In-band wireless cut-through: is it possible?

Abstract

This paper explores if wireless cut-through is possible. Unlike wired cut-through, wireless cut-through, if realized, can reduce latency and improve throughput by upto 3x. This paper shows that one way to implement cut-through is for every node to forward the previously decoded packet while receiving the current packet. This strategy is called decode-and-forward D&F). Another way is to have every node forward without decoding. This strategy is called amplify-and-forward (A&F). This paper shows that both D&F and A&F have many shortcomings. It proposes a new way to realize cut-through that reduces latency and increases throughput over traditional routing. This paper implements the first cut-through routing modules. Through multiple emulations of existing operational networks, it shows that cut-through switching can improve sum network throughput by up to 2.2x compared to traditional routing.