Wireless communication method and transmitting device
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202610943280.2
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2026-06-26
- Publication Date
- 2026-09-22
AI Technical Summary
[0020]根据本公开的上述一个方面的无线通信方法以及发送设备,可以通过基于通信质量信息,探索多个动作的方式选出当前通信环境下最佳的RTS/CTS策略。对于当前关闭RTS/CTS机制的设备,此算法能够识别处于干扰环境下的设备,为其开启RTS/CTS保护,增强抗干扰能力,提升通信体验;对于当前开启RTS/CTS机制的设备,此算法能够识别信道较好的设备,为其关闭RTS/CTS以减少发包开销,提升通信体验。
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Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication, and more specifically to wireless communication methods and transmitting devices. Background Technology
[0002] Wi-Fi operating frequency bands (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz) are highly susceptible to interference from other Wi-Fi or non-Wi-Fi signals. To maintain stable performance in complex environments, the Wi-Fi protocol has established various anti-interference mechanisms at both the Physical (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) layers, such as the Request To Send / Clear To Send (RTS / CTS) mechanism at the MAC layer. The RTS / CTS mechanism works by sending an RTS or CTS before transmitting a data frame, allowing both the sender and receiver to jointly declare channel occupancy. Nodes receiving the RTS or CTS will remain silent for a period indicated by the Duration field, thus reducing data transmission collisions. If a collision cannot be avoided, since the RTS / CTS frame is relatively short compared to the data frame, sending the RTS / CTS first can replace large packet collisions with smaller ones, preventing devices from blindly sending data packets.
[0003] Currently, most manufacturers implement RTS / CTS mechanisms in either a fixed mode or a threshold mode. Fixed mode means the device always enables or always disables RTS / CTS when transmitting data in a certain frequency band. Threshold mode means the device determines whether to enable RTS / CTS based on the length of the data packet to be transmitted; RTS / CTS is only enabled when the length of the data packet exceeds the RTS threshold. These two modes result in a relatively fixed RTS strategy used by the device when transmitting data, making it difficult to flexibly adjust anti-interference strategies. Therefore, a more flexible strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism is needed to adapt to complex communication environments. Summary of the Invention
[0004] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method is provided, executed by a transmitting device, the method comprising: obtaining communication quality information between the transmitting device and a receiving device, wherein the communication quality information includes channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between the transmitting device and the receiving device and / or quality information of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device; and, based on the communication quality information, performing multiple actions by the transmitting device to transmit data to the receiving device, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling a request-to-send / clear-to-send (RTS / CTS) mechanism, wherein the multiple actions include at least two of enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, enabling a self-CTS mechanism, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length being greater than a length threshold.
[0005] In at least one embodiment, the channel occupancy information includes at least one of the following: the Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) occupancy rate of the associated frequency band between the transmitting device and the receiving device; the Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) occupancy rate of the associated frequency band between the transmitting device and the receiving device; and the quality information includes at least one of the following: the flow rate of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device; the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) when the transmitting device receives feedback data from the receiving device; the Packet Error Rate (PER) of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device; the transmission rate of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device; the failure rate or success rate of the receiving device's acknowledgment after the transmitting device sends an RTS; and the transmission time from the transmitting device sending data to the receiving device to the acknowledgment.
[0006] In at least one embodiment, determining a strategy to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: triggering a strategy to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being enabled or enabled by CTS, and determining that the communication quality is higher than a quality threshold; and triggering a strategy to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being enabled or enabled by CTS, and determining that the RSSI is lower than an RSSI threshold and the transmission time from the sending device to the receiving device for sending data to the receiving device for receiving an acknowledgment is higher than a transmission time threshold.
[0007] In response to whether the current RTS / CTS mechanism is off or off the self-CTS mechanism, and if it is determined that enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or enabling the self-CTS mechanism brings positive gain, a strategy to determine whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is triggered.
[0008] In at least one embodiment, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism in response to determining that communication quality information meets a threshold condition for enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism; and disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism in response to determining that communication quality information meets a threshold condition for disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism.
[0009] In at least one embodiment, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism in response to determining that the communication quality information meets the threshold condition for disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism includes: determining to disable the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being enabled and the response failure rate after sending an RTS being higher than a failure rate threshold.
[0010] In at least one embodiment, determining that the communication quality is higher than a quality threshold includes at least one of the following: the transmission rate of data sent by the transmitting device to the receiving device is higher than a rate threshold; the occupancy rate of the Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) between the transmitting device and the receiving device is less than an occupancy rate threshold.
[0011] In at least one embodiment, determining that enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or enabling the self-CTS mechanism brings a positive gain includes: determining that the data transmission throughput when the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism is enabled is greater than the data transmission throughput when the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism is disabled.
[0012] In at least one embodiment, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: responding to fluctuations in at least one of Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), data transmission volume, and data transmission rate being less than corresponding fluctuation thresholds; obtaining communication quality information related to each action; calculating a reward value for each action based on the communication quality information related to each action, wherein the reward value is positively correlated with the amount of data transmitted that is acknowledged within a predetermined period and negatively correlated with the transmission time from the transmitting device to the receiving device for sending data to the receiving device for acknowledgment or the air interface time occupied by the transmitting device for transmitting data to the receiving device; executing the action with the largest reward value in response to the difference between the largest reward value and the reward value of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being greater than a reward threshold; and maintaining the current RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the difference between the largest reward value and the reward value of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being no greater than a reward threshold.
[0013] In at least one embodiment, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: responding to whether the current RTS / CTS mechanism is enabled or enabled by CTS, and determining that the RSSI is lower than the RSSI threshold and the transmission time from the transmitting device to the receiving device for sending data to the acknowledgment is higher than the transmission time threshold; obtaining each transmission time associated with each action; responding to the fact that the minimum transmission time among the transmission times is smaller than the transmission time of an action corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism, and the absolute value of the difference between the two exceeds an execution threshold, executing an action associated with the minimum transmission time; responding to the fact that the minimum transmission time is not smaller than the transmission time of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism, or the minimum transmission time is smaller than the transmission time of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism but the absolute value of the difference between the two does not exceed an execution threshold, maintaining the current RTS / CTS mechanism.
[0014] In at least one embodiment, obtaining communication quality information related to each action further includes: obtaining communication quality information related to each action in response to determining that the traffic of transmitted data is higher than a traffic threshold, and / or determining that the number of times the RSSI rate of change exceeds the RSSI rate of change threshold when receiving feedback data is less than a number threshold.
[0015] In at least one embodiment, the method further includes: in response to the policy of determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism being executed multiple times, and the number of times the policy of enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism is determined to maintain the current RTS / CTS mechanism being executed is higher than a predetermined number, disabling the policy of determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism for a predetermined time period.
