White paper

802.11ac In-Depth
Table of Contents

introduction
3
802.11ac technology fundamentals
4
PHY Layer Enhancements
9
MAC Layer Enhancements
19
About Aruba Networks, Inc.
35
references
36
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

Introduction 802.11n has become popular because it improves

Wi-Fi has become such an amazingly successful technology performance. The five-fold increase in bandwidth, along
because it has continuously advanced while remaining with improved reliability from multi-antenna MIMO
backwards compatible. Every few years since the 802.11b techniques, has delivered a better user experience. In fact,
amendment was ratified, the industry has released successive a 2007 Burton Group report entitled The end of Ethernet
amendments increasing Wi-Fi data rates and capabilities, but accurately predicted a future where Wi-Fi will take over
even the latest Wi-Fi systems are able to interoperate with from wired Ethernet as the primary edge connection for
1999 equipment built to the original standard. This paper corporate networks.
explains the latest advance in Wi-Fi, 802.11ac, which provides
the next step forward in performance.

The current state-of-the-art Wi-Fi is known as Wi-Fi

CERTIFIED n or 802.11n. In the four years since the Wi-Fi
Alliance introduced its initial certification, this technology has
become hugely popular. According to IHS iSuppli, 802.11n
now accounts for over two-thirds of Wi-Fi chipset shipments,
and is on track to take over completely from 802.11a/b/g in
mainstream applications before the end of 2012.

GLOBAL SHIPMENT FORECAST FOR WIRELESS WLAN CHIPSET FORECAST BY

LOCAL AREA NETWORKING WLAN CHIPSETS TECHNOLOGY STANDARD

2,500 100%

2,000
75%
1,500
50%
1,000

25%
500

0 0%
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
(millions of units)
802.11b chipset shipments (k) 802.11a chipset shipments (k)
802.11g chipset shipments (k) 802.11 combo chipset shipments (k)
802.11n chipset shipments (k)

Wi-Fi chipset shipments and penetration of 802.11n (actual & forecast)

Source: iSuppli

Figure 1

2,500 802.11n/802.11ac
802.11n (2.4 GHz)
2,000
802.11n (dual-band)
1,500 X 802.11ac (5 GHz)

1,000

500

0 X X X X X X X
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Wi-Fi chipset forecast for 802.11ac chipsets (millions)
Source: ABI research

Figure 2

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

As 802.11n has become a standard interface on PCs, tablets This white paper explains the techniques behind 802.11ac. It
and smartphones, the applications used by these devices is intended for those who share our enthusiasm for wireless,
have continued to progress. Mobile technology has to use these insights to become better engineers and users
encountered the next frontier video. Whether delivering of Wi-Fi technology.
YouTube to smartphones or moving HDTV signals around the
office or home, video has become a significant driver of 802.11ac technology fundamentals
network traffic, chiefly because it requires one or two orders The current generation of 802.11ac Wave 1 products, that
of magnitude more bandwidth than other IP services. Now have been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance since mid 2013,
the 100 Mbps or 200 Mbps rates enabled by 802.11n, deliver a three-fold increase in performance. This is driven by
breakthrough figures that put it on a par with 10/100 Mbps a doubling of channel bandwidth to 80 MHz, addition of a
Ethernet just a few years ago seem barely adequate for some more efficient 256-QAM encoding technique and explicit
emerging video applications. transmit beamforming to improve signal quality.

Luckily the IEEE 802.11 working group and the Wi-Fi Alliance, The 802.11ac project title succinctly reads Enhancements for
the industry bodies standardizing Wi-Fi are already working Very High Throughput for operation in bands below 6 GHz.1
on 802.11ac, the successor standard to 802.11n and its There are more details in the scope paragraph:
corresponding interoperability certification program. The
This amendment defines standardized modifications to both
IEEE 802.11ac amendment is expected to achieve final IEEE
the 802.11 physical layers (PHY) and the 802.11 Medium
ratification at the end of 2013. Concurrent work in the WFA
Access Control Layer (MAC) that enable modes of operation
will result in a certification program which is expected to
capable of supporting:
launch early in 2013, based on a draft of the IEEE 802.11ac
document, as was done with 802.11n. A maximum multi-station (STA) throughput (measured at
the MAC data service access point), of at least 1 Gbps and
802.11ac is a set of physical layer enhancements for higher
a maximum single link throughput (measured at the MAC
throughput in the 5-GHz band, chiefly with video in mind, and
data service access point), of at least 500 Mbps.
to achieve this it extends the techniques pioneered in
Below 6-GHz carrier frequency operation excluding
802.11n: More antennas, wider channels and more spatial
2.4-GHz operation while ensuring backward compatibility
streams, along with a number of new features to boost
and coexistence with legacy IEEE 802.11 devices in the
throughput and reliability.
5-GHz unlicensed band.
802.11ac can be considered the next step after 802.11n, along Its clear that the goal is to continue the thrust of 802.11n to
the path running from 11b, to 11a/g, then 11n, and now 802.11ac. extend rates and throughput. To simplify the task, 802.11ac is
And it is likely to be introduced along with related amendments restricted to below 6 GHz, and in practice, to 5-6 GHz, as it
to 802.11 including video-related improvements in 802.11aa applies only to the 5-GHz bands.
(video transport streams) and 802.11ad (very high throughput,
The important new technologies in 802.11ac should be
short-range at 60 GHz). New products that incorporate 802.11ac
considered as extensions of the physical layer wireless
will become available near the end of 2012.
techniques pioneered in 802.11n, notably using multiple
In the same way that chip vendors have now switched antennas at the transmitter and receiver to exploit multiple
production almost completely to 802.11n, even for low-cost, input/multiple output (MIMO) for parallel delivery of multiple
low-power applications such as smartphones, 802.11ac will spatial streams.
become the de-facto standard for 5-GHz equipment in a few
Most of the features extend the limits of 802.11n, adding
years. The chart on page 3 from ABI shows one set of forecasts.
more antennas, more spatial streams, wider RF channels and
higher-level coding. New mechanisms are also defined,
notably multi-user MIMO where an access point (AP)
transmits simultaneously to multiple clients.

1
Note: The IEEE 802.11 standard refers to the PHY rates of 802.11n as high throughput (HT) and those of 802.11ac as very high throughput (VHT) while those prior
to 802.11n are non-HT. We will avoid using these terms in this paper: there are plenty of acronyms here already, but readers who wish to read the IEEE documents
(available at http://standards.ieee.org/about/get/) should be aware of HT and VHT.

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

802.11ac usage models

Category Usage Model Category Usage Model

1. Wireless Display 1a. Desktop storage & display 3. Rapid Upload/Download 3a. Rapid sync-n-go file transfer

1b. Projection on TV or projector 3b. Picture by picture viewing

in conference room

1c. In-room gaming 3c. Airplane docking

1d. Streaming from camcorder 3d. Movie content download to car

to display

1e. Broadcast TV field pick up 3e. Police/surveillance car upload

2. Distribution 2a. Lightly compressed video 4. Backhaul 4a. Multi-media mesh backhaul
of HDTV streaming around the home

2b. Compressed video streaming 4b. Point-to-point backhaul

around the home

2c. Intra-Large vehicle 5. Outdoor campus/auditorium 5a. Video demos/telepresence in auditorium

(e.g. airplane) applications

2d. Wireless networking for 5b. Public safety mesh

small office

2e. Remote medical assistance 6. Manufacturing floor 6a. Manufacturing floor automation

Source: IEEE

In its preparation for developing the actual standard, the IEEE both the amount of video content consumed, and also the
identified a set of use models or scenarios in which 802.11ac demand for increased video fidelity, as consumers
will enable us to use Wi-Fi to support new functionality, or increasingly prefer bandwidth-hungry HDTV over standard
improve the performance of existing tasks. definition TV.

This wide-ranging list shows the recurring theme of current The wireless display usage models are particularly
Wi-Fi developments and the pervasive influence of video. interesting, as they show Wi-Fi attacking the cross-room
Streaming video, even when compressed, consumes orders cable replacement market that for a while was the objective
of magnitude more bandwidth than email, web browsing, or of ultra-wide band (UWB) and that will overlap with the
voice communication. 802.11ad work at 60 GHz. Its intent is to replace the cables
between set-top boxes, game consoles, PCs and TV monitors
It has already transformed the cellular industry, where the
where the requirement is for very high data rates but
introduction of smartphones and now tablets has triggered
relatively short distances. While some 802.11n vendors have
enormous increases in bandwidth demand, while
already made initial forays into this market, most consumer
consumption of streaming video-over-IP in the home for TV
electronics companies see 802.11ac and 802.11ad as the first
and movies is driving significant increases in Internet traffic.
viable wireless technologies for video, especially
The engineers involved in 802.11 and Wi-Fi are extending uncompressed video.
their standards and protocols in response to this revolution,
anticipating that higher available rates will continue to drive

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

Video bandwidth and error rate requirements

Packet error
Video type Description Rate Jitter Delay
rate
Uncompressed 720p 1.3 Gbps 108 5 msec 5 msec
(RGB) 1280x720 pixels; 24 bits/pixel, 60 frame/sec

1080i 1.5 Gbps 108 5 msec 5 msec

(RGB) 1920x1080/2 pixels; 24 bits/pixel, 60 frame/sec

1080p 1.5 Gbps 108 5 msec 5 msec

(YCrCb) 1920x720 pixels; 24 bits/pixel, 60 frame/sec

1080p 3.0 Gbps 108 5 msec 5 msec

(RGB) 1920x720 pixels; 24 bits/pixel, 60 frame/sec

Lightly Motion JPEG2000 150 Mbps 107 10 msec 10 msec

compressed
H.264 70 200 Mbps 107 20 msec 20 msec
108

Compressed Blu-ray 50 Mbps 107 20 msec 20 msec

HD MPEG2 20 Mbps 3x107 20 msec 20 msec

Source: IEEE

The other scenarios are mainly for large file transfer, where it The trend towards more antennas, even for small devices
is desirable to complete operations more quickly, and such as tablets and smartphones, and the emergence of
backhaul applications where more reliable, higher-bandwidth large APs with more than four antennas will make MIMO
wireless links become increasingly attractive. All the models and beamforming more prevalent than ever, improving
demand high rates of data transfer over sustained periods. the reliability of Wi-Fi connections. This will make it easier
to provide coverage around physical obstructions such
While consumer and residential applications were the initial
as lift shafts and stair wells. While these features will also
drivers for the need for development of 802.11ac, it has
offer some range improvement, the improvement in
become critical to address the needs of the #GenMobile
reliability of the connection will be more significant.
workforce in todays enterprise networks. New possibilities
The new, wireless display use models will improve
will be realized from 802.11ac:
convenience, whether allowing fast connection to a
The amount of bandwidth in a cell will increase, allowing a projector for slide presentations, driving a TV screen from
single AP to serve the same number of clients with greater a PC or enabling easy installation of digital signage.
per-client throughput. Even though 802.11n throughput
Content and features
routinely exceeds 100 Mbps per client, some corporate
use-cases such as server connections require higher This section gives a brief overview of the new features

bandwidth, and 802.11ac will further squeeze the number in 802.11ac. Each feature is explained in more depth in

of corner-cases where IT goes wired-because-we-must later sections.

rather than wireless-where-we-can.

Alternatively, a single AP will be capable of serving
more clients with the same throughput. This is typically
important in dense-client scenarios such as lecture
theaters and conference centers, where huge numbers
of clients must be served. Consider a company event
where employees can follow along with live video, audio
and slide feeds whether they are seated in the back of the
auditorium or at their desks.

