Title:  Protocols and Algorithms for the Next Generation WiFi Networks

Committee: 

Dr. Sivakumar, , Advisor        

Dr. Blough, Chair

Dr. Fekri

Abstract: The objective of the proposed research is to provide algorithms that fundamentally scale the performance of WiFi and serve as a transition solution toward next generation WiFi networks. WiFi has been widely adopted in different environments to provide different services due to its high data-rate achievability, cheap deployability, and near-universal availability. In order to support the ubiquitous application of WiFi, various protocols and algorithms have been proposed to enhance different abilities of WiFi in both the MAC and PHY layers. Along with different enhancements, these protocols and algorithms also require different complexity of changes to the WiFi infrastructure. Due to the large number of WiFi devices, the expense of updating/replacing all devices to new protocols can be enormous. Thus, the complexity of changes is also an important consideration when adopting new protocols and algorithms. We present a spectrum of protocols and algorithms for next generation WiFi networks according to their enhancement and complexity of changes. While there is a huge possibility of locating protocols and algorithms in this spectrum, we focus on two corners of the spectrum: One acts as a transition solution for updating legacy WiFi networks with limited complexity of changes, and the other provides desirable abilities for next generation WiFi network in an advanced WiFi infrastructure.