[0016] In at least one embodiment, determining the strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: taking multiple state variables describing communication quality information as input to an artificial intelligence model for determining the strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, and taking a first action output by the artificial intelligence model as the RTS / CTS strategy; wherein the artificial intelligence model is trained to maximize a reward value, the reward value being positively correlated with one or more communication quality target parameters to be improved and negatively correlated with one or more communication quality target parameters to be decreased, wherein the reward value is calculated by performing the first action or a second action randomly selected from multiple actions to send data, wherein the multiple actions include at least two of enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, enabling the self-CTS mechanism, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the length of the sent data being greater than a length threshold.
[0017] In at least one embodiment, the strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism further includes: in response to the AI model making a predetermined number of predictions, updating a portion of the parameters in the AI model to maximize the reward value; in response to the degradation of communication quality information or reward value obtained by making predictions using the updated AI model exceeding a degradation threshold, reverting a portion of the updated parameters in the AI model to the state before the update, and training the AI model based on the current multiple state variables and reward value.
[0018] In at least one embodiment, the communication quality information includes channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between a transmitting device and one or more receiving devices on a predetermined communication frequency band and / or quality information of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device.
[0019] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a transmitting apparatus is provided, comprising: at least one memory configured to store program instructions; and one or more processors coupled to the at least one memory and configured to execute the program instructions to perform a method according to at least one embodiment of this disclosure.
[0020] According to the wireless communication method and transmitting device of one aspect of this disclosure, the optimal RTS / CTS strategy under the current communication environment can be selected by exploring multiple actions based on communication quality information. For devices that currently have RTS / CTS disabled, this algorithm can identify devices in interference environments, enable RTS / CTS protection for them, enhance anti-interference capabilities, and improve communication experience; for devices that currently have RTS / CTS enabled, this algorithm can identify devices with better channels, disable RTS / CTS for them to reduce packet transmission overhead, and improve communication experience. Attached Figure Description
[0021] The above and other objects, features, and advantages of this disclosure will become more apparent from the more detailed description of the embodiments thereof in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are provided to offer a further understanding of the embodiments of this disclosure and form part of the specification. They are used together with the embodiments of this disclosure to explain the disclosure and do not constitute a limitation thereof. In the drawings, the same reference numerals generally represent the same components or steps.
[0022] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating a scenario with one access point (AP) and multiple stations (STAs) in a wireless local area network.
[0023] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the workflow of the RTS / CTS mechanism is shown.
[0024] Figure 3An example general flowchart of a method performed by a transmitting device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.
[0025] Figure 4 It shows Figure 3 The flowchart shows a wireless communication method performed by a transmitting device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0026] Figure 5 A schematic diagram is shown for collecting channel quality information and determining the period of steady-state environment according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0027] Figure 6 An example flowchart illustrating a first strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.
[0028] Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating the principle of a second strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.
[0029] Figure 8 A block diagram of a transmitting device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Detailed Implementation
[0030] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this disclosure more apparent, exemplary embodiments according to this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same elements throughout. It should be understood that the embodiments described in this disclosure are merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of this disclosure.
[0031] The terms “exemplary” and / or “example” are used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” and / or “example” is not necessarily to be construed as superior to or better than other aspects. Similarly, the term “aspects of this disclosure” does not require that all aspects of this disclosure include the features, advantages, or modes of operation discussed.
[0032] In this document, the term "access point" or "AP" is used to refer to the network infrastructure component that provides wireless access and wireless data transmission for wireless devices. The terms "site" and "STA" are used to refer to wireless devices that wirelessly transmit data with the AP, whether the STA is a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone or smartphone) or a fixed device (e.g., a desktop computer, AP, media player, fixed sensor, television, etc.). Depending on the network type, other well-known terms such as "router" or "gateway" may be used instead of "access point" or "AP". Other well-known terms such as "mobile station," "user station," "client," "remote terminal," "user equipment," "wireless terminal," or "user equipment" may be used instead of "site" or "STA".
[0033] The following explains the terms used in this article:
[0034] Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) occupancy rate: This refers to the proportion of time that devices within a given Basic Service Set (BSS) occupy the channel on a specific radio frequency band. Specifically, it measures the percentage of time that devices (such as APs or associated STAs) within the current BSS occupy the channel during a given time period (e.g., 1 second). This metric reflects the level of channel contention within the BSS. For example, within a statistical period (e.g., 1 second), an AP, by monitoring the channel, calculates the ratio of the total time spent on the channel by STAs within its own BSS transmitting data frames (including control frames such as RTS / CTS / ACK) to the total duration of the statistical period.
[0035] Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) occupancy rate: This refers to the proportion of time that other BSSs (BSSs not managed by the current AP) occupy the channel on a given radio frequency band. There are BSSs that overlap with other APs or BSSs (BSSs not managed by the current AP) on the same radio frequency band. These BSSs may originate from other APs (such as neighboring APs) or devices. It measures the degree of interference to the current AP's radio channel caused by other APs or BSSs (such as the BSSs of neighboring APs). This metric reflects the impact of external interference on current wireless communication. For example, within a statistical period (e.g., 1 second), the AP listens to the channel and calculates the ratio of the total time other BSSs (not the current BSS) occupy the channel to the total duration of the statistical period.
[0036] In the RTS / CTS mechanism, a Request to Send (RTS) frame is sent by the sending device to request permission from the receiving device to send data, and includes the estimated transmission time of the data frame.
[0037] In the RTS / CTS mechanism, a Clear to Send (CTS) frame is replied to by the receiving device, allowing the sending device to send data to the receiving device and notifying other surrounding devices (including hidden nodes) to remain silent for a specified time.
[0038] Network Allocation Vector (NAV): All devices that receive a CTS update their NAV timer based on the duration field in the CTS, and do not send data during this period to avoid collisions.
[0039] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating a scenario with one access point (AP) and multiple STAs in a wireless local area network (WLAN).
[0040] like Figure 1 As shown, within the coverage area of BSS 110 of AP 111, there are sites STA 112, STA 113, STA 114, etc. AP 111 in BSS 110 is associated with STA 112, STA 113, STA 114, etc. AP 111 can communicate with STA 112, STA 113, STA 114, etc.
[0041] In a wireless LAN, if two STAs (such as STA 113 and STA 112) are too far apart or separated by obstacles (such as iron gates or walls) to directly perceive each other's signals, but can still communicate through the AP, they act as "hidden nodes" to each other. When both send signals to the AP simultaneously, the signals will collide at the AP, causing data transmission failure.
[0042] The RTS / CTS mechanism between AP and STA is a channel reservation mechanism in the IEEE 802.11 protocol used to solve the hidden node problem and reduce data transmission conflicts. Its core principle, workflow and function are as follows.