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

Wider RF channel bandwidths Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO)

This is so simple that it may be disappointing to a technology Thus far, all 802.11 communications has been point-to-point
enthusiast. But it is clear that doubling the RF channel (one-to-one) or broadcast (one-to-all). With 802.11ac, a new
bandwidth allows twice the data throughput, representing feature allows an AP to transmit different streams to several
a significant improvement. The 40-MHz channel of 802.11n targeted clients simultaneously. This is a good way to make
is extended to 80- and 160-MHz in 802.11ac. There are use of the expected surplus of antennas at APs over clients,
practical obstacles to using these wider channels, but now and it requires beamforming techniques to steer signal
that they are defined, equipment will be developed to use maxima over the desired clients while minimizing the
them. The details: interference caused at other clients.

80-MHz and 160-MHz channel bandwidths are defined For example, if an AP wishes to use MU-MIMO for clients A
80 MHz mandatory, 160 MHz optional and B simultaneously, it will beamform the transmission for A
80-MHz channels are two adjacent 40-MHz channels but so it presents a maximum at A but a minimum at B, and vice
with tones (subchannels) in the middle filled in. versa for the transmission for B. There are some new terms
160-MHz channels are defined as two 80-MHz channels. associated with this:
The two 80-MHz channels may be contiguous
Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA): A term for streams
or non-contiguous.
not separated by frequency or time, but instead resolved
Enterprises will be able to utilize the 80 MHz channels but the in space like 802.11n-style MIMO.
future optional 160 MHz channel support will only be usable Downlink MU-MIMO where the AP transmits
in home environments since there are only 1 (or 2 if DFS is simultaneously to multiple receiving devices is an
enabled) 160 MHz channels available for designing an optional mode.
enterprise deployment while the use of 80 MHz channels can
MU-MIMO doesnt increase the performance that users will
leverage up to 5 channels in the deployment plan.
see but allows the network to increase its utilization by
More spatial streams transmitting to multiple clients simultaneously in the
downstream direction from the AP. MU-MIMO is expected to
802.11n defines up to four spatial streams, although there are
become available as part of the future 802.11ac Wave 2
to date few chips and APs using more than three streams.
products but adoption is likely to be delayed due to the need
802.11ac retains support of three spatial streams in todays
for new clients with Wave 2 radios in order to see the
products but allows for future support of up to eight spatial
benefits of the MU-MIMO or four spatial streams which will
streams. There will be a number of consequences. A
take time for a large number of clients to become available
divergence between chips and equipment for APs (with four+
and deployed.
antennas) and clients (typically with < four antennas) will
occur due to cost, physical size and power constraints. Modulation and coding
APs will grow by adding antennas, while clients will become As semiconductor radios become ever-more accurate, and
more capable by implementing multiple spatial streams and digital processing ever-more powerful, 802.11ac continues to
beamforming features behind a smaller number of antennas. exploit the limits of modulation and coding techniques, this
This divergence will create opportunities for multi-user time with the leap from 64-quadrature amplitude modulation
MIMO, where a high-capacity AP can communicate with (QAM) to 256-QAM.
multiple, lower-throughput clients simultaneously. Todays 256-QAM, rate 3/4 and 5/6 are added as optional modes.
802.11ac products support three spatial streams and it is For the basic case of one spatial stream in a 20 MHz
expected that the next wave will extend this to four streams. channel, this extends the previous highest rate of 802.11n
While it is not expected that we will see clients implementing from 65 Mbps (long guard interval) to 78 Mbps and 86.7
four spatial streams (with four antennas), this is most likely to Mbps respectively, a 20% and 33% improvement. (Note
benefit when combined with future MU-MIMO support. that 802.11ac does not offer every rate option for every
MIMO combination).

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

Other elements/features Bandwidth and throughput figures

Below is a summary of additional elements and features. Whenever theres a new 802.11 standard, most of IT

Single sounding and feedback method for beamforming organizations want to know How fast? With 802.11n the

(vs. multiple in 11n). This should enable inter-vendor answer becomes quite complicated, because there are many

beamforming to work with 802.11ac devices; the diversity options and some types of devices, such as smartphone, will

of optional feedback formats in 802.11n resulted in be restricted to a fraction of the theoretical full speed

differing implementations and stifled adoption. because of practical limits of space, cost and power

MAC modifications (mostly to adapt to above changes) consumption. The tables below offer some useful figures.

Coexistence mechanisms for 20-, 40-, 80- and 160-MHz The basic set of rates is now known as MCS 0-9. From MCS
channels, 11ac and 11a/n devices. Extensions of 802.11n 0-7, this is equivalent to 802.11n rates the first two columns
techniques to ensure that an 802.11ac device is a good of the table above start at 6.5 Mbps for long guard interval
neighbor to older 802.11a/n equipment. and 7.2 Mbps for short guard interval, and up to 65 Mbps and
Non-HT duplicate mode duplicates a 20-MHz non-HT 72.2 Mbps the rates are identical to 802.11n. The MCS 8 and
(non-802.11n) transmission in four adjacent 20-MHz MCS 9 rates are new and enabled by advances in chip
channels or two sets of four adjacent 20-MHz channels. technology. MCS 9 is not applicable to all channel width/spatial
Sometimes termed quadruplicate and octuplicate mode. stream combinations.

802.11ac Theoretical Link Rates

Channel bandwidth Transmit Receive antennas Modulation and coding Typical client scenario Throughput
40 MHz 1x1 256-QAM 5/6, Smartphone 200 Mbps
short guard interval
40 MHz 3x3 256-QAM 5/6, Laptop 600 Mbps
short guard interval
80 MHz 1x1 256-QAM 5/6, Smartphone, Tablet 433 Mbps
short guard interval
80 MHz 2x2 256-QAM 5/6, Laptop, Tablet 867 Mbps
short guard interval
80 MHz 3x3 256-QAM 5/6, Laptop 1.3 Gbps
short guard interval

Data rates for various 802.11ac configurations

MCS Lowest rates Mbps Channel width Spatial streams Highest rates Mbps
(20 MHz channel, 1x SS) (160 MHz channel, 8x SS)
Long GI Short GI Long GI Short GI
0 6.5 7.2 468.0 520.0
x2 for 2 SS
1 13.0 14.4 939.0 1040.0
2 19.5 21.7 x3 for 3 SS 1404.0 1560.0
3 26.0 28.9 x2.1 for 40 MHz x4 for 4 SS 1872.0 2080.0
4 39.0 43.3 2808.0 3120.0
x4.5 for 80 MHz x5 for 5 SS
5 52.0 57.8 3744.0 4160.0
6 58.5 65.0 x9.0 for 160 MHz x6 for 6 SS 4212.0 4680.0
7 65.0 72.2 x7 for 7 SS 4680.0 5200.0
8 78.0 86.7 5616.0 6240.0
x8 for 8 SS
9 (86.7) (96.3) 6240.0 6933.3

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

The table shows how simple multiplication can generate all PHY Layer Enhancements
other rates, up to nearly 7 Gbps. But bear in mind that the
PHY enhancements, beamforming and more
conditions required for the highest rates 160-MHz
The IEEE 802.11ac amendment is defined for frequencies
channels, eight spatial streams are not likely to be
below 6 GHz. In practice this means it is restricted to
implemented in any chipsets due to design complexity,
5 GHz, as the 2.4-GHz band is not wide enough for useful
power requirements and limited frequency available for use.
operation: indeed, 2.4 GHz is specifically excluded from the
Now is the time to move ahead with 802.11ac Wave 1 802.11ac amendments scope, while backwards-compatibility
products that deliver 3X the performance of the prior with older 802.11 (802.11a and n) devices at 5 GHz is required.
802.11n generation. Future 802.11ac Wave 2 products are
Meanwhile the IEEE is also targeting the 60-GHz band
also expected in a few years but will provide a marginal
(57-63 GHz) with the 802.11ad amendment.
performance increase so if your network is experiencing
performance bottlenecks or an overload in client density Summary of PHY enhancements
then now is the time to look towards deploying 802.11ac. This table is from the IEEE 802.11ac draft rather than the
You can learn more about deploying 802.11ac at: Wi-Fi Alliance. Vendors will follow the latters guidance
http://www.arubanetworks.com/resources/ on mandatory and optional features, but the table above
discover-802-11ac/ represents a good preview of the Wi-Fi Alliances
probable classification.

802.11ac mandatory and optional features

Feature Mandatory Optional

Channel width 20, 40, 80 MHz 80+80, 160 MHz

Modulation & coding MCS 0 7 (BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 1/2, 2/3, MCS 8, 9 (256-QAM, 3/4, 5/6)
3/4,56)

Spatial streams 1 28

Guard interval Long (800 nsec) Short (400 nsec)

Beamforming feedback Respond to beamforming sounding

Space-time block coding Transmit and receive STBC

(STBC)

Parity check Convolutional Transmit and receive low-density parity check (LDPC)

Multi-user MIMO Up to 4 spatial streams per client, with same MCS

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Channel width However, since the spectrum allocated for Wi-Fi is limited, it
It is a fundamental rule of wireless communication that more has been necessary to allow for channels to be split across
spectrum enables higher throughput, and it is no surprise non-contiguous spectrum.
that the 802.11ac task group has chosen to expand the
The diagram below shows how the available 5-GHz bands are
channel width from 40 MHz in 802.11n to 80 and 160 MHz.
used for various channel widths.
This allows a pro-rata increase in effective data rates.

CHANNELS DEFINED FOR 5 GHZ BANDS (U.S. REGULATIONS), SHOWING 20, 40, 80 AND 160 MHZ CHANNELS
(channel 14 is now allowed in the U.S. for one additional 20 MHz, one 40 MHz and one 80 MHz channel)

US U-NII 1 and U-NII 2 bands

U-NII 1: 5150-5250 MHz (indoors only)
Band Band U-NII 2: 5250-5350 MHz
Edge Edge 8x 20 MHz channels
5150 5350 4x 40 MHz channels
2x 80 MHz channels
Channel 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 1x 160 MHz channel
U-NII II requires DFS
Frequency (MHz) 5180 5200 5220 5240 5260 5280 5300 5320
(& TPC if over 500 mW/27 dBm EIRP)

US intermediate band (U-NII 2 extended)

5450-5725 MHz
Band Band 12x 20 MHz channels
Edge Edge 6x 40 MHz channels
5470 5725 3x 80 MHz channels
1x 160 MHz channel
Channel 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 144 Requires DFS (& TPC if over 500 mW/27 dBm EIRP)
5600-5650 MHz is used by weather radars and is
Frequency (MHz) 5500 5520 5540 5560 5580 5600 5620 5640 5660 5680 5700 5720
temporarily not available in the U.S.

Band
Edge Band
Band US U-NII 3/ISM band
(U-NII) Edge
Edge 5725-5825 MHz
5825 (ISM)
5725 5850 5x 20 MHz channels
2x 40 MHz channels
Channel 149 153 157 161 165 1x 80 MHz channel
Slightly dierent rules apply for channel 165 in
Frequency (MHz) 5745 5765 5785 5805 5825 ISM spectrum

Figure 3

In the United States, Wi-Fi uses three blocks of spectrum The band from Channel 100 (center frequency 5,500 MHz) to
between 5 and 6 GHz. The U-NII 1 band is restricted to Channel 144 (5,720 MHz), known as U-NII 2 extended or
indoor operations, the U-NII 2 and U-NII 2 extended bands U-NII-2 Worldwide, is a little wider, and since Channel 144 is
are for indoor and outdoor operations, and the U-NII now allowed for 802.11ac, it can support three 80-MHz
3/ISM band is intended for outdoor bridge products and may channels or one continuous 160-MHz channel.
be used for indoor WLANs as well.
The U-NII 3 band, from Channel 149 (center frequency 5,745
All channelization is based on the 20-MHz channels used in MHz) to Channel 165 (5,825 MHz) allows one 80-MHz channel
earlier 802.11 standards, and the same channel numbering but no contiguous 160-MHz channel. This band is not widely
scheme is used. Since channel numbers are defined every 5 available outside the U.S.
MHz, an increment of four for the channel number indicates
Because it is difficult to find 160 MHz of contiguous spectrum,
adjacent 20 MHz channels.
802.11ac allows two non-contiguous 80-MHz channels to be
The band from Channel 36 (center frequency 5,180 MHz) to used together as a 160-MHz channel. For example, channels
Channel 48 (5,240 MHz) is known as U-NII 1, while channels 36-48 and 116-128 comprise a viable 160-MHz channel,
52 (5,260 MHz) to 64 (5,320 MHz) comprise U-NII 2. Both are sometimes referred to as 80+80 MHz. But each of the
available for Wi-Fi, and they can be used for two 80-MHz underlying 80-MHz channels must be contiguous.
channels or a single 160-MHz channel. Since the U-NII 1 and
2 bands have different FCC rules for antennas and transmit
power, the more restrictive rule would apply to a 160-MHz
channel spanning both bands.

