancalculatethe preprocessingmatrices.TherequiredchannelinformationfromthereceivingSTAisverysimilartowhatis requiredforexplicitfeedbackbeamforming.Assuch,thecomplexityfortheSTAisnomorethanthe complexityalreadyinvolvedinsupportingexplicitfeedbackbeamformingasareceiver. OnedrawbackofMUMIMOisthattheamountoftimethatthemediumisoccupiedisdeterminedbythe slowestlinkamongallAPSTApairs(or,moregenerally,thelinkthatrequiresthemosttimetofinalizeits transmission).NonewdatacanbesenttoanyoftheSTAsuntilalltransmissionstoSTAsintheMUgroup haveended.Ifthereistoomuchdifferenceineithertheamountofdataorthroughputgoingtovarious STAs,thismayleadtoinefficientuseofthewirelessmedium. Atthispoint,MUMIMOisawellstudiedconcept,butpracticalconsiderationswilllikelydeferimplement ationofthisfeaturetolatergenerationsof802.11acproducts.Additionalworkmaybeneededtoguarantee theefficientuseofMUMIMO.

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MACImprovements
IncreasedAggregatedMPDU(AMPDU)size
ThemaximumsizeofanAMPDUcanoptionallybeincreasedtoamaximumof1,048,575octets (comparedtoamaximumof65,535octetsin802.11n).

RTS/CTSoperationforwiderbandwidth
Becauseofthewiderbandwidthusedin802.11acandthelimitednumberof80MHzchannels,hidden nodesonthesecondarychannelsareanimportantproblemtoaddress.TheRTS/CTSmechanismhasbeen updatedtobetterdetectwhetheranyofthenonprimarychannelsareoccupiedbyadifferenttransmission. Tothisend,bothRTSandCTS(optionally)supportadynamicbandwidthmode.Inthismode,CTSmaybe sentonlyontheprimarychannelsthatareavailableincasepartofthebandwidthisoccupied.TheSTAthat senttheRTScanthanfallbacktoalowerbandwidthmode.Thishelpstomitigatetheeffectofahidden node.Notehoweverthatthefinaltransmissionbandwidthalwayshastoincludetheprimarychannel.

Other
ReducedInterFrameSpacing(RIFS)isadeprecatedfeatureofthe802.11nspecificationwhosepurpose wastoincreaseMACefficiencybyreducingthegapbetweensuccessivetransmissions.RIFScanbeapplied betweentransmissionswithinthesameburst.Thismechanismwasremovedfrom802.11ac,exceptfor whatisneededtomaintainbackwardcompatibilitywith802.11n.Itwasfeltthataggregationprovideda moreefficientwaytoincreaseMACefficiency,andthatthecomplexityofRIFSimplementationdidnot outweighitsgainsasastandalonemechanism.

Conclusion
802.11achasthepotentialtoprovidethenextgenerationinhighthroughputwirelesssystems.Tofully realizethispotential,802.11acsystemswillhavetogobeyondaminimalimplementationthatsimply exploitsthewiderbandwidthchannelsavailabletothistechnology.Anynewsystemwillbemeasured againstcurrentlyavailable802.11nsystemsthatalreadyimplementMIMOprocessingwithspacedivision multiplexing,LDPC,STBC,beamforming,multiplestreamsandavarietyofotherPHY,MACandcoexistence enhancements.Firstgeneration802.11acsystemsmustbeevaluatedinlightofthiscomparison.Asa minimum,suchsystemswouldhavetomatchthefeaturesetthatisalreadyprovidedbycurrentgeneration 802.11n.Preferably,anynextgenerationsystemwouldincludesometrulynextgenerationfeatures(such asMUMIMO)inadditiontothechannelbandwidthincreasesthatarereadilyavailableinthisnewtech nology.Thebandwidthincreaseof11aciscurrentlyaconcerninsituationswithlimitedbandwidth resources.Frequencyisascarceresourcethatneedstobeusedasefficientlyaspossible.Exploitingchannel diversitybyusingahighernumberofspatialstreamsallowsmoreefficientspectrumusethansimply doublingthebandwidthofthetransmission.Channelandantennadiversity,therefore,remainimportant requirements,evenforsystemsthatarecapableofwiderbandwidth.Itisbelievedthata4x4systemwith amaximumnumberofspatialstreamsandMUMIMOwillberequired,ataminimum,inorderfor11acto fullyrealizeitspotential.Suchasystemwouldprovidehigherbandwidthinsparselypopulatednetworks, whileprovidingQoS,goodperformanceandcoexistenceindensernetworkenvironments.