[0043] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the workflow of the RTS / CTS mechanism is shown.
[0044] Assuming the transmitting device wants to send data to the receiving device, taking the transmitting device AP sending data to the receiving device STA1 as an example, the complete interaction process of the RTS / CTS mechanism is as follows.
[0045] During the RTS reservation phase, the AP sends an RTS frame, which includes the data frame length and its own MAC address. After receiving the RTS, STA1 calculates the total channel occupancy time. Upon receiving the RTS frame, STA1 responds with a CTS frame. The CTS frame also contains the remaining data transmission time (also based on the duration field in the RTS frame).
[0046] During the CTS broadcast phase, STA1 broadcasts a CTS frame containing a duration field. All other devices receiving the CTS (including STA2) update their NAV timers, locking the channel for the total channel occupancy time and delaying channel access. Thus, although STA2 cannot directly detect the AP's signal, it learns about channel occupancy through STA1's CTS, avoiding simultaneous data transmission.
[0047] During the data transmission phase, the AP sends a data frame to STA1 after the Short Interframe Space (SIFS). Upon receiving the data, STA1 replies with an acknowledgment frame (ACK), completing a successful transmission.
[0048] When STA1 finishes sending its ACK and the NAV timer reaches zero, other devices (such as STA2) will not immediately send data (delaying transmission). Instead, they will listen to the channel for a period of time, such as the Distributed Interframe Space (DIFS), to confirm whether the channel is truly idle. If the channel remains idle during the DIFS time, other devices will start a backoff timer to back off. The value of the backoff timer is randomly selected within a contention window to reduce the probability of collisions when multiple devices attempt to send data simultaneously. When the backoff timer decrements to zero, other devices can begin sending data.
[0049] The RTS / CTS mechanism reduces the number of retransmissions caused by collisions. In scenarios with dense device deployment (such as offices and shopping malls), the RTS / CTS mechanism significantly reduces the probability of data frame collisions and improves overall throughput.
[0050] CTS-to-Self is a MAC layer protection mechanism defined in the IEEE 802.11 protocol, primarily used to address the hidden node problem and technological coexistence issues in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). Its core principle is that the sender broadcasts a CTS frame, but sets the Receive Address (RA) field of the CTS frame to its own MAC address, rather than the target receiver's address. The duration field of the CTS frame declares the estimated channel time occupied by this transmission. All devices that detect this CTS frame update their own NAV (Network Assignment Vector) timer and remain silent until the NAV timer expires, thus avoiding interference with the sender's transmission. In networks with few hidden nodes, CTS-to-Self is more efficient than RTS / CTS switching because it only requires sending one CTS frame, reducing the interaction time.
[0051] Currently, most vendors implement RTS / CTS mechanisms on APs in either a fixed mode or a threshold mode. These two modes result in a relatively fixed RTS strategy used by the AP when sending data to STAs. This makes it impossible to flexibly adjust anti-interference strategies based on current environmental indicators, nor can it provide customized RTS / CTS services for each client associated with the AP, thus preventing each STA in the network from using its optimal anti-interference strategy.
[0052] For nearby clients (e.g., STAs) with good communication quality, the additional overhead of RTS / CTS interaction reduces transmission efficiency and limits client performance. Conversely, for distant clients with poor channel conditions, RTS / CTS interaction can improve interference immunity and enhance client performance. Similarly, even in environments with good communication quality, clients with varying traffic volumes require different RTS / CTS strategies. For instance, with high traffic volumes and more packet errors, enabling RTS / CTS protection provides better performance; with low traffic volumes and fewer packet errors, not using RTS / CTS interaction actually yields better performance. Furthermore, some Internet of Things (IoT) clients do not adequately support the RTS / CTS mechanism, resulting in APs with RTS / CTS enabled failing to receive responses after sending RTS messages. Therefore, it is desirable for the transmitting device's RTS / CTS strategy to dynamically change with the environment and client status, ensuring that each client uses the optimal RTS / CTS strategy for its current environment and status.
[0053] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a wireless communication method is provided, executed by a transmitting device, the method comprising: obtaining communication quality information between the transmitting device and a receiving device, wherein the communication quality information includes channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between the transmitting device and the receiving device and / or quality information of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device; and, based on the communication quality information, performing multiple actions by the transmitting device to transmit data to the receiving device, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling a request-to-send / clear-to-send (RTS / CTS) mechanism, wherein the multiple actions include at least two of enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, enabling a self-CTS mechanism, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length being greater than a length threshold.
[0054] Thus, by exploring multiple actions based on communication quality information, the optimal RTS / CTS strategy for the current communication environment is selected. For devices with RTS / CTS disabled by default, this algorithm can identify devices in interference environments and enable RTS / CTS protection for them, enhancing anti-interference capabilities and improving the communication experience. For devices with RTS / CTS enabled by default, this algorithm can identify devices with good channel conditions and disable RTS / CTS for them to reduce packet transmission overhead and improve the communication experience.
[0055] Figure 3 An example general flowchart of a method performed by a transmitting device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.
[0056] In the periodic detection step 301, communication quality information can be collected periodically. In some embodiments, the communication quality information includes channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between the transmitting device and the receiving device and / or quality information of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device.
[0057] The aforementioned communication quality information is related to whether enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, and / or enabling or disabling the self-CTS mechanism, brings benefits. For example, channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between the transmitting and receiving devices indicates less interference, and / or the quality information of the data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device indicates high data quality, indirectly indicating less interference. In such cases, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism can be considered to save communication resources. Conversely, channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between the transmitting and receiving devices indicates greater interference, and / or the quality information of the data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device indicates low data quality, indirectly indicating greater interference. In such cases, enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism can be considered to avoid collisions and improve throughput.
[0058] In some embodiments, channel occupancy information includes at least one of the following: Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) occupancy rate of the associated frequency band between the transmitting and receiving devices; Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) occupancy rate of the associated frequency band between the transmitting and receiving devices. Quality information includes at least one of the following: the flow rate of data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device; Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) when the transmitting device receives feedback data from the receiving device; Packet Error Rate (PER) of data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device; Transmission rate of data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device; Reply failure rate or success rate of the receiving device after the transmitting device sends an RTS; Transmission time from the transmitting device sending data to the receiving device to the acknowledgment response.