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

When considering channels in the 5-GHz band, there are two requirements was 802.11h, including dynamic frequency
practical restrictions. A large part of the band is covered by selection (DFS) and transmit power control (TPC). The latter is
regulatory requirements for radar avoidance, to prevent not normally required at the power levels used by Wi-Fi, but
interference with prior users of the band, primarily weather equipment using channels from 5,250 to 5,725 MHz must be
and military radars. The industry response to these certified for DFS.

5 GHz band rules and restrictions (F.C.C., U.S.)

Max Max Tx EIRP Higher Power

FCC Channel Centre Channel DFS & TPC Radar
Conducted (includes an- Limits for Notes
Band Frequency (MHz) (20 MHz) Required Moratorium
Tx Power tenna gain) pt-pt Links

UNII 1 5150 5250 36 48 17 dBm 23 dBm Indoor only,

captive antennas

UNII 2 5250 5350 52 64 24 dBm 30 dBm Yes TPC only required

if EIRP > 500 mW

UNII 2 5470 5580 100 116 24 dBm 30 dBm Yes Yes TPC only required
extended if EIRP > 500 mW

5600 5640 120 128 24 dBm 30 dBml Yes Yes Yes TPC only required
if EIRP > 500 mW
No operation in
5600 5650 until
a new radar
avoidance mecha-
nism is developed

5660 5720 132 144 24 dBm 30 dBm Yes Yes TCP only required
if EIRP > 500 mW
Channel 144 added
for 802.11ac

UNII 3 5745 5805 149 161 30 dBm 36 dBm Yes

ISM 5825 165 30 dBm ISM (DTC) rules

Note FCC rules are complicated, this table is a summary

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

A WLAN that needs to support the minority of non-DFS In terms of usable bandwidth, the increase in channel width
devices will not be able to use these channels. Over time, the delivers slightly more than pro-rata because the ratios of
number of non-DFS devices will decline and this will become pilot and DC tones to subcarriers decrease. The diagram
a less significant restriction: The Wi-Fi Alliance has some shows that moving from 20 to 40 and 80 MHz increases
work under way with the goal of decreasing the number of usable subcarriers by 108/52 (x2.07) and 234/52 (x4.50)
non-DFS 5-GHz devices. respectively over the 20-MHz 802.11n standard. The 160-MHz
channel is always treated as two 80-MHz channels for
After some incidents where non-compliant outdoor
subcarrier assignment, whether contiguous or not.
point-to-point Wi-Fi links were shown to interfere with
airport weather radars, the FCC and other national regulators The Wi-Fi Alliance will certify devices to a selected subset
tightened the rules and placed a temporary moratorium on of 802.11ac criteria, and we dont yet know the details of
the band from 5,600 to 5,650 MHz. This is not currently that subset but the current IEEE amendment states that
available, even to DFS equipment. 80-MHz channel capability is required, while 160-MHz
channels are optional.

OFDM SUBCARRIERS USED IN 802.11A, 802.11N AND 802.11AC

Figure 4

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Review of MIMO techniques multiple antennas it does not work where either station has
Since 802.11ac realizes most of its gains by extending only a single antenna chain. Each antenna is connected to its
techniques that were pioneered in 802.11n, it is appropriate own RF chain for transmit and receive. The baseband
to briefly cover these techniques. processing on the transmit side can synthesize different
signals to send to each antenna, while at the receiver the
The breakthrough technology of 802.11n, achieving its most
signals from different antennas can be decoded individually.
dramatic improvements in data rate, was the use of MIMO
Although practical systems will transmit in both direction,
(multiple input/multiple output) spatial division multiplexing.
this explanation is simplified by showing only one direction
SDM requires MIMO, specifically the transmitting and
of transmission.
receiving stations must each have multiple RF chains with

MIMO AND DRIVEN ANTENNAS, 802.11N AND 802.11AC

A 1
B 2

MAC MAC
etc Tx Rx etc
Signal Processing Signal Processing
Tx Rx

Figure 5

MIMO WITH LINE-OF-SIGHT AND MULTIPATH, 802.11N AND 802.11AC

A 1

B 2

Access Point Client

A 1

B 2

Access Point Client

Figure 6

Under normal, line of sight conditions, the receiving antennas absence of multipath, only one stream can be supported,
all hear the same signal from the transmitter. Even if the and the upper bound on performance is a clear-channel
receiver uses sophisticated techniques to separate the single-stream.
signals heard at antennas 1 and 2, it is left with the same
However, if there is sufficient RF distortion and especially
data. If the transmitter attempts to send different signals to
multipath in the path, receiving antennas will see different
antennas A and B, those signals will arrive simultaneously at
signals from each transmit antenna. The transmit antenna
the receiver, and will effectively interfere with each other.
radiates a signal over a broad arc, scattering and reflecting
There is no way under these conditions to better the off various objects in the surrounding area.
performance of a non-MIMO system: one might as well use
only one antenna at each station. If noise or interference
affects the signals unevenly, MRC or STBC techniques can
restore it to a clear-channel line-of-sight condition, but in the
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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

Each reflection entails a loss of signal power and a phase Meanwhile, if it finds that the transmitters antenna A gives a
shift, and the longer the reflected path, the more delay is good signal at antenna 2, it can decode that signal. If the
introduced relative to a line-of-sight signal. In the past, transmitter understands this, it can send different data
multipath was the enemy of radio systems, as the receiver streams on the B-1 and A-2 paths simultaneously, knowing
saw a dominant signal (usually line of sight), and all the each will be received with little interference from the other,
multipath signals tend to interfere with this dominant signal, and hence double the systems throughput. If MIMO is a
effectively acting as noise or interference and reducing the difficult concept: multipath (reflected RF between transmitter
overall throughput of the system. and receiver) is normally the enemy of performance, but with
MIMO it can be used constructively. Line of sight normally
To understand how MIMO works, first consider the signal
gives the best performance, but with MIMO it provides just
each receive antenna sees in a multipath environment. In the
baseline data rates.
diagram above, antenna 1 receives signals from the
transmitters antenna A (two paths) and antenna B. If the The diagrams below show the different techniques that can
signal from antenna B is the highest-power, the receiver can be used with MIMO in an 802.11n and 802.11ac system, when
choose to decode that signal. the client has a multiple antennas or a single antenna. In the
following section we will briefly explain each technique.

TRANSMIT AND RECEIVE TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE FOR A MULTI-CHAIN, MULTI-SS CLIENT

x x x1, x2

x 400 nsec Ax + 1 y1, y2

1x SS 1x SS 1x SS 1x SS 2x SS 2x SS
x 200 nsec Bx + 2 -x2*, x2*

x 600 nsec Cx + 3 -y2*, y2*

Cyclic Shift Diversity (CSD, CDD) Transmit Beamforming (TxBF) Space Time Block Coding (STBC)
Transmit diversity by blindly transmitting from Transmitter receives channel state information Transmitter codes a pair of symbols in successive
each antenna with a xed phase shift. Receiver from receiver (compressed V feedback matrix) timeslots form dierent antennas. Only works with
picks best signal. Can be combined with MRC, and computes parameters to drive local signal even numbers of anntennas, two per SS. All-or-nothing,
(also termed Cyclic Delay Diversity) maximum at receiver. The transmitter can all SS must use STBC if any use it. Here combined
form on several antennas if silicon allows. with SDM. STBC halves the eective data rate.

Combining Techniques
Some combinations are disallowed by the
2x SS 1x or 1x or
2x SS equal modulation restriction, others by silicon 2x SS 2x SS
implementation. Equal modulation requires all
driven antennas to use the same MCS.
Cx + 3

Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC)

Transmitter sends one spatial stream per antenna, Receive-only technique to combine multiple
chosen for the best performance. Feedback from copies of the same signal at RF for the best SNR.
the receiver is not required; channel stateis inferred Can be combined with CSD, SDM or SDBC.
by assuming reciprocity. Can be combined with STBC.

Figure 7

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TRANSMIT AND RECEIVE TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE FOR A SINGLE-CHAIN CLIENT

x x x1, x2

x 400 nsec Ax + 1

1x SS 1x SS 1x SS 1x SS 1x SS 1x SS
x 200 nsec Bx + 2 -x2*, x2*

x 600 nsec Cx + 3

Cyclic Shift Diversity (CSD, CDD) Transmit Beamforming (TxBF) Space Time Block Coding (STBC)
Transmit diversity by blindly transmitting Transmitter receives channel state information Transmitter codes a pair of symbols in successive
from each antenna with a xed phase shift. from receiver (compressed V feedback matrix) timeslots form dierent antennas. Only works
Receiver picks best signal. and computes parameters to drive local signal with even numbers of anntennas, two per SS.
maximum at receiver. All-or-nothing, all SS must use STBC if any use it.

1x SS
Ax + 1

2x SS 1x SS 1x SS
y

1x SS
By + 2

Downlink Multi-User MIMO (DL-MU-MIMO, SDMA) Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC)

Beamforming two streams to multiple recipients Receive-only technique to combine multiple
simultaneously. Requires beamforming feedback copies of the same signal at RF for the best SNR.
frames from each client.

Figure 8

Cyclic shift diversity (CSD) If the correct weightings of amplitude and phase are chosen,
Sometimes called cyclic delay diversity (CDD), CSD is applied the signal strength at the receive antennas is maximized in a
at the transmitter, when the same spatial stream is used to local peak, which maximizes SNR and hence the sustainable
drive multiple antennas. It is necessary because closely- link rate. TxBF can be thought of as directing a beam on a
spaced antennas act as beamforming arrays without wide particular receive antenna, but there is no flashlight-like
phase spacing, and it is possible to inadvertently create signal focused beam for 802.11n or 802.11ac devices, as one might
maxima and minima over receive antennas due to expect from a high-gain directional antenna: the broader
interference patterns. pattern is likely to be a patchwork rather than a beam.

This is avoided by giving each transmit antennas signal a Spatial division multiplexing (space division multiple access)
large phase shift relative to the others. CSD also avoids SDM was first introduced with 802.11n, and the term SDMA is
inadvertent power peaks and keeps the transmitted power used now that we have multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) in
envelope even. It is a form of transmit diversity for a 802.11ac. SDM exploits multipath, where more than one
single-antenna receiver, the chance of being in a local null for independent RF path exists between a pair of devices. In its
all transmit antennas simultaneously is much less than with a simplest form, the transmitter divides the data stream into
single transmit antenna so the probability of signal drop- two spatial streams and directs each spatial stream to a
outs is reduced. different antenna.

Transmit beamforming Experience with 802.11n has shown that SDM-friendly

While CSD is blind, unresponsive to actual channel or client multipath is present surprisingly often in indoor WLANs.
conditions, TxBF in 802.11ac requires explicit feedback While transmit pre-weighting can improve SDM, current
from the beamformee on the current channel state, 802.11 chips use implicit feedback and match spatial streams
returned to the beamformer and used to weight the signals to antennas with a simple algorithm, rather than taking
to each antenna. explicit feedback from the receiver into account.