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Appendix:80MHzvs.40MHzPerformance
Therearemanypossibleinterferencescenariosthatcanbeconsideredwhenevaluatingtherelative performanceof80and40MHzsystems(orotherbandwidthscenarios).Wellconsideronemethodthat hasbeenappliedinanumberofIEEE802.11contributionstotheTGacTaskGroup[4][7]. Themethodthatfollowsevaluatestheeffectivebandwidthofasystemthatoperatesinanenvironment characterizedbyacertainnumberofbusy20MHzchannels.Theeffectivebandwidthisameasurethatis ultimatelyproportionaltothethroughput.Eachbusychannelischaracterizedbyaloadbetween0and 100%,whichrepresentsthelikelihoodthatthe20MHzchannelisoccupiedatanygiventime. ForagivennumberNbofbusychannelsoutofatotalofNtchannels,weconsiderallpossiblewaysthat theNbbusychannelscanbeallocatedwithintheavailableNtchannels.Foreachallocationofbusy channels,wefindthebestchannelallocationforan80MHzor40MHzsystem.Thebestchannelallocation forthe80MHzor40MHzsystemistheonethatprovidesthelowestprobabilitythatthe80or40MHz systemwillhavetodeferitstransmissionbecauseofinterferencefromthebusychannels. ThesimulationapproachisillustratedinFigure4.
F I G U R E 4 Illustrationoftheoptimallocationofan80MHzsysteminanenvironmentwithfivebusychannels

Figure4showsanenvironmentwithfivebusy20MHzchannels,whichareshadedinthediagramtoi dentifythem.Withinsuchanenvironment,an80MHzchannelcanbeassignedtofourdifferentlocations. Onlyoneoftheselocations(shownasunshaded)isfreeofinterferenceforthisspecificchoiceoffive busychannels.Inthislocation,the80MHzsystemhasthebestprobability(inthiscase,100%)ofgaining accesstothemedium.Figure4showsjustonepossibleallocationoffivebusychannels.Inthesimulation, theprocessisrepeatedformanydifferentallocations,andthelocationofthe80MHzsystemthatgives ittheoptimalprobabilityofgainingchannelaccessisfoundforeachofthem.Theprobabilityisaveraged overallpossibleenvironmentswiththesamenumberofbusychannels.Theeffectivebandwidthisthe nativebandwidthofthesystem(e.g.80MHz)multipliedbytheprobabilitythatthesystemhasaccess tothemedium.

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Figure5showsanexamplethatillustratestheperformanceofan80MHzanda40MHzsystem,as calculatedusingthismethodology.Thehorizontalaxisshowstheenvironment,ascharacterizedby thenumberofbusy(20MHz)channels.Theverticalaxisshowstheeffectivebandwidth(whichisa measurethatisproportionaltothethroughputofthesystem).

F I G U R E 5 Performancecomparisonof80MHzand40MHzsystem

Inanenvironmentwithnoorlowinterference,the80MHzsystemwillachieveaboutdoublethe performanceofa40MHzsystems(assumingthesamenumberofstreamsforboth).Notsurprisingly, the80MHzsystemsbeginstoexhibittheimpactofinterferencesooner(i.e.foralowernumberofbusy channels)thana40MHzsystemwould.Theperformanceofthe80MHzsystemdegradesrapidlyas thenumberofbusy20MHzchannelsincreases.FortheresultsshowninFigure5,thethroughputofthe 80MHzsystemsdropsbelowthethroughputofthe40MHzchannelwhenthenumberofbusychannels exceedsseven.Inahighinterferenceenvironment,the40MHzsystemperformssignificantlybetter thanthe80MHzsystem.

References
[1]DesigningreliableWiFiforHDdeliverythroughoutthehome,Quantennawhitepaper [2]HarmonizedEuropeanStandardETSIEN301893,BroadbandRadioAccessNetworks;5GHzhighperformanceRLAN [3]MICEquipmentOrdinanceforRegulatingRadioEquipment [4]P.Christinetal,Noncontiguous40+40MHzmodeforEurope,Japanandglobal,IEEE802.1110/127 [5]L.Cariou,J.Benko,Gainsprovidedbymultichanneltransmissions,IEEE802.1110/0130 [6]L.Cariou,P.Christin,80MHzand160MHzchannelaccessmodes,IEEE802.4410/0385 [7]L.Cariouetal,Evaluationofsaturationofthe5GHzband,IEEE802.1110/0846

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