[0059] IBSS occupancy rate refers to the proportion of time that devices within a Basic Service Set (BSS) occupy the channel on a given radio frequency band. For example, within a statistical period (e.g., 1 second), an AP (Access Point) listens to the channel and calculates the ratio of the total time spent on the channel by STAs (Stations within the same BSS) transmitting data frames (including control frames such as RTS / CTS / ACK) to the total duration of the statistical period, thus reflecting the level of channel contention within the current BSS. A high IBSS occupancy rate indicates scarce channel resources, requiring more careful collision avoidance; in this case, the RTS / CTS mechanism can be enabled. Conversely, a low IBSS occupancy rate indicates relatively idle channels; the overhead of RTS / CTS may affect efficiency, and the RTS / CTS mechanism can be disabled.
[0060] OBSS occupancy rate refers to the proportion of time that devices from other BSSs (STAs or APs not managed by the current AP) occupy the channel on a given radio frequency band. For example, within a statistical period, the AP calculates the ratio of the total time that interference sources occupy the channel to the total duration of the statistical period by receiving signals from other BSSs (such as Beacon frames, data frames, etc.), thereby measuring the intensity of external interference. A high OBSS occupancy rate means that the channel is significantly interfered with by other BSSs, and it is necessary to enhance anti-interference capabilities by enabling RTS / CTS or self-CTS mechanisms; if the OBSS occupancy rate is low, it indicates that the channel is relatively idle, and the overhead of RTS / CTS may affect efficiency, so the RTS / CTS mechanism can be disabled.
[0061] The data traffic sent from a transmitting device to a receiving device refers to the amount of data (in bytes or bits) or the number of data frames sent by the transmitting device (such as an AP or STA) within a statistical period. For example, the total number of bytes or bits or the total number of frames sent by an AP to a specific STA within a statistical period reflects the service load of the client STA. In high-traffic scenarios, the packet error rate is high, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism can reduce collisions; in low-traffic scenarios, the overhead of RTS / CTS is large, and disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism is preferable.
[0062] RSSI is a quantized value of the signal strength of a transmitting device measured by the receiving device, usually in dBm. During the process of the AP sending data to the STA, the STA also sends data packets or ACKs to the AP. The AP obtains the RSSI of the STA through the received STA packets. For example, the AP receives data frames or ACK frames sent by the STA through the PHY layer and calculates their signal strength. For instance, after sending a data frame to the STA, the AP can record the RSSI value of the ACK frame returned by the STA as a reference, thus characterizing the distance or channel quality between the transmitting and receiving devices. Low RSSI (e.g., below -80dBm) may indicate long-distance or strong interference scenarios, requiring the RTS / CTS mechanism to be enabled for protection; high RSSI (e.g., above -50dBm) indicates short-distance or good channel conditions, allowing the RTS / CTS mechanism to be disabled to reduce overhead.
[0063] The Packet Error Rate (PER) is the percentage of data packets sent by a transmitting device that were not successfully received (no ACK was received), usually expressed as a percentage. For example, it's the number of packets that didn't receive an ACK within a statistical period divided by the total number of packets sent. For instance, if an AP sends 1000 packets to a STA and receives 950 ACKs, the PER is 5%. Its function is to directly reflect channel quality. A high PER indicates a poor channel or severe interference, requiring the RTS / CTS mechanism to be enabled to reduce collisions; a low PER indicates a good channel, but RTS / CTS may reduce transmission efficiency, so the RTS / CTS mechanism can be disabled.
[0064] Transmission rate refers to the physical layer rate (in Mbps) corresponding to the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) actually used by the transmitting device during data transmission. For example, the AP calculates the actual transmission rate by recording the MCS index when sending data frames to the STA and the corresponding rate table (such as the rate mapping table in the 802.11ax standard), thus reflecting the channel status and link quality of the client. A high transmission rate (such as second-highest order and above) indicates a good channel condition, and the RTS / CTS overhead may be uneconomical, so the RTS / CTS mechanism can be disabled; a low transmission rate indicates a poor channel, and the RTS / CTS mechanism needs to be enabled to reduce collisions.
[0065] RTS failure rate refers to the proportion of RTS frames sent by a transmitting device that do not receive CTS frames; RTS success rate refers to the proportion of successful RTS / CTS interactions. RTS success rate = Number of RTS frames successfully received (CTS) / Total number of RTS frames sent. RTS failure rate = Number of RTS frames without CTS received / Total number of RTS frames sent. If the RTS failure rate is higher than a threshold (e.g., 90%), it may indicate that the receiving device (e.g., some IoT terminals) is not capable enough to effectively implement the RTS / CTS mechanism, and the RTS strategy should be disabled to avoid performance loss. A high RTS success rate indicates that the receiving device's RTS / CTS mechanism is effective and can continue to be used; a low success rate indicates possible interference or a malfunction in the receiving device (e.g., the client does not support the RTS / CTS mechanism, or is powered off, disconnected, etc.).
[0066] The transmission time (or round-trip time, RTT) from when the sending device sends data to the receiving device to when it receives an acknowledgment refers to the total time from when, for example, the AP sends a request packet (e.g., Internet Control Message Protocol Echo Request) to the STA, and then to when the STA returns a response packet (Internet Control Message Protocol Echo Reply).
[0067] The period can be 1 second, meaning that the communication quality information is collected every 1 second. This information can be collected at a specific point within the 1 second, or it can be collected within the 1 second and the average value over that 1 second can be used as the communication quality information.
[0068] The above information may be calculated from other information, therefore the periodic detection step can also detect other information used for calculation.
[0069] If the scheme according to at least one embodiment of this disclosure is deployed on an AP, the periodic detection step is used to periodically collect environmental parameters of the AP (e.g., IBSS occupancy rate, OBSS occupancy rate, etc.) and packet transmission parameters of the AP to each associated STA (e.g., data transmission rate; Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) when the transmitting device receives feedback data from the receiving device; Packet Error Rate (PER) of transmitted data; Data transmission rate; Receiving failure rate or success rate of the receiving device after sending RTS, etc.; Transmission time from the transmitting device sending data to the receiving device to the acknowledgment response, etc.). If the scheme according to at least one embodiment of this disclosure is deployed on a STA, the periodic detection step collects environmental parameters of the STA (e.g., IBSS occupancy rate, OBSS occupancy rate, etc.) and packet transmission parameters of the STA (e.g., data transmission rate; Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) when the transmitting device receives feedback data from the receiving device; Packet Error Rate (PER) of transmitted data; Data transmission rate; Receiving failure rate or success rate of the receiving device after sending RTS; Transmission time from the transmitting device sending data to the receiving device to the acknowledgment response, etc.).
[0070] Of course, the periodic detection step can also be replaced with a non-periodic detection step, such as triggering the detection of communication quality information based on other conditions, such as triggering the detection of communication quality information when the PER of the transmitted data is higher than a predetermined threshold, etc.
[0071] In step 302, it is determined whether information detection is complete. If not, return to step 301 to continue information detection. If yes, in step 303, perform the wireless communication method according to at least one embodiment of this disclosure.