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Space-time block coding Beamforming and channel state information

STBC is a technique where a pair of transmit antennas is Sounding frames were introduced in 802.11n for use with
used to transmit a known sequence of variants of the original MIMO and beamforming. The concept is quite simple: A
OFDM symbol. If the receiver knows the sequence, it can use transmitter sends a known pattern of RF symbols from each
probabilistic methods to correct decoding errors, improving antenna, allowing the receiver to construct the matrix for
effective SNR for a given channel. STBC can be used where how each of receive antenna hears each transmit antenna.
the transmitting device has more antennas than the receiver.
This information is then sent back to the transmitter,
Although it is a powerful technique on paper, STBC is only
allowing it to invert the matrix and use the optimum
just appearing in the newer 802.11n chipsets.
amplitude-phase settings for best reception. With a single-
Maximal ratio combining antenna receiver, this results in a local maximum for SNR, for

Where multiple receive antennas see the same spatial effective beamforming.

stream, their signals can be intelligently combined to improve Sounding frames are important for several MIMO techniques,
the effective SNR. This is MRC, and it is employed where the as they enable channel state information (CSI) at the
number of receive antennas is greater than the number of transmitter. CSI (or CSI-T) is a very important concept in
spatial streams. MRC requires no coordination between MIMO, and it is worth a few lines of explanation.
transmitter and receiver, it is an internal technique used by
The most important MIMO technique of 802.11n is spatial
the receiver. Most current 802.11n chips use MRC.
division multiplexing (SDM), a technique where the receiver
More spatial streams needs to know how its receive antennas hear the various
Where 802.11n specified up to four spatial streams for MIMO, transmit signals from the transmitter.
802.11ac extends this to eight streams. The technique is For example, if the receiver knows that it hears the
unchanged, but the matrices for calculations become larger, transmitters antenna A signal at 100% power on its
as do the access points there can be no more spatial antenna 1, and at 20% power on its antenna 2, it can subtract
streams than the number of transmitting or receiving the 20% signal at antenna 2 and recover other signals with
antennas (whichever is smaller), so full 8SS performance will that antenna.
only be possible where both devices have eight antennas.
This is relatively easy because each frame starts with a
Without innovative antenna designs, this probably precludes preamble that isolates transmit signals from each antenna in
handheld devices, but access points, set top boxes and the turn. By analyzing the reception of the long training fields
like will certainly be able to use multiple streams. (LTFs) in the preamble of each frame, the receiver builds a
As with wider channels, adding spatial streams increases model for the state of the channel at that instant, a model
throughput proportionally. Assuming multipath that it then uses for subsequent symbols in the frame. The
conditions are favorable, two streams offer double the received LTFs provide channel state information at the
throughput of a single stream, and eight streams increase receiver (CSI-R).
throughput eight-fold.

IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT FEEDBACK FOR BEAMFORMING

Request for Sounding Sounding Frames

Beamformer Sounding Frames Beamformer Beamformer Feedback from Sounding Beamformer

Beamformed Frames Beamformed Frames

Implied CSI Actual CSI

Implicit Feedback for Beamforming (802.11n not 802.11ac) Explicit Feedback for Beamforming (802.11n and 802.11ac)
1. (Beamformer) Send me a sounding frame 1. (Beamformer) Heres a sounding frame
2. (Beamformee) Heres the sounding frame 2. (Beamformee) Heres how I heard the sounding frame
3. OK, Ill pre-code assuming you hear me like I heard you 3. Now I will pre-code to match how you heard me

Figure 9

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Receiver CSI is very useful, but we can do better. If the This is a good assumption for wireless channels, but it cannot
transmitter knows how its signals are received by its target in include onboard hardware components. In this case the path
sufficient detail, it can pre-code the signal to each antenna to from Bs transmit chain and As receive chain is measured,
achieve the very best throughput and lowest error rate the but when A transmits, its transmit chain and Bs receive chain
channel will support. effects that affect the calibration differences and non-
linearities cannot be measured. Thus, while implicit CSI
In 802.11ac this is used for beamforming, where multiple
feedback for beamforming is relatively easy to obtain, it is not
antennas are used to beam a signal onto the receivers
very accurate.
antenna, and also for DL MU-MIMO, where it sets up
transmissions to steer local maxima to the desired client, and In 802.11ac, implicit feedback is dropped in favor of explicit
minimums to other clients. feedback. Here the beamformer transmits a sounding
frame and the beamformee analyses how it receives the
CSI at the transmitter is much more powerful than CSI at the
frame, compresses the results to a manageable size and
receiver, but more difficult to achieve. This is because a large
transmits them back to the beamformer. This provides
amount of information must be fed back across the wireless
accurate channel state information, but requires a protocol
medium, and the transmitter and receiver must agree on the
for coordination.
data and format of such feedback.

The full matrix would indicate amplitude and phase for each Sounding frames in 802.11ac
transmit antenna, receive antenna, and each OFDM 802.11n included three options for beamforming feedback,
subcarrier in the RF channel a large amount of data. and manufacturers have not been able to agree and
Therefore various shortcuts have been developed so a implement a common set. In practice, some current
smaller amount of information can be fed back without 802.11n devices will successfully beamform when both
compromising beamforming accuracy. ends of the connection include common chipsets, but
beamforming with explicit feedback is not generally a feature
802.11n includes two methods for achieving CSI at the
of current 802.11n equipment.
transmitter. Implicit beamforming allowed the receiver, or
beamformee, to send a sounding frame back to the To avoid this situation, only one feedback mechanism, explicit
beamformer. The beamformer, on receiving the sounding feedback with the compressed V matrix is specified in
frame, processed it and used the information under the 802.11ac. The full sounding sequence comprises a set of
assumption that the RF channel is reciprocal knowing how special sounding frames sent by the transmitter (either the
transmit antenna As signal is received at antenna B, implies beamformer or the access point in the case of DL MU-MIMO),
that antenna Bs transmissions would be received at antenna and a set of compressed V matrix frames returned by the
A in the same way. beamformee. Because multiple clients are involved in
MU-MIMO, a special protocol ensures they answer with
feedback frames in sequence following the sounding frame.

SINGLE USER BEAMFORMING SOUNDING FRAME AND BEAMFORMING FEEDBACK

NDP Null data packet

announcement
AP
A AP
Compressed
beamforming
matrix
2 antenna client A

8 antenna AP Time

Figure 10

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In 802.11ac, the protocol for generating CSI at the transmitter The NDPA and NDP frames are quite simple. The NDPA
relies on sounding or null data packet (NDP) frames, together identifies which stations should listen to the subsequent
with announcement frames and response frames. sounding frame, along with the dimensions of that frame
depending on the number of antennas and spatial streams in
First, the beamformer sends a null data packet announcement
use. The sounding frame itself is just a null data packet: It is
(NDPA) frame identifying the intended recipients and the
the preamble with its LTFs that is of importance. The
format of the forthcoming sounding frame. This is followed by
processing and construction of the beamforming report,
the sounding NDP itself, and the beamformee then responds
however, is complicated.
with a beamforming report frame.

DOWNLINK MULTI-USER MIMO SOUNDING FRAME AND BEAMFORMING FEEDBACK

B 2 antenna client
e.g. smartphone

A AP

C 2 antenna client
e.g. smartphone

4 antenna client 8 antenna AP

e.g. PC

NDP Null data packet Beamforming Beamforming

announcement report poll B report poll C
AP

Compressed
beamforming
matrix
A
Compressed
beamforming
matrix
B
Compressed
beamforming
matrix
C

Time

Figure 11

The beamformee measures the RF channel characteristics, Finally the parameters (angles) used in the matrix
then processes and returns the measurements as a operations are assembled, along with some other power
compressed steering matrix to the beamformer. The and phase figures, and the compressed matrix is returned to
calculations consist of a number of steps that are performed the beamformer.
per-OFDM subcarrier.
Even with this compression, a beamforming report can range
First, a matrix of the received signals is constructed, with from less than 1 KB to greater than 20 KB, as it contains
magnitude and phase for each antenna combination information per-subcarrier for each space-time stream and
(transmit and receive). Next, successive matrix multiplication depends on the number of spatial streams and transmit
operations (Givens rotations) make it invertible, the form of antennas in use.
matrix required by the transmitter.

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802.11AC BEAMFORMING COMPRESSED V-MATRIX FEEDBACK REPORT SIZING

Size of each angle eld

X Number of angles in the
matrix per-subcarrier X Number of subcarriers

6-bit or 10-bit for single-user 2 angles for 2x2 52 subcarriers for 20 MHz channel
12-bit or 16-bit for multi-user 6 angles for 3x3 108 subcarriers for 40 MHz
12 angles for 4x4 234 subcarriers for 80 MHz
30 angles for 6x6 486 subcarriers for 160 MHz
56 angles for 8x8 (subcarriers can be grouped, with up to
4 per group to reduce the report size)

Examples:
single-user, 2x2 in a 20 MHz channel 10x2x52 = 1040 bits or 130B per report
single-user, 4x4 in an 80 MHz channel 10x12x234 = 28080 bits or 3.5 kB per report
multi-user, 8x8 in an 80 MHz channel, 4 subcarriers/group 16x56x486 = 217728 bits or 27 kB per report
(Note: there are many factors aecting this computation, and these gures should be taken as a guide)

Figure 12

The compressed V matrix is chosen for 802.11ac for several MAC Layer Enhancements
reasons:
Multi-user MIMO, modulation and MAC enhancements
It is a predefined 802.11n technique, it distributes
Multi-user MIMO
computation among the receivers rather than placing the
Some of the most significant throughput gains of 802.11ac
burden on the transmitter.
are from multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). This exploits the
It is simple enough that the matrix algebra can be
same phenomenon of spatial diversity multiplexing (SDM)
completed quickly for immediate feedback to the
used in 802.11n, where multiple antennas send separate
beamformer.
streams of data independently, although the transmissions
It provides considerable data compression for the
occupy the same time and frequency space. This MU-MIMO
beamforming report.
technique in 802.11ac is also referred to as spatial diversity
Where conditions are favorable, the calculation can be
multiple access (SDMA).
short-cut to further reduce the matrix size.
MU-MIMO proposes that, instead of considering multiple
Its accuracy is limited by the quantization of the angles
spatial streams between a given pair of devices, we should be
returned with fewer bits per angle, the report frame shrinks
able to use spatial diversity to send multiple data streams
but precision is lost. The parameters used in 802.11ac
between several devices at a given instant. The difficulty lies
represent a compromise, allowing most of the theoretical
in coordinating between the various devices in a network
beamforming gains to be realized with considerable savings
how do you discover which pairs of antennas or devices
in computation and feedback bandwidth.
support diverse paths, and how does a device know that
Thus 802.11ac, by standardizing and enforcing compliance another is transmitting so it can safely transmit to its partner
with the sounding sequence and the format of the at the same instant?
compressed V matrix feedback frame will enable widespread
adoption of beamforming and DL MU-MIMO, as well as
potentially enabling better MIMO SDM performance.

