Single User MAC Level Throughput Comparision: IEEE 802.11ax vs. IEEE 802.11ac

Abstract

With the ever-increasing range of video and audio applications in portable handheld devices, demand for high throughput in Wi-Fi networks is escalating. In this paper we introduce several novel features defined in next generation WLAN, termed as IEEE 802.11ax standard, and compare between the maximum throughputs received in IEEE 802.11ax and IEEE 802.11ac in a scenario where the AP continuously transmits to one station in the Single User mode. The comparison is done as a function of the modulation/coding schemes in use. In IEEE 802.11ax we consider two levels of frame aggregation. IEEE 802.11ax outperforms IEEE 802.11ac by about 29% and 48% in reliable and unreliable channels respectively.