[0072] Figure 4 It shows Figure 3 The flowchart shows a wireless communication method 400 performed by a transmitting device according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0073] Wireless communication method 400, performed by a transmitting device, includes steps 401 and 402.
[0074] In step 401, communication quality information between the transmitting device and the receiving device is obtained. This communication quality information includes channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between the transmitting and receiving devices and / or the quality information of data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device.
[0075] In step 402, based on communication quality information, the transmitting device performs multiple actions to send data to the receiving device, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the Request to Send / Clear Send RTS / CTS mechanism. These multiple actions include at least two of the following: enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, enabling the self-CTS mechanism, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length exceeding a length threshold.
[0076] In some embodiments, determining a strategy to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: triggering a strategy to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being enabled or enabled by a self-CTS mechanism, and determining that the communication quality is higher than a quality threshold; and triggering a strategy to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being disabled or disabled by a self-CTS mechanism, and determining that enabling or enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism brings positive gain.
[0077] In this way, the strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism can be automatically triggered, and an appropriate RTS / CTS strategy can be determined.
[0078] The following describes the strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to whether the current RTS / CTS mechanism is enabled or enabled by default, and when the communication quality is determined to be higher than the quality threshold.
[0079] For example, if the current mechanism is RTS / CTS or self-CTS, then under conditions of high communication quality, low bit error rate, and strong link stability, the data transmission success rate is high and the possibility of channel contention is low. In this case, disabling the RTS / CTS or self-CTS mechanism could be considered. This is because the RTS / CTS mechanism consumes communication resources, slows down communication speed, and reduces communication efficiency. Therefore, triggering the decision to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism based on this consideration might determine a more suitable RTS / CTS strategy (the final decision might be to disable the RTS / CTS or self-CTS mechanism, or it might remain enabled). If the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism is currently disabled, then if enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism brings a positive gain, then enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism can be considered. Therefore, triggering the strategy to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism based on this consideration can determine a more suitable RTS / CTS strategy (the final decision is made based on the strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, which may be enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or enabling the self-CTS mechanism, or it may be disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or disabling the self-CTS mechanism).
[0080] Good channel quality implies low interference, low packet error rate, high data transmission efficiency, and low probability of collision. In some embodiments, determining that communication quality is above a quality threshold includes at least one of the following: the transmission rate of data sent from the transmitting device to the receiving device is higher than a rate threshold; the OBSS occupancy rate between the transmitting device and the receiving device is less than an occupancy rate threshold.
[0081] For example, the rate threshold can be the second-highest order rate. In Wi-Fi communication, "second-highest order rate" (or "second-highest order and above") refers to the physical layer transmission rate corresponding to the second-highest MCS level that a transmitting device (such as an AP or STA) can achieve in the communication band based on the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS). This concept is usually related to the MCS Index defined in Wi-Fi standards (such as 802.11n / ac / ax). For example, in the 802.11ac standard, at 160MHz, with a single antenna and a Guard Interval (GI) of 400ns, the rate of MCS 9 (highest order) is 866.7Mbps, while the rate of MCS 8 (second-highest order) is 780Mbps. If the average Tx rate of the AP and STA is at or above the second-highest order, it indicates that the current channel quality is close to optimal, the communication between devices is stable, and the necessity of the RTS / CTS mechanism is reduced (due to the low probability of collisions).
[0082] The OBSS occupancy rate reflects the degree of interference from other BSSs (such as neighboring APs or STAs) to the current frequency band. If the OBSS occupancy rate is lower than the occupancy rate threshold (such as 5%), it indicates that the interference in the current frequency band is weak, the channel resources are relatively idle, and the necessity of the RTS / CTS mechanism is reduced (due to the low probability of collision).
[0083] The following describes a strategy that triggers the decision to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism based on whether the current RTS / CTS mechanism is disabled or self-CTS mechanism is disabled, and whether enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or self-CTS mechanism brings positive gain.
[0084] Enabling RTS / CTS or enabling self-CTS means that the benefits of RTS / CTS (reduced collisions) outweigh its overhead (control frame transmission time). In some embodiments, determining that enabling RTS / CTS or enabling self-CTS results in a positive gain includes determining that the data transmission throughput with RTS / CTS or self-CTS enabled is greater than the data transmission throughput with RTS / CTS or self-CTS disabled.
[0085] Enabling RTS / CTS can solve the hidden node problem by reducing channel contention and packet loss, and may also lead to an upgrade in MCS, improving user experience. However, enabling RTS / CTS also introduces additional control frame transmission overhead, resulting in a negative gain on throughput. Not all scenarios show a positive gain from enabling RTS / CTS. Therefore, a throughput prediction formula can be used to determine whether the data transmission throughput with or without RTS / CTS is greater than that with or without RTS / CTS. The data transmission throughput of a transmitting device refers to the amount of effective data successfully transmitted per unit time, usually measured in bits per second (bps) or bytes per second (Bps). The throughput prediction formula can be based on parameters such as the aggregation degree of Aggregated Medium Access Control Protocol Data Units (AMPDUs) over a recent period, the aggregation degree of AMSDUs, PER, the number of Physical Layer Protocol Data Units (PPDUs), the transmission rate, and the radio frame transmission time overhead when RTS is enabled.
[0086] In some embodiments, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism in response to determining that communication quality information meets a threshold condition for enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism; and disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism in response to determining that communication quality information meets a threshold condition for disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism.
[0087] For example, threshold conditions can be a combination of some or all of the communication quality information. For instance, determining that the IBSS occupancy rate exceeds threshold A, the OBSS occupancy rate exceeds threshold B, and the data transmission volume exceeds threshold C, enables the RTS / CTS mechanism. Alternatively, determining that the RSSI is greater than threshold D and the PER is less than threshold E, disables the RTS / CTS mechanism, and so on. Examples are not exhaustive.
[0088] In some embodiments, in response to determining that the communication quality information meets the threshold conditions for disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism includes: in response to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being enabled and the response failure rate after sending RTS being higher than the failure rate threshold (or the equivalent response success rate being lower than the success rate threshold), determining to disable the RTS / CTS mechanism.
[0089] The purpose of the RTS / CTS mechanism is to reduce collisions caused by hidden node issues through control frame interactions. However, if the failure rate of RTS / CTS frames is too high (e.g., the client does not respond to CTS) or the success rate is too low (e.g., frequent collisions cause RTS / CTS to fail), it may indicate the following problems: the client does not support RTS / CTS (e.g., some IoT devices); the channel environment is abnormal (e.g., severe interference, signal attenuation); or there are collisions in the RTS / CTS frame transmission itself (e.g., multiple APs competing for the channel). If the RTS failure rate is higher than a preset threshold (e.g., RTS failure rate > 90% within 3 consecutive statistical periods); or if the RTS success rate is lower than a preset threshold (e.g., RTS success rate < 10% within 3 consecutive statistical periods), for clients that do not support RTS / CTS (e.g., IoT devices), this client is marked as an RTS-abnormal client, the RTS / CTS mechanism is disabled for such clients, and other algorithms that might enable the RTS / CTS mechanism for them are no longer executed. In this way, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism can reduce invalid RTS / CTS frame transmissions and improve overall throughput.