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DOWNLINK MULTI-USER MIMO FRAME SEQUENCES

B 2 antenna client
e.g. smartphone

A AP

C 2 antenna client
e.g. smartphone

4 antenna client 8 antenna AP

e.g. PC Single antenna client
D
e.g. smartphone

AP wins TXOP Client TXOP AP wins TXOP Client TXOP AP wins TXOP

Frame to A ack Frame to A ack Frame to A

Frame to B Frame to B Frame to D

AP
Frame to D Frame to C Frame to C

ack Frame to AP ack Frame to AP ack

A
ack
B
ack ack ack
C
ack
D

Time

Figure 13

802.11ac solves these problems by simplifying them. It For example, a six-antenna AP could simultaneously transmit
assumes that access points (APs) are different from client three spatial streams each to two client devices provided
devices in that they are less space-, power-, and even conditions were favorable, of course. That means that the
price-constrained, so they are likely to have more transmissions to one client device should not cause excessive
transmitting antennas than client devices. interference at the other client and the usual MIMO SDM
conditions should prevail where the streams between a given
Therefore, since the number of spatially diverse paths
pair of devices are isolated.
depends on the number of antennas, and the number of
opportunities depends on the amount of traffic buffered for This downlink MU-MIMO (DL MU-MIMO) is the only
transmission, the AP is allowed to transmit to several clients configuration supported in 802.11ac. It precludes some other
simultaneously should it find an opportunity to do so. forms such as uplink MU-MIMO. Only one AP or client can
transmit at any instant, and while the AP can transmit to
multiple clients simultaneously, clients can only transmit to
the AP one by one.

DOWNLINK MULTI-USER MIMO TRANSMISSION OPTIONS (EXAMPLES)

Client
B
Client AP
A
Client
C

Client Client
A C
AP

Client Client
B D

Figure 14

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There is no uplink MU-MIMO, in part because it requires a In 802.11ac, DL MU-MIMO only works with beamforming
more complicated protocol and because wont be very useful, feedback, where the AP sends a sounding (null data packet)
given that all traffic in Wi-Fi (apart from DLS) goes to or from frame and clients report how they hear the sounding frame
the AP, and we usually expect clients to consume more data in the explicit beamforming feedback frame. This is because
than they generate. MU-MIMO introduces a new dimension.

The AP is also in a good position to monitor traffic for While single-user MIMO is only concerned with how one
different clients and identify opportunities to exercise DL client receives the AP signal, MU-MIMO throughput is limited
MU-MIMO. By matching the frames in its transmit buffers to by the interference caused when a signal aimed at one client
the known simultaneous paths to its clients, the AP can make bleeds over to another client.
sure that it uses all opportunities for SDMA.

DOWNLINK MULTI-USER MIMO DISALLOWED TRANSMISSION OPTIONS (EXAMPLES)

Client Client Client

A A D
AP AP Client
A
Client Client AP Client
B B E

Client Client
C F

This would be uplink No more than 4 recipients per No more than

multi-user MIMO TXOP in DL multi-user MIMO 4 SS per client

Figure 15

To counteract this effect, the AP calculates how much of the Thus the data reported allows the AP to calculate the SDMA
signal aimed at client A will be received at client B and/or possibilities for different client groups, and the required
client C, and uses beamforming techniques to steer a null steering matrices. This calculation is not part of the standard,
onto the other clients, so they can successfully receive their but it is complex and there are several possible algorithms.
own signals.
Precoding algorithms for beamforming and DL MU-MIMO
MU-MIMO throughput is very sensitive to this self-
The most accurate way of precoding for MU-MIMO is known
interference, and the beamforming feedback frame for
as dirty paper coding (DPC). An elegant theorem with an
MU-MIMO has higher precision for the matrix angles, and
intuitive conclusion, DPC states that if the interference state
also includes SNR information to improve accuracy
of the RF channel is known exactly, there is a precoding
and allow interference to be minimized.
profile that allows maximum data transfer through that
channel, no matter what the pattern of interference may be.

DL MULTI-USER MIMO NULLING INTERFERENCE AT NON-TARGET CLIENTS

QAHA = max
Frame for A QA HA Client QBHA = null
D
QCHA = null

Frame for B QB HB QAHB = null

Client QBHB = max
E
QCHB = null
Frame for C QC HC
QAHC = null
Client
QBHC = null
F
QCHC = max

Figure 16

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The analogy is to take a sheet of dirty paper, and write on it in Further complicating the DL MU-MIMO precoding algorithm,
such a way that the writing can be read. If the exact pattern the transmitter must choose which measure of throughput to
of dirt is known, the writing can be made to stand out against maximize. With a single user, maximum data rate under a
it without the reader needing to know about the pattern. given error rate constraint would be the usual parameter, but
Similarly, if a transmitter has exact CSI, it can calculate DPC with multiple users it is possible to weight each users
and achieve the theoretical maximum channel throughput throughput in the algorithm.
without the receiver knowing CSI.
Most systems just sum throughput over all users with equal
Unfortunately DPC is a non-linear technique, which makes weighting, but this can result in favoring high-rate
it difficult to apply in practice. Similar results, often nearly connections at the expense of lower-rate clients, which
as good, can be achieved by approximating with linear may be undesirable, especially when quality of service (QoS)
techniques such as maximal likelihood transmission is considered.
and zero-forcing.
Scheduling DL MU-MIMO multiple-transmit opportunities
The former concentrates on steering signal maxima onto
When the precoding matrices are known, and good
the intended receivers antenna while the latter steers nulls
multi-user-groups identified, frames buffered for
or zeros to the other recipients of the MU-MIMO
transmission must be grouped to ensure optimal throughput.
transmission, allowing them to decode their desired signals
The matching process becomes quite complicated, as the
with minimum interference.
QoS enhancements originally from 802.11e require the AP to
maintain four transmit buffer queues, one for each access
category of traffic.

USER-FRAME SELECTION AND PRE-CODING FOR DL MULTI-USER MIMO

Client Client
A C
AP

Client Client
B D

Client
VO C
A A
AP

VI
C C

BE
B B

BK
C D C D C
Client
D

Frames queued by User-frame selection Pre-coding and Pre-coding matches

QoS priority (per AC) algorithm weighting channel characteristics

Figure 17

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802.11ac takes this into consideration, explicitly allowing the The significant constraint on this technique is that the total
AP to pull forward the transmission of lower-priority traffic, if number of spatial streams supported must not exceed the
a transmit opportunity (TXOP) was legitimately won for the number of antennas transmitting from the AP, and the
primary frame to be transmitted. The traffic bundled with the standard adds several further constraints: no more than four
primary frame may jump the queue and get transmitted clients can be targeted simultaneously, no client can use
before higher-priority frames, but these frames dont suffer, more than four streams, and all streams in a DL MU-MIMO
as they would not have been able to use the TXOP with the transmission must use the same MCS.
primary frame.
Modulation and rates
For an example of the power of properly-scheduled DL
The 802.11ac amendment continues to extend the complexity
MU-MIMO, consider an AP with eight antennas serving a
of its modulation techniques. Building on the rates up to
client with only one antenna.
64- quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) of 802.11n, it
Normally, only a single stream will be practicable, and while now extends to 256-QAM. This means that each RF symbol
some of the extra antennas on the AP can be used to represents one of 256 possible combinations of amplitude
improve the SNR (with beamforming, STBC, and MRC), much (the signal power) versus phase (a shift from the phase of the
of the potential from the AP extra antennas will be wasted. reference signal).
But this effect can be mitigated by MU-MIMO. Now the AP
The diagram below illustrates how this complicates the task
can serve up to eight such clients in the same time interval.
of encoding and decoding each symbol theres very little
MU-MIMO and techniques with similar goals such as room for error, as the receiver has to discriminate between
orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) 16 possible amplitude levels and 16 phase shift increments
where different clients utilize non-overlapping subsets of but increases the amount of information each symbol
OFDM subcarriers have already been explored in cellular represents from 6 to 8 bits when comparing the top 802.11ac
networks, but the focus there has been on enabling rate to 802.11n (before the coding of 5/6 is calculated, but
simultaneous transmissions from several clients to the same this applies to both examples).
base station. In 802.11ac, DL-MU-MIMO allows the AP to
transmit simultaneously to a number of clients.

CONSTELLATION DIAGRAMS FOR 16-, 64-, 256-QAM

Figure 18

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While the 256-QAM 5/6 modulation provides a higher 3. Guard interval. Unchanged from 802.11n, the long guard
raw-data top speed, the table of available PHY rates is very interval of 800 nsec is mandatory while the short guard
long, as with 802.11n, to account for various other options. interval of 400 nsec is an available option. The guard
The key determinants of PHY data rate are: interval is the pause between transmitted RF symbols. It

1. Channel width. We discussed this above. 802.11ac has is necessary to avoid multipath reflections of one symbol

options for 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz from arriving late and interfering with the next symbol.

2. Modulation and coding. All the earlier options are still Since light travels at about 0.3 meter/nsec, a guard interval of
available, and are used if SNR is too low to sustain the 400 nsec would work where the path taken by the longest
highest rates. But in the MCS table, the canon of 802.11n reflection is no more than 120m longer than the shortest (often
is extended to add 256-QAM options with coding of 3/4 the direct) path. Experience with 802.11n shows that the 400 nsec
and 5/6. option is generally safe to use for enterprise WLANs.

Selected 802.11ac rates in Mbps (short guard interval, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 SS)

20 20 20 20 40 40 40 80 80 160 160 160 160
Modulation 40 MHz 80 MHz 80 MHz
MCS MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz
& Rate 8x SS 4x SS 8x SS
1x SS 2x SS 4x SS 8x SS 1x SS 2x SS 4x SS 1x SS 2x SS 1x SS 2x SS 4x SS 8x SS

0 BPSK 1/2 7.2 14.4 28.9 57.8 15.0 30.0 60.0 120.0 32.5 65.0 130.0 260.0 65.0 130.0 260.0 520.0

1 QPSK 1/2 14.4 28.9 57.8 115.6 30.0 60.0 120.0 240.0 65.0 130.0 260.0 520.0 130.0 260.0 520.0 1040.0

2 QPSK 3/4 21.7 43.3 86.7 173.3 45.0 90.0 180.0 360.0 97.5 195.0 390.0 780.0 195.0 390.0 780.0 1560.0

3 16-QAM 1/2 28.9 57.8 115.6 231.1 60.0 120.0 240.0 480.0 130.0 260.0 520.0 1040.0 260.0 520.0 1040.0 2080.0

4 16-QAM 3/4 43.3 86.7 173.3 346.7 90.0 180.0 360.0 720.0 195.0 390.0 780.0 1560.0 390.0 780.0 1560.0 3120.0

5 64-QAM 2/3 57.8 115.6 231.1 462.2 120.0 240.0 480.0 960.0 260.0 520.0 1040.0 2080.0 520.0 1040.0 2080.0 4160.0

6 64-QAM 3/4 65.0 130.0 260.0 520.0 135.0 270.0 540.0 1080.0 292.5 585.0 1170.0 2340.0 585.0 1170.0 2340.0 4680.0

7 64-QAM 5/6 72.2 144.4 288.9 577.8 150.0 300.0 600.0 1200.0 325.0 650.0 1300.0 2600.0 650.0 1300.0 2600.0 5200.0

256 QAM
8 86.7 173.3 346.7 693.3 180.0 360.0 720.0 1440.0 390.0 780.0 1560.0 3120.0 780.0 1560.0 3120.0 6240.0
3/4

256-QAM
9 200.0 400.0 800.0 1600.0 433.3 866.7 1733.3 3466.7 866.7 1733.3 3466.7 6933.3
5/6

24
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

Increased coding in terms of bits/sec per hertz of spectrum The graph below shows, for instance, that whereas -64 dBm
comes at a price: The required signal level for good was sufficient for the top rate (72 Mbps) of 802.11n in a
reception increases with the complexity of modulation and 20-MHz channel, the requirement rises to -59 dBm for the
the channel bandwidth. top rate (86 Mbps) of 802.11ac, single-stream in a 20-MHz
channel, and to -49 dBm for the top rate (866 Mbps) in a
160-MHz channel.

