Paper on Aggregation Algorithm for Multi-Link Wi-Fi 7 Devices Published in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters

The work “Aggregation Algorithm to Increase Throughput of Multi-Link Wi-Fi 7 Devices” authored by the members of the Wireless Networks Lab, IITP RAS Vladislav Paroshin, Ilya Levitsky, Vyacheslav Loginov and Evgeny Khorov has been published in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters.

The latest IEEE 802.11be standard for Wi-Fi 7 introduces a game-changing multi-link technology, allowing devices to use multiple links simultaneously for data exchange. In theory, it should significantly boost throughput in Wi-Fi 7 networks. However, in practice, packets sent via one link can block transmission on another link until the former ones are acknowledged. Hence, throughput can be much smaller than expected. Therefore, an algorithm to balance packet distribution across the links.

The key contribution of the published paper by the members of Wireless Networks Lab, IITP RAS lies in how multi-link devices manage packet balancing and transmission. The authors develop the Dynamic Algorithm for Multi-Link Aggregation (DAMLA) – the first-ever algorithm to dynamically adjust the number of packets sent on each link in order to increase multi-link device throughput.

This letter proves a theorem on how the optimal algorithm operates in ideal conditions. This theorem has allowed us to develop an algorithm for a more general case, where the randomness of the process and the probability of transmission errors are taken into account,

says Ilya Levitsky.

This work really does closely intertwine theory and practice. The theoretical results made us look at the problem from a different angle and propose a practical solution,

comments a coauthor Vladislav Paroshin, a student of the MIPT basic department at the IITP RAS, who conducted research as part of his bachelor’s degree.

Extensive simulations are made using the NS-3 simulator, to which IITP RAS members have majorly contributed. Results show that DAMLA can improve network throughput by up to 50% compared to the existing solutions. This leap in performance could also have far-reaching implications for industries relying on high-speed, low-latency wireless connections.

The paper is published in IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, a first quartile (Q1) journal. The research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

Wireless Networks Lab, IITP RAS is a ‘Megagrant’ lab established in 2017 around the project on Cloudified Wireless Networks for 5G and beyond, led by Prof. Ian Akyildiz. Currently the WNL members, led by Evgeny Khorov, regularly report at leading scientific conferences, cooperate with Russian and international companies, and contribute to the standardization of wireless networks. The main part of WNL constitute students, postgraduates and graduates of MIPT, HSE, and MSU.