[0090] Furthermore, to differentiate between "poor channel performance" and "client anomaly" and avoid mistakenly disabling strategies due to environmental fluctuations, communication quality information, including parameters such as RSSI and traffic, can be combined. For example, considering that even normal clients with low RSSI and strong interference may experience low RTS success rates, potentially mislabeling normal clients as RTS anomaly clients, the STA's RSSI and traffic parameters are also needed for joint judgment. For instance, if the device triggering the RTS anomaly flag has a very low RSSI, it might be a normal client with poor signal; therefore, the anomaly client label should be removed when its RSSI increases. If the traffic of the device triggering the RTS anomaly flag exceeds a certain threshold that IoT devices generally cannot reach, it is considered a normal client, and the anomaly client label is removed. If the RSSI of the transmitting device when receiving feedback data from the receiving device is greater than the RSSI threshold and / or the data transmission volume is greater than the traffic threshold, but the response failure rate after sending RTS is greater than the failure rate threshold, it indicates that the device is still experiencing RTS anomalies at the nearest point. This is more likely due to an abnormal client lacking RTS / CTS functionality. In this case, the abnormal client should be marked, or the marked abnormal client should not be removed (unless it is re-associated). This would determine whether to disable the RTS / CTS mechanism to reduce invalid RTS / CTS frame transmissions and improve overall throughput. Alternatively, for example, if client movement causes an RSSI drop, the RTS / CTS mechanism can be temporarily disabled, and the RTS / CTS strategy can be re-evaluated after the RSSI recovers.
[0091] In some embodiments, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to fluctuations in at least one of the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), the flow rate of transmitted data, and the rate of transmitted data being less than corresponding fluctuation thresholds.
[0092] For example, if the fluctuation of the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) is less than the first fluctuation threshold, the fluctuation of the transmitted data flow is less than the second fluctuation threshold, and / or the fluctuation of the transmitted data rate is less than the third fluctuation threshold, it indicates that the communication environment is in a steady state, where the environmental parameters and performance indicators of the wireless communication network change little within the statistical window.
[0093] If the communication environment is in a non-steady state (such as sudden interference, channel fluctuations, or sudden increases / decreases in traffic), rapid changes in environmental parameters may cause the subsequent decision to determine the RTS / CTS strategy to fail, or even produce negative gains (such as misjudging that RTS / CTS is enabled as a performance improvement, but actually reducing throughput). Therefore, in this case, it is best to prohibit the processing of strategies to determine whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism.
[0094] In this way, it is possible to accurately determine the steady-state environment, avoid frequent adjustments to the RTS / CTS strategy due to the unstable environment, avoid additional overhead (such as the transmission of RTS / CTS frames) and performance fluctuations, and avoid misjudging the RTS / CTS strategy.
[0095] In some embodiments, determining, based on communication quality information, that the fluctuation of at least one of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), the flow rate of transmitted data, and the rate of transmitted data is less than a corresponding fluctuation threshold includes: calculating the standard deviation of RSSI when the transmitting device receives feedback data from the receiving device over N periods, where N is a positive integer and N is an even number; calculating the rate of change of the average flow rate of transmitted data in the first N / 2 periods over N periods compared to the average flow rate of transmitted data in the last N / 2 periods; calculating the rate of change of the average rate of transmitted data in the first N / 2 periods over N periods compared to the average rate of transmitted data in the last N / 2 periods; and determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to determining at least one of the following: the standard deviation of RSSI is less than a first fluctuation threshold; the rate of change of the average flow rate of transmitted data is less than a second fluctuation threshold; and the rate of change of the average rate of transmitted data is less than a third fluctuation threshold.
[0096] Figure 5 A schematic diagram is shown for collecting channel quality information and determining the period of steady-state environment according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0097] Assume that channel quality information is collected every 1 second, that is, at times t0-t1, t1-t2, t2-t3, t3-t4, t4-t5, and t5-t6, for a total of N=6 seconds.
[0098] For example, next, the standard deviation of the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) is calculated when the transmitting device receives feedback data from the receiving device within 6 seconds; the rate of change of the average data flow rate of the first 3 seconds compared to the average data flow rate of the last 3 seconds is calculated; and the rate of change of the average data rate of the first 3 seconds compared to the average data rate of the last 3 seconds is calculated.
[0099] In response to determining communication quality stability by determining at least one of the following: the standard deviation of RSSI is less than a first fluctuation threshold (e.g., The rate of change of the average data transmission rate is less than the second fluctuation threshold (e.g., The rate of change of the average rate of data transmission is less than the third fluctuation threshold (e.g., ).
[0100] In this way, it is possible to accurately determine the stable environment, avoid frequent adjustments to the RTS / CTS strategy due to the unstable environment, avoid additional overhead (such as the transmission of RTS / CTS frames) and performance fluctuations, and avoid misjudging the RTS / CTS strategy.
[0101] The strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism will be determined next based on the application scenario description according to at least one embodiment of this disclosure.
[0102] The first strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is described below.
[0103] In some embodiments, the strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: obtaining communication quality information related to each action; calculating a reward value for each action based on the communication quality information related to each action, wherein the reward value is positively correlated with the amount of data sent and acknowledged within a predetermined period, and negatively correlated with the transmission time from the sending device to the receiving device to the acknowledgment of data or the air interface time occupied by the sending device to the receiving device for transmitting data; executing the action with the largest reward value in response to the difference between the largest reward value and the reward value of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being greater than a reward threshold; and maintaining the current RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the difference between the largest reward value and the reward value of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being no greater than a reward threshold.
[0104] As mentioned earlier, the multiple actions include at least two of the following: enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, enabling the self-CTS mechanism, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length exceeding a length threshold. Note that enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length exceeding a length threshold can include, for example, a first action of enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length exceeding a first threshold value, a second action of enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length exceeding a second threshold value, a third action of enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length exceeding a third threshold value, and so on. The first, second, and third threshold values can be different from each other. This is to test which enabling action is better under different threshold values.