-40

-45 Minimum sensitivity

(20 MHz PPDU) (dBm)
X
-50 X Minimum sensitivity
(40 MHz PPDU) (dBm)
-55
X X
X Minimum sensitivity
(80 MHz PPDU) (dBm)
-60
X
X Minimum sensitivity
-65 X (160 MHz or 80+80 MHz PPDU) (dBm)
X
-70 X
X
-75

-80

-85
1/2 1/2 3/4 1/2 3/4 2/3 3/4 5/6 3/4 5/6
BPSK QPSK QPSK 16-QAM 16-QAM 64-QAM 64-QAM 64-QAM 256-QAM 256-QAM

Required receive sensitivity for dierent modulation and coding rates channel,
and to -49 dBm for the top rate (866 Mbps) in a 160-MHz channel

Figure 19

Adjacent channel interference requirements also become This worthwhile improvement can make the difference
more difficult to meet with the higher rates of 802.11ac. This between moving to the next-higher order modulation rate
trend was apparent with 802.11n, where using adjacent (on the graph above), or alternatively, at the same modulation
channels noticeably affects the SNR, and the 256-QAM 5/6 rate it can significantly reduce error packets.
rate requires some 8 dB more adjacent channel isolation
MAC changes
than the equivalent case for 802.11n.
There are few MAC changes in 802.11ac that primarily
Modulation in 802.11ac is simplified compared with the
introduce a faster PHY layer. But improvements are made in a
original 802.11n, because equal modulation is now assumed
number of areas.
(where multiple streams are used, they all have the same
MCS modulation). It was theoretically possible in 802.11n for Frame aggregation, A-MPDU, A-MSDU
each spatial stream of a multistream transmission to use a A client (or AP) must contend for the medium (a transmit
different modulation, allowing some streams to use lower- opportunity on the air) with every frame it wishes to transmit.
order modulation schemes depending on the SNR of the This results in contention, collisions on the medium and
path. But unequal modulation was not included in Wi-Fi back-off delays that waste time that could be used to send
Alliance certifications, and current 802.11n devices dont traffic. 802.11n introduced mechanisms to aggregate frames
support it, so it was dropped for 802.11ac. and thus reduce the number of contention events.

Both the binary convolutional code (BCC) and low-density Many tests have shown the effectiveness of reducing
parity check (LDPC) methods of forward-error correction are contention events in prior 802.11 standards. For instance, in
defined for the new rates, as for 802.11n rates. The former is 802.11g, a given configuration can send 26 Mbps of data
mandatory, while the latter is optional. While it is a relatively using 1,500-byte frames, but when the frame length is
new technique, LDPC offers an improvement of around 2 dB reduced to 256 bytes, generating 6x the number of frames,
over BCC at packet error rates of 10-2 for 1000 B packets. throughput drops to 12 Mbps.

25
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

With MAC-layer aggregation, a station with a number of Two different mechanisms are provided for aggregation,
frames to send can opt to combine them into an aggregate known as Aggregated MSDU (A-MSDU) and Aggregated-
frame (MAC MPDU). The resulting frame contains less header MPDU (A-MPDU).
overhead than would be the case without aggregating, and
because fewer, larger frames are sent, the contention time on
the wireless medium is reduced.

MAC FRAME AGGREGATION IN 802.11AC

Applications

P1 P2 P3 MSDU (MAC Service Data Unit) P1 P2 P3

P1 P2 P3

MAC processing MAC processing MAC processing

MAC MPDU (MAC Protocol Data Unit) MAC MAC MAC

P1 P2 P3 P1 P2 P3
header header header header

Aggregated MSDU format (A-MSDU) PHY layer Aggregated MPDU format (A-MPDU)

Figure 20

In the A-MSDU format, multiple frames from higher layers are In 802.11ac the A-MSDU limit is raised from 7,935 to 11,426 B,
combined and processed by the MAC layer as a single entity. and the maximum A-MPDU size from 65,535 to 1,048,576 B.
Each original frame becomes a subframe within the In the short-term, he practical constraint on PPDUs is likely to
aggregated MAC frame. Thus this method must be used for be a 5.484-msec limit for the time-on-the-air: at 300 Mbps, a
frames with the same source and destination, and only 200 KB A-MPDU would take the maximum 5.484 msec on
MSDUs of the same priority (access class, as in 802.11e) can the air.
be aggregated.
It is possible to combine the techniques, combining a number
An alternative method, A-MPDU format, allows concatenation of MSDUs and A-MSDUs in an A-MPDU. Theoretical studies
of MPDUs into an aggregate MAC frame. Each individual have shown that this improves performance over either
MPDU is encrypted and decrypted separately, and is technique used alone. However, most practical
separated by an A-MPDU delimiter which is modified for implementations to date concentrate on A-MPDU, which
802.11ac to allow for longer frames. performs well in the presence of errors due to its selective
retransmission ability.
A-MPDU must be used with the block-acknowledgement
function introduced in 802.11n. This allows a single ack frame Encryption and the GCMP option
to cover a range of received data frames. It is particularly
A new encryption protocol, known as Galois Counter Mode
useful for streaming video and other high-speed
Protocol (GCMP) is being introduced as for new, high-rate
transmissions, but when a frame is corrupted or lost, there
802.11 applications. GCMP is defined as an option in
will be a delay before a non-acknowledge is received and
802.11ad, the 60-GHz-band amendment, and this forms the
re-transmission can be accomplished: this is not often a
basis for its inclusion in the 802.11 baseline (in the next
problem with broadcast video, where re-transmission is
roll-up revision of 802.11) and its availability for 802.11ac.
often not feasible, given the time constraints of the media,
but may be problematic for other real-time applications.
26
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

GCMP is a good addition to the standard because it has To allow clients to quickly identify if a frame is addressed to
better performance than CCMP, the current encryption them, a new field called partial association ID (partial AID) or
protocol. Both protocols are block encryption ciphers that Group ID for MU-MIMO is added to the preamble. If the
offer confidentiality so hackers cannot decrypt the data, partial AID field is not its own address, the client can doze for
authentication to ensure it comes from the authenticated the remainder of the TXOP.
peer, integrity so it can be decrypted, and replay protection
One reason to introduce VHT TXOP power save is that the
so that old or doctored messages retransmitted by a
frames are getting longer. 802.11ac has extended frame
hacker are rejected by the recipient. Both use keys of 128 bits
lengths and now allows for frames approaching 8 KB in
and generate the same 24-bytes-per-frame packet format
length, and aggregated frames (A-MPDU) to 1 MB.
and overhead.
Some of this is accounted for by the increased rates, so time
But GCMP requires only one pass to encrypt a given data
on the medium will not be extended pro-rata, but video and
block, and can encrypt and decrypt blocks in parallel. This
large file transfers, two of the more important use cases,
improves on CCMP where two sets of calculations are
drive large numbers of long frames (possibly aggregated as
required to encrypt a block, and each data block in a session
A-MSDU or A-MPDU frames at the Wi-Fi layer) so it may well
must be processed in sequence, as the result of one block is
be worthwhile switching off a radio while large numbers of
used as an input to the next. This means GCMP is better
frames are being delivered to other clients.
suited to very high-rate data encryption and decryption.
The other major power-saving feature of 802.11ac is its high
GCMP is expected to be phased in over several years. Silicon
data rates. Power consumption in 802.11 is heavily
will need to be redesigned, for both clients and APs, so CCMP
dependent on the time spent transmitting data, and the
and GCMP will overlap in practical networks for a long while.
higher the rate, the shorter the transmission burst. The time
There has been speculation that GCMP will be required as spent receiving frames is also reduced by high rates, but not
data speeds increase and CCMP implementations may not be so significantly.
able to keep up, but whether that point is reached at 10 Gbps
Other features, like beamforming contribute to higher rates
(reference 802.11-10/0438r2) or earlier is not clear today. It is
by increasing the SNR at the receiver for any given scenario,
possible that GCMP will never be required for 802.11, and
so they can also be said to contribute to better battery life.
that we will never see practical implementations, but it is
And general silicon advances in feature miniaturization and
established as a new option if required.
power-save techniques will all be adopted in new chips
Power-save enhancements implementing 802.11ac.

Many 802.11 devices are still battery-powered, and although

Extended basic service set load element
other components of a smartphone, notably the display still
802.11 already defines a load element that allows the AP to
tax the battery much more than the Wi-Fi subsystem,
advertise its current load in the beacon and probe
power-saving additions are still worthwhile.
responses. The load element includes the number of clients
The new feature is known as VHT TXOP power save. It allows on the AP, and also a measure of channel utilization. This is
a client to switch off its radio circuit after it has seen the AP useful for client-initiated load balancing. When a client sees a
indicate that a transmit opportunity (TXOP) is intended for number of APs, it can choose to associate with one with
another client. fewer clients or lower channel utilization, as that AP may offer
better performance.
This should be relatively uncontroversial, except that a TXOP
can cover several frames, so the AP must ensure that, having It also offers a form of soft call admissions control: if an
allowed a client to doze at the beginning of a TXOP it does application can signal its bandwidth requirements to
not then transmit a frame for that client. Similarly, if a TXOP is the Wi-Fi chip, it can avoid associating with APs with
truncated by the AP, it must remember that certain clients insufficient bandwidth.
will still be dozing and not send new frames to them.

27
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

MU-MIMO introduces another dimension to AP load. It is not Non-802.11ac equipment can read these headers and
sufficient to indicate channel utilization, so an extended load identify that the channel will be occupied for a given time,
element includes information about the number of multi- and therefore can avoid transmitting simultaneously with the
user-capable clients, the underutilization of spatial streams in very high throughput frame.
its primary channel, as well as utilization in wider 40, 80 and
Although 802.11n defines a greenfield mode for non-
160-MHz channels, if applicable.
backwards-compatible operation, it has never been
An 802.11ac client, reading the extended load element, can implemented in practical networks and all 802.11ac APs are
make a more informed decision about which AP to choose expected to run in mixed mode.
for association.
The main differences between 802.11n and 802.11ac are the
Co-existence and backwards compatibility new, wider channels used. If an 802.11ac device started

Because 802.11ac includes new, higher-speed techniques, its transmitting in 80 MHz, older 802.11 stations in the vicinity

transmissions are by definition not decodable by older 802.11 would not be able to recognize the transmissions or decode

equipment. But it is important that an 802.11ac AP, adjacent them. Adding an 802.11n-like preamble solves this problem.

to older APs, is a good neighbor. But the stipulation that 802.11ac operates only in the 5-GHz

802.11ac has a number of features for co-existence, but the band, not at 2.4 GHz, makes it easier, as only 802.11a and

main one is an extension of an 802.11n technique: A multipart 802.11n need to be accounted for as legacy, not 802.11b.

RF header that is uses 802.11a and 802.11n modulation.

VHT PREAMBLE FORMAT

Legacy preamble VHT preamble Data

L-STF L-LTF L-SIG VHT-SIG-A VHT-STF VHT-LTF VHT-LTF VHT-SIG-B

Repeated > = number of spatial streams

Transmitted at 20 MHz, in each underlying 20 MHz channel Uses the VHT channel width
Key
STF Short Training Field
LTF Long Training Field
SIG Signal
L Legacy (e.g. pre-802.11ac)
HT High Throughput (e.g. 802.11n)
VHT Very High Throughput (e.g. 802.11ac)

Figure 21

28
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

The 802.11ac preamble includes a number of training fields. It Finally a second VHT-SIG-B is transmitted. This includes the
starts with L-STF, L-LTF and L-SIG, respectively the legacy length of the frame and more information about the
short training field, long training field and signal field. distribution of spatial streams if MU-MIMO is to be used.

