Dynamic 20/40/60/80 MHz Channel Access for 80 MHz 802.11ac

Abstract

This paper is to contribute a new dynamic channel access method for wireless local area networks. It allows a station accessing the 80 or 160 MHz channel to capture every idle non-primary 20 MHz channel along with the primary 20 MHz channel, whereas the number of channel configurations in which the station can transmit according to the 802.11ac standard is strictly limited. Simulation results shown in the paper prove the proposed access method to be superior to the method provided by the 802.11ac standard in terms of average network throughput. What is important for legacy reasons, the proposed method employs the conventional clear channel assessment function to determine which of the 20 MHz channels are idle and which are busy. The paper proposes a new receiver design that is able to reject the adjacent channel interference, arising as a result of the presence of the legacy 802.11a/n station signals inside the 80 or 160 MHz accessed channel.