[0105] This first strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism can try different RTS strategies (such as enabling RTS / CTS, disabling RTS / CTS, enabling CTS-to-Self, etc.) to collect communication quality environment feedback, and select the current strategy with the best communication quality environment feedback to maximize and balance transmission efficiency and transmission quality. Traditional fixed mode or threshold mode relies on static configuration and cannot adapt to dynamic environments. According to at least one embodiment of this disclosure, multiple actions are explored through polling to avoid performance degradation caused by improper selection of RTS / CTS strategy.
[0106] Here, the reward value of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism can be considered the baseline reward value. The reward threshold is used to prevent misjudgments caused by fluctuations in communication quality information. Only when the difference between the maximum reward value and the baseline reward value is greater than the reward threshold will the action corresponding to the maximum reward value be considered more beneficial than the current RTS / CTS mechanism, and only then will the action corresponding to the maximum reward value be executed. The reward threshold can be set to 0 or a larger value.
[0107] Thus, by exploring multiple actions based on communication quality information, the optimal RTS / CTS strategy for the current communication environment is selected. Compared to traditional RTS / CTS mechanisms (fixed mode or threshold mode), at least one embodiment of this disclosure significantly improves the adaptability and robustness of wireless communication networks in complex environments.
[0108] In some embodiments, calculating a reward value for each action based on communication quality information associated with each action includes: performing each action a predetermined number of times, and calculating the average of the reward values calculated for each action over the predetermined number of times as the reward value for each action; wherein the reward value is the amount of data sent with an acknowledgment within a predetermined period divided by the transmission time from the sending device to the receiving device for sending data to the acknowledgment. For example, the predetermined number of times is 2.
[0109] For example, the reward value = number of bytes successfully acknowledged (i.e., successfully transmitted) within a predetermined period * 8.0 / transmission duration, where the number of bytes successfully transmitted within the predetermined period * 8.0 yields the number of bits successfully transmitted within the predetermined period. Of course, both the number of bytes and the number of bits can be used as the amount of data sent with acknowledged acknowledgments within the predetermined period.
[0110] This reward value design allows for a higher reward value when the amount of data sent and the transmission time are lower than the amount of data confirmed within a predetermined period. This enables the selection of actions that result in a higher amount of data sent and a lower transmission time within a predetermined period, thereby achieving better communication quality benefits.
[0111] In some embodiments, determining a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: in response to whether the current RTS / CTS mechanism is enabled or enabled by CTS, and determining that the RSSI is lower than the RSSI threshold and the transmission time from the sending device to the receiving device to the acknowledgment response is higher than the transmission time threshold, triggering the next step.
[0112] Here, it is determined that the RSSI is below the RSSI threshold and the transmission time from the transmitting device sending data to the receiving device to the acknowledgment response is above the transmission time threshold because if the RSSI is below the threshold, it indicates poor signal quality, which may be due to signal attenuation caused by long distance or obstacles, increasing the probability of retransmission; if the transmission time is above the threshold, it indicates that the current RTS strategy (such as enabling RTS) has failed to effectively reduce collisions or has instead caused latency degradation due to control frame overhead. In this case, the original strategy (e.g., enabling RTS) may have failed, and it is necessary to re-evaluate the potential advantages of other strategies.
[0113] The next step includes: obtaining each transmission duration associated with each action; in response to the minimum transmission duration being less than the transmission duration of an action corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism, and the absolute value of the difference between the two exceeding the execution threshold, executing the action associated with the minimum transmission duration; in response to the minimum transmission duration not being less than the transmission duration of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism, or the minimum transmission duration being less than the transmission duration of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism but the absolute value of the difference between the two not exceeding the execution threshold, maintaining the current RTS / CTS mechanism.
[0114] In some embodiments, obtaining communication quality information related to each action further includes: obtaining communication quality information related to each action in response to determining that the traffic of transmitted data is higher than a traffic threshold, and / or determining that the number of times the RSSI rate of change exceeds the RSSI rate of change threshold is less than a number threshold.
[0115] Here, before each action, it can be confirmed that the data transmission traffic of the current communication environment is not interrupted (e.g., the traffic is higher than the traffic threshold) and that the RSSI volatility has not exceeded the threshold a certain number of times. This ensures that the current communication environment has not changed significantly, thus avoiding large deviations in the results of determining the RTS / CTS strategy due to the execution of the above actions in a communication environment with significant changes. This can, to some extent, prevent negative gains caused by communication environment fluctuations during the method execution process and improve the effectiveness of the method in practical applications.
[0116] In some embodiments, the method further includes: in response to the policy of determining to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism being executed multiple times, and the number of times the policy of enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism is determined to maintain the current RTS / CTS mechanism being executed is higher than a predetermined number, disabling the policy of determining to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism for a predetermined time period.
[0117] Therefore, if the strategy of determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is triggered multiple times in a row and the current RTS / CTS mechanism is maintained, that is, there is no better benefit than the current RTS / CTS mechanism, the strategy of determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is disabled to avoid wasting processing resources and time costs.
[0118] To make the overall process of the first strategy described above for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism clearer, Figure 6 An example flowchart illustrating a first strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.
[0119] like Figure 6As shown, assume each action is explored twice, for a total of X explorations. The process begins at step 601. In step 602, to iterate through the X actions, the iteration count X is initialized, starting from iteration number = 0. In step 603, it is determined whether the iteration number is less than X. If yes, it indicates that the iteration is not yet complete, and multiple actions have not been explored. Before selecting an action to execute, in step 604, it is determined whether the traffic is interrupted or whether the RSSI fluctuates. (As mentioned above, this is determined by checking if the data transmission traffic is higher than the traffic threshold and if the number of times the RSSI change rate exceeds the RSSI change rate threshold is less than the number of times the threshold is reached.) If yes, it indicates that the communication environment is fluctuating, and the strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism ends at step 608. If no, it indicates that the communication environment is stable, and the strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism can continue. Next, in step 605, an action to be explored is selected for execution using a polling method, for example, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism. Thus, some data is sent while the RTS / CTS mechanism is disabled, and the current communication quality information is probed. In step 606, the reward value corresponding to the action is calculated and updated based on the communication quality information related to the action. In step 607, the iteration number is incremented by 1. Returning to step 603, it is determined whether the iteration number is less than X, i.e., whether all actions have been polled (e.g., each action twice). If the determination is no, i.e., all actions have been polled, in step 609, the action with the largest reward value is selected as the candidate action (e.g., disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism), and this largest reward value is the candidate reward value. In step 610, it is determined whether the candidate reward value minus the baseline reward value is greater than a threshold. The baseline reward value is the reward value of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism. If the current RTS / CTS mechanism is enabled, the reward value of the action that enables the RTS / CTS mechanism, which may be calculated during the polling process, is the baseline reward value. In addition, the baseline reward value can also be calculated in advance or preset and stored in the transmitting device. If the candidate reward value minus the baseline reward value is greater than the threshold, in step 611, the candidate action is configured to be executed, such as disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism. Then, in step 612, the strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is completed. If the candidate reward value minus the baseline reward value is not greater than the threshold, it means that the candidate action is not as effective as the current action. Therefore, in step 613, the default configuration is maintained, that is, the current RTS / CTS mechanism is maintained, for example, the RTS / CTS mechanism is continued to be enabled.