To allow for a wide channel, for instance 80 MHz, overlaying a There are various references in the IEEE document to apply
neighboring 20-MHz channel, it is necessary to transmit phase rotation for each 20-MHz sub-band. This is a
training fields in all possible channels. But with the wonders technique to avoid a high peak power in the transmitter.
of OFDM, this can be done simultaneously in the same time By rotating the phase per sub-band, the peak power
slot so the frame does not become over-lengthy. output is reduced. The technique is already used in 802.11n
40-MHz channels.
The L-STF and L-LTF allow the receiver to synchronize with the
signal, so the rest of it can be correctly decoded. The final When an AP is configured for 802.11ac and hence using an 80
part of the legacy preamble, the SIG, includes information on or 160-MHz channel, it can act as an AP in 20-MHz channels
the length of the frame. This is the part that allows legacy by using non-HT duplicate mode. This allows it to transmit
stations to set their network allocation vector (NAV), part of the same frame on several channels simultaneously.
the existing medium access protocol.
Protection, dynamic bandwidth and channelization
Following the legacy preamble is the very high throughput
When an 80-MHz 802.11ac network operates in the
(VHT) preamble. This again consists of STF, LTF and SIG
neighborhood of an older AP, or a network thats only using a
sequences, but modulated in the particular channel being
20-MHz or 40-MHz channel, it must avoid transmitting
used by the AP.
simultaneously with a station in the neighboring network.
The VHT-SIG-A field includes the channel bandwidth, number How can this be achieved without permanently reducing its
of spatial streams, MCS information (for single-user MIMO) channel bandwidth?
and other data for use in demodulating the frame. This field
The answer is in three parts. How can a station (AP or client)
is transmitted as 20-MHz symbols, replicated over all
that wants to operate at 80 MHz, warn older stations to stay
underlying 20-MHz channels.
off the air while it is transmitting in 802.11ac mode, which
The VHT-STF field is used so the receiver can normalize the they cant decode?
OFDM subcarriers in the subsequent transmission. To allow
Then, how does the 802.11ac station know that the full
for non-contiguous 160-MHz channels, the field is repeated
channel is clear of other stations transmissions? And finally,
in each 80-MHz channel.
how can bandwidth usage be optimized if, for instance, an
VHT-LTF fields are next, one per spatial stream to be used for older station is transmitting in just 20 MHz of the 80-MHz
transmission. LTF fields allow the receiver to calculate the 802.11ac channel?
multipath characteristics of the channel and apply them to
the MIMO algorithm.

DYNAMIC BANDWIDTH OPERATION, 80 MHZ CHANNEL

S20 P S40

RTS RTS RTS RTS

AP Client
CTS CTS CTS CTS

Data Data

Figure 22

29
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

Sending a warning to other stations to stay off the air is However, if the recipient does find transmissions in progress
achieved by RTS frames. The 802.11ac station sends on any secondary channel, it can continue responding with
out multiple parallel RTS protection frames in each 20 MHz CTS but indicating which primary channels are clear (20 MHz
of its 80-MHz channel, at rates an 802.11a or n client or 40 MHz), then the originator can send its transmission
can understand. using only the usable part of the 80-MHz channel.

The multiple RTS frames use duplicate, quadruplicate or This may force a reduction in channel from 80 MHz to 40 or
octuplicate transmission. Before sending RTS, it performs even 20 MHz, but the frame will be transmitted using air-time
clear channel assessment (CCA) to make sure it cant that would otherwise be unused. This feature is called
hear any transmissions in progress. On receiving the RTS dynamic bandwidth operation.
frame, older stations know how long to wait for the
The alternative to dynamic bandwidth operation is static
802.11ac transmission.
bandwidth operation. If this is used, the recipient has only
Next, the recipient runs a clear channel assessment in each one choice to make. If the whole channel 80 MHz in this
of the 20-MHz channels. The RTS frame format is extended case is clear, it proceeds with CTS, but if any part of the
so the originator can indicate its channel options and replies channel is busy, it does not respond and the originator must
with a CTS response to indicate whether it hears start again with a new RTS frame.
transmissions in progress from any neighboring network. If
not, the originator transmits the data frame using the full
bandwidth 80 MHz in this case.

DYNAMIC BANDWIDTH AND CHANNELIZATION EXAMPLES IN 802.11AC, 80 MHZ CHANNEL

80 MHz channel 80 MHz channel

Secondary 20 MHz Primary 20 MHz Secondary 40 MHz Secondary 40 MHz Secondary 20 MHz Primary 20 MHz

Figure 23

Dynamic bandwidth optimization is constrained by 802.11acs Finally, the introduction of wideband channels, especially the
definitions of primary and secondary channels. For each 80 + 80-MHz channels, requires some changes to the
channel, such as an 80-MHz channel, one 20-MHz channel channel switch announcement (CSA) frame. CSA is used by an
(sub-channel) is designated as primary. This is carried AP to inform its associated clients when it is about to switch
through from 802.11n, and in networks with a mix of 802.11ac channels after radar has been detected in the current
and older clients, all management frames are transmitted in channel: it was first introduced in 802.11h as part of DFS.
this channel so all clients can receive them. Otherwise, the operation of DFS is unchanged with 802.11ac.

The second part of the 40MHz channel is called the 802.11ad and fast session transfer
secondary 20-MHz channel. And the 40-MHz of the wide
802.11ac is not the only very high throughput (VHT) protocol
channel that does not contain the primary 20-MHz channel is
making its way through the IEEE 802.11 standards process.
the secondary 40-MHz channel. Data transmissions can be in
The 802.11ad task group is just finishing its work, scheduled
the primary 20-MHz channel, the 40-MHz channel including
for completion in December 2012.
the primary 20-MHz channel, or the full 80-MHz channel, but
not in other channel combinations. 802.11ad uses the 60-GHz band, a globally-available
spectrum. The standard includes four defined channels of
2.16 GHz, from 57-66 GHz. Only three can be used in the U.S.
but the fourth is available in most other countries. Because of
the very large channel width, PHY rates are defined up to 4.6
Gbps for single carrier (SC) and 7 Gbps for OFDM modulation.

30
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

While 802.11ad is indeed very high throughput, it is also At both the PHY and MAC layers, 802.11ad is very different
short-range. Generally we expect a range of about 10 meters, from other 802.11 standards. This is because different
and even that will require beamforming with high-gain (13 techniques are applicable for 60 GHz, and also because the
dB+) antennas. The use of high-gain antennas and standard has its origins in the WiGig industry group.
beamforming requires a node discovery protocol.
However, the standard is careful to use the same higher-level
Since some nodes wont be able to hear each other with an architecture as 802.11, to maintain the 802.11 user
omni antenna pattern, but high-gain antennas are experience, including the concept of an AP and basic service
directional, the idea is that each node in turn sweeps through set (BSS), authentication and security. This enables a feature
different sectors with its antenna, pointing a beam on of 802.11ad that directly affects 802.11ac called fast session
different arcs until it has swept a complete circle. transfer (FST) or multiband operation. FST allows a pair of
devices carrying a session to switch the connection
Once two nodes have discovered each other in this way, they
seamlessly from a 60-GHz (802.11ad) link to an 802.11ac link
can optimize their beamforming parameters in a fine-tuning
at 5 GHz and vice versa.
mode. These techniques are interesting because they may be
applicable, eventually, to 802.11ac if beamforming is used to
extend range.

FAST SESSION TRANSFER 802.11AD:802.11AC WITH TRANSPARENT AND NON-TRANSPARENT MODES

60 GHz transparent (same MAC addr) 60 GHz

AP MAC MAC Client

5 GHz 5 GHz

MAC MAC
60 GHz non-transparent 60 GHz
AP Client

MAC MAC
5 GHz 5 GHz

Figure 24

There are several options in FST, depending on whether the More complex networks can use a tunnel mode where
interfaces have the same MAC address and common MAC packets from one type of connection can be forwarded on a
management layers for the two links, in which case the switch second link. Consumer electronics manufacturers are
can be completely transparent, or different MAC interfaces and implementing both 802.11ac and 802.11ad to enable fully
addresses, which are more complicated (non-transparent) and wireless home multimedia networks.
slower. Also, some devices will be able to maintain
History and timeline
simultaneous links in the two bands while others will not.
Most observers agree that the 802.11ac amendment has,
FST is important because it allows home networks to be built
thus far, moved faster and more smoothly than the original
from a combination of 802.11ac and 802.11ad devices.
802.11n. This is partly due to the evolutionary nature of the
Short-range, high-rate communication across rooms will
amendment. It essentially uses the same techniques as
be handled by 60-GHz links, but if there are marginal
802.11n, but extends rather than synthesizes the whole
conditions, the switch to 5-GHz is fast, and handled by lower
MIMO structure from scratch. The IEEE also made a
protocol layers.
conscious decision to change the process.

31
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

For 802.11ac, the initial document was framework spec, listing The result was that voting members whose proposals were
an outline for each feature and building up detail feature by down-selected and were not part of the winning consortium
feature. This avoided the extra-curricular activities of 802.11n, tended to view the whole proposal as alien, resulting in
where companies formed ad-hoc alliances and sought to continued opposition all the way to sponsor ballot stage. The
deliver fully-formed specification documents to the IEEE task new format has allowed more of the specification to be
group as the initial proposal. written from consensus, and this should continue to pay off
in smoother passage through ratification.

802.11ac mandatory and optional features

Feature Mandatory Optional

Channel width 20, 40, 80 MHz 80+80, 160 MHz

Modulation & coding MCS 0 7 MCS 8, 9

Spatial streams 1 28

Guard interval Long (800 nsec) Short (400 nsec)

Beamforming feedback Respond to beamforming sounding

Space-time block coding Transmit and receive STBC

Parity check Transmit and receive LDPC

Multi-user MIMO Up to 4 spatial streams per client, with same MCS

Regulatory limitations However, 802.11ac uses the 5-GHz spectrum, which is not
Thus far, Wi-Fi has done an excellent job of creating an effectively quite unified globally, and as the channel width increases to
global standard. A PC or other client device can move from 80 and 160 MHz, differences between national regulations
continent to continent and receive consistent service, as far as will become more important.
the consumer is concerned. Below the surface, there are
national differences concerning allowed channels and power
levels, but these are accommodated in the 802.11 standard and
are not significant enough to affect performance.

Milestones and dates for 802.11ac in IEEE and Wi-Fi Alliance (as of September October 2011)

IEEE Milestone Date

Project Allocation Request (PAR) approved September 2008

Initial working group letter ballot May 2011

Initial sponsor ballot January 2013 (estimate)

Final RevCom approval December 2013 (estimate)

Wi-Fi Alliance Milestone

Marketing task group formed July 2010

Technical task group formed August 2011

Launch date for certification programme Q4 2012 (estimate)

32
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

Several 802.11n features have not yet been widely deployed.

The most disappointing is beamforming. While several chip
802.11n experience
vendors implemented implicit beamforming, most gains from
Over the four to five years since 802.11n devices became
it are only realized with accurate receiver feedback, and while
commercially available, we have learned a good deal about
it is in the standard, explicit beamforming between different
MIMO and technology adoption that can help predict how
vendors equipment is not yet a reality.
802.11ac may roll out.
802.11ac streamlines the explicit beamforming section,
The most significant revelation is that MIMO SDM works
removing many options, and requires explicit feedback for
widely and effectively, at least for indoor wireless. Even where
MU-MIMO, and we hope this will spur vendors
there is a good line of sight, there seems to be sufficient
implementation plans.
multipath that multi-stream connections offer good
throughput gains nearly all the time. PCO is another feature that hasnt been implemented, but it
seems the various compatibility and coexistence mechanisms
Secondly, 40-MHz channels are very useful in the 5-GHz
are quite adequate for mixed-mode operation of 802.11n
band. Most current enterprise WLANs use 20-MHz channels
with older clients and in the presence of older networks.
at 2.4-GHz and 40-MHz channels at 5-GHz with dual-radio
APs. The only exception is that with very high user or device A third technique is space-time block coding (STBC). Again,
density, higher overall throughput is achieved by load- this is modified for MU-MIMO in 802.11ac and may see wider
balancing clients across many 20-MHz channels rather than a implementation as a result.
smaller number of 40-MHz channels. For several years, APs and PCs were dual-band, while
The next significant success is from MAC frame aggregation, consumer devices like gaming platforms, barcode scanners
A-MPDU. The ability to contend once to get on the air, then and smartphones were 2.4 GHz-only. This has changed over
send multiple frames back to back is very helpful for high- the past year, as dual-band APs for residential use and
rate traffic, chiefly video, which is usually responsible for high devices such as high-end smartphones are becoming
bandwidth utilization. Where high loads are due to medium- more common. Tablet devices are already nearly all dual-
rate traffic from many clients, rather than high-rate traffic band. This bodes well for 802.11ac, as a pool of 5-GHz devices
from just a few clients, A-MPDU is less effective, but the latter already exists.
is the more prevalent case.

802.11ac throughput improvement over 802.11n

(estimates only performance depends on clients, traffic profiles, neighboring WLANs etc.)

802.11ac enhancement Notes Improvement Max theoretical

over current improvement over
802.11n 802.11n
80 MHz, 160 MHz channel Over 40 MHz in 802.11n (but how often is a 160 MHz ~2.1x (80 MHz) 4.2x (160 MHz)
channel practical?)
8 Spatial streams Over max 4 spatial streams in 802.11n (but only just seeing ~2x (4SS vs 2SS) 1x (4SS vs 4SS without
3SS 802.11n in the field) multi-user MIMO)
256-QAM 3/4 and 5/6 Over 64-QAM 5/6 in 802.11n ~1.2, 1.33x ~1.2, 1.33x
modulation
Beamforming No explicit beamforming in current 802.11n systems due ~1.5x ~2x
(implementable BF) to complexity
Multi-user downlink MIMO Over single-user MIMO in 802.11n ~1.5x ~2x
Total improvement ~10x ~20x

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

In its development and adoption cycle, 802.11n has quickly We can also count the antennas. The most significant leap for
become the industry standard for enterprise and consumer 802.11n was to MIMO with two or three driven antennas and
equipment. Nearly all 802.11 equipment now uses 802.11n two spatial streams. This happened right at the beginning,
silicon, a sign that chip vendors are putting all their with the first wave of 802.11n equipment. Subsequent
development efforts into 802.11n. progress was slower.

Even single-antenna, highly cost-sensitive devices like Most enterprise APs today have three antennas supporting
smartphones now use 802.11n, because innovations in two or three spatial streams, although 802.11n extends to
low-power operation and large-scale production make them four antennas and four streams. While the standards provide
cost-effective with older technology. step increases in capability, implementation is slower and
more gradual.
802.11ac deployment
When considering the amount of driven antennas and spatial
It is worth taking some time to consider how 802.11ac may
streams afforded by 802.11ac, it is unlikely we will see those
affect the Wi-Fi market over the next few years. No doubt
numbers in mainstream equipment for quite a while, as they
there will be similarities to the 802.11n roll out, but also
translate immediately into increased complexity, cost, size
differences. To begin with, it is better to think of 802.11ac as a
and power consumption. But when new applications demand
set of tools that can be used individually or in combination,
higher performance, the standards will be ready.
depending on the situation, rather than a monolithic feature.
The obvious new bandwidth-hungry application is residential
It gives us significant initial improvements, but also a number
video. Driving uncompressed or lightly compressed TV
of dimensions that wont be implemented for a while, and we
signals over wireless rather than cables is within the reach
may never see a single product that has 160-MHz channels
of 802.11ac, and depending on the relative success of
or eight antennas. But that doesnt detract from the
802.11ad at 60 GHz, it may prove to be an enormous market
standards value.
for the technology.
Silicon vendors are already shipping dual-band chips with
Even without a significant new application area, existing uses
802.11ac at 5 GHz and 802.11n for 2.4 GHz. It is clear that they
and users of 802.11n require more speed. As enterprises,
will move development of new features power-saving, SOC
schools and universities, conference centers and hotels are
integration, new production processes to 802.11ac and in a
seeing more high-bandwidth demand, especially for video
few years these will become more cost-effective for
and for high-density areas. Here the MU-MIMO features will
equipment vendors.
allow a single AP to serve many clients, and we may see
802.11ac will become the mainstream Wi-Fi technology, but super-size APs with many more antennas, developed
there is likely to be a wider spectrum of chip options for especially for such areas.
residential and enterprise use and between client devices
Explicit beamforming is the one significant feature of 802.11n
and APs.
that did not live up to its promise. This is widely thought to be
80-MHz channels should be widely used in residential due to the breadth of implementation options and the
networks. The home Wi-Fi environment tends to revolve preference of each chip developer for their own algorithm,
around a single AP, with relatively little high-power but regardless of the reason there is hope that the simpler
interference from neighboring networks, so the low number standard in 802.1ac will drive stronger adoption.
of 80-MHz channels shouldnt be an issue.
Conclusion
In enterprise networks, the five available 80-MHz channels, of
802.11ac takes all the techniques the Wi-Fi industry has
which three require DFS, should be sufficient for overlapping
learned up to 802.11n, and extends them. It is relatively
APs to provide contiguous coverage. Three-channel plans
uncontroversial to say that in a few years, Wi-Fi will be
have been used in the 2.4GHz band for years, although some
synonymous with 802.11ac, or whichever name the Wi-Fi
networks will have reasons to prefer a higher number of
Alliance chooses for it.
smaller-width channels. Although the widespread adoption of
160-MHz channels is unlikely, special applications that use
this option will likely emerge.

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

The significant improvements are from wider channels, In enterprise networks, the higher rates and increased
higher-rate modulation and higher-level MIMO, all capacity of 802.11ac will break down the last remaining
evolutionary except the MU-MIMO option, but together they barriers to the all-wireless office. There should be enough
offer a top speed that is 10 times that of 802.11n. capacity in an 802.11ac WLAN that users see equivalent
performance to wired Ethernet.
At this stage it is difficult to see a single device using all the
options in the standard, but that is not the point, as Wi-Fi is We are already seeing applications such as wireless display
branching in different directions and no doubt there will be projection from PCs to monitors and displays becoming
applications for all of these new options. popular in niches such as education, and with the increase in
rates from 802.11n to 802.11ac that is bound to continue.
The Wi-Fi Alliance is under-reported in this paper because
its work takes place a little later than the IEEE, selecting While beamforming will extend range in enterprises as in
parts of the standard and developing from them an residential WLANs, the higher user density and slowly
interoperability certification. upgrading device base means it is unlikely AP distances will
be increased substantially, except in specific cases.
But it plays a crucial role, as developers will build equipment
to the eventual Wi-Fi Alliance certification rather than the Is 802.11ac the last word in Wi-Fi, at least at the physical
IEEE standard. In the same way as 802.11n certification rolled layer? There is certainly a case for saying that it pushes most
out in two phases, 802.11ac will generate at least two Wi-Fi parameters to the limit channel bandwidth, modulation,
Alliance certifications over time. number of antennas and spatial streams, beamforming.

In residential settings, we expect 802.11ac to accelerate the There is some opportunity in MU-MIMO but it is difficult to
home multimedia network, as it will have the bandwidth to see where significant improvements can be made in existing
support multiple simultaneous video streams. We expect to spectrum without some new invention. Nevertheless,
see TV monitors fitted with Wi-Fi connections, along with 802.11ac provides plenty of runway. It will be several years
many other home media devices. before chips and devices catch up with all the features in the
standard, and by that time there will no doubt be many new
Features that improve SNR, chiefly beamforming should
developments signaling where the next wave of innovation
extend the range of 802.11ac Wi-Fi and reduce coverage dead
should be directed.
spots. It is difficult to quantify these improvements, but they
could be as much as 30% greater useful range.

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company
designs and delivers Mobility-Defined Networks that empower IT departments and #GenMobile, a new generation of tech-
savvy users who rely on their mobile devices for every aspect of work and personal communication. To create a mobility
experience that #GenMobile and IT can rely upon, Aruba Mobility-Defined Networks automate infrastructure-wide
performance optimization and trigger security actions that used to require manual IT intervention. The results are
dramatically improved productivity and lower operational costs.

Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the
Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at www.arubanetworks.com. For
real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba
products visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.

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White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

References
1. http://www.isuppli.com/Abstract/WLAN-Differentiation-Opportunities-Emerge-as-802-11n-Rapidly-becomes-
Mainstream.pdf

2. http://www.isuppli.com/mobile-and-wireless-communications/marketwatch/pages/wi-fi-chipset-shipments-to-double-
in-2011.aspx

3. http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1008090

4. IEEE P802.11ac D3.0, June 2012

5. IEEE 802.11-09/0161 802.11ac Usage Model Document

6. IEEE 802.11-09/0992 Proposed Specification Framework for TGac

7. IEEE 802.11-10/0438r2 TGad Security Enhancements

8. Wi-Fi Alliance Marketing Requirements Document for Interoperability Testing of Approved VHT5G Products, Version 0.71

9. IEEE 802.11ad D8.0 May 2012

10. IEEE 802.11-11/0459r1 802.11ad Overview for CWPAN

11. IEEE 802.11-10/0432r2 PHY/MAC Complete Proposal to TGad

12. IEEE 802.11-10/492r02 Collaboration between 2.4/5 and 60 GHz

13. http://www.isuppli.com/Abstract/WLAN-Differentiation-Opportunities-Emerge-as-802-11n-Rapidly-becomes-
Mainstream.pdf

14. http://www.isuppli.com/mobile-and-wireless-communications/marketwatch/pages/wi-fi-chipset-shipments-to-double-
in-2011.aspx

15. http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1008090

16. IEEE P802.11ac D3.0, June 2012

17. IEEE 802.11-09/0161 802.11ac Usage Model Document

18. IEEE 802.11-09/0992 Proposed Specification Framework for TGac

19. IEEE 802.11-10/0438r2 TGad Security Enhancements

20. Wi-Fi Alliance Marketing Requirements Document for Interoperability Testing of Approved VHT5G Products, Version 0.71

21. IEEE 802.11ad D8.0 May 2012

22. IEEE 802.11-11/0459r1 802.11ad Overview for CWPAN

23. IEEE 802.11-10/0432r2 PHY/MAC Complete Proposal to TGad

24. IEEE 802.11-10/492r02 Collaboration between 2.4/5 and 60GHz

25. http://www.isuppli.com/Abstract/WLAN-Differentiation-Opportunities-Emerge-as-802-11n-Rapidly-becomes-
Mainstream.pdf

26. http://www.isuppli.com/mobile-and-wireless-communications/marketwatch/pages/wi-fi-chipset-shipments-to-double-
in-2011.aspx

27. http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1008090

28. IEEE P802.11ac D3.0, June 2012

29. IEEE 802.11-09/0161 802.11ac Usage Model Document

30. IEEE 802.11-09/0992 Proposed Specification Framework for TGac

36
White paper 802.11ac In-Depth

31. IEEE 802.11-10/0438r2 TGad Security Enhancements

32. Wi-Fi Alliance Marketing Requirements Document for Interoperability Testing of Approved VHT5G Products, Version 0.71

33. IEEE 802.11ad D8.0 May 2012

34. IEEE 802.11-11/0459r1 802.11ad Overview for CWPAN

35. IEEE 802.11-10/0432r2 PHY/MAC Complete Proposal to TGad

36. IEEE 802.11-10/492r02 Collaboration between 2.4/5 and 60 GHz

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2014 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks, Aruba The Mobile Edge Company (stylized), Aruba Mobilty Management System, People Move. Networks Must
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specifications contained in this document, Aruba Networks, Inc. will assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. WP_80211acInDepth_041414

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