[0120] Thus, by exploring multiple actions based on communication quality information, the optimal RTS / CTS strategy for the current communication environment is selected. For devices with RTS / CTS disabled by default, this method can identify devices in interference environments, enable RTS / CTS protection for them, enhance anti-interference capabilities, and improve the communication experience. For devices with RTS / CTS enabled by default, this method can identify devices with good channel conditions, disable RTS / CTS for them to reduce packet transmission overhead, and improve the communication experience.
[0121] The second strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is described below.
[0122] In some embodiments, determining the strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: taking multiple state variables describing communication quality information as input to an artificial intelligence model for determining the strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, and taking a first action output by the artificial intelligence model as the RTS / CTS strategy; wherein the artificial intelligence model is trained to maximize a reward value, the reward value being positively correlated with one or more communication quality target parameters to be improved and negatively correlated with one or more communication quality target parameters to be decreased, wherein the reward value is calculated by performing the first action or a second action randomly selected from multiple actions to send data. As mentioned above, the multiple actions include at least two of enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, enabling the self-CTS mechanism, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the transmitted data length exceeding a length threshold.
[0123] Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating the principle of a second strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.
[0124] Suppose that the reward value r was previously calculated by performing the previous action (at time t) among multiple actions to send data. t The artificial intelligence model acts as an agent, obtaining multiple state variables (such as...) that describe the communication quality information of the current communication environment obtained from the previous action (at time t) among multiple actions. Figure 7 The state s in t As the current input to the artificial intelligence model, the model predicts an action from multiple actions as the output of the artificial intelligence model at the current moment, wherein the multiple actions include at least two of the following: enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, enabling the self-CTS mechanism, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the data length being greater than the length threshold.
[0125] The current reward value r is calculated by sending data after executing the predicted action or a second action (At) randomly selected from multiple actions. t+1The reward value is positively correlated with one or more communication quality target parameters to be improved, and negatively correlated with one or more communication quality target parameters to be reduced. Then, multiple state variables (such as...) of the communication quality information of the communication environment following the execution of the predicted action At or a second action randomly selected from multiple actions are used. Figure 7 The state s in t+1 As input to the artificial intelligence model, the next predicted action A t+1 As the next output of the artificial intelligence model, continue to execute actions including the next prediction action A. t+1 Alternatively, data can be sent by randomly selecting an action from multiple actions.
[0126] Note that in reinforcement learning, the reward value directly influences the direction of parameter adjustment in the AI model through a feedback mechanism. The core logic is: actions with high reward values are reinforced (increased probability of occurrence), while actions with low reward values are suppressed (decreased probability of occurrence). The AI model judges the merit of the current action based on the reward signal and uses backpropagation to translate the "goodness" or "badness" of the reward into the direction of parameter updates for the AI model.
[0127] By continuously predicting and training the artificial intelligence model, the reward value (reward value r) can be maximized. t r t+1 ...) thereby obtaining an optimized artificial intelligence model. The termination condition for training this artificial intelligence model is reaching the maximum number of training steps, or the reward value converges.
[0128] Thus, by dynamically sensing complex communication network environments and automatically learning strategies through artificial intelligence models, the limitations of static strategies in traditional methods are avoided, enabling intelligent decision-making and reducing human intervention. Compared to traditional RTS / CTS mechanisms (fixed mode or threshold mode), at least one embodiment of this disclosure significantly improves the adaptability and robustness of wireless communication networks in complex environments.
[0129] In some embodiments, the reward value may be a weighted sum of one or more communication quality target parameters, wherein the weight of the communication quality target parameter to be improved is a positive number and the weight of the communication quality target parameter to be reduced is a negative number, wherein the one or more communication quality target parameters include at least one of the following: data transmission efficiency to be improved or its increment, throughput to be improved or its increment, PER to be reduced, and delay between data transmission and receipt of acknowledgment response to be reduced.
[0130] For example, .
[0131] In this way, multi-objective optimization can be performed to balance metrics such as throughput, PER, and latency, thereby achieving the optimal RTS / CTS strategy.
[0132] In some embodiments, instead of always executing the predicted action output by the artificial intelligence model each time an action is performed, an action may be randomly selected from multiple actions, thereby introducing uncertainty and enhancing the exploration capability.
[0133] Note that here, while the predicted action output by the AI model is executed with a high probability, a randomly selected action from multiple actions is also executed with a low probability. This is because even after the AI model has converged, the network environment may still change (e.g., new AP access, signal fluctuations caused by client movement). Therefore, exploring actions with a low probability (e.g., randomly selecting an action with a 2%-5% probability) instead of only executing the predicted action output by the AI model ensures that the method continuously adapts to new environmental changes, allowing the AI model to still attempt to find the optimal action for new scenarios even in a stable state. For example, in the early stages of AP deployment when the environment is relatively clean, the AI model may converge to a strategy that predicts disabling RTS / CTS with a high probability. However, if high OBSS occupancy subsequently occurs (e.g., increased external interference), the low-probability random exploration action allows the AI model to rediscover the benefits of enabling RTS / CTS.
[0134] In some embodiments, the strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism further includes: in response to the AI model making a predetermined number of predictions, updating a portion of the parameters in the AI model to maximize the reward value; in response to the degradation of communication quality information or reward value obtained by making predictions using the updated AI model exceeding a degradation threshold, reverting a portion of the updated parameters in the AI model to the state before the update, and training the AI model based on the current multiple state variables and reward value.
[0135] Thus, avoiding frequent updates with a small number of samples can prevent the AI model from prematurely converging to a local optimum. The aforementioned update method, by updating only a subset of parameters after multiple predictions, allows the AI model to gradually accumulate training data and converge to the optimal solution over a longer period, improving training robustness. Meanwhile, on resource-constrained devices like APs, frequent full model updates can lead to excessive CPU load. Responding to a predetermined number of predictions by updating only a subset of parameters in the AI model (e.g., updating a subset after every 100 decisions) saves hardware resources by reducing computation frequency.
[0136] Furthermore, if key metrics (such as reward value, or communication quality information like throughput, PER, and latency) significantly deteriorate after an AI model update (e.g., a 20% decrease in throughput or a 5% increase in PER), the AI model immediately reverts to the previous parameter version. In wireless networks, incorrect AI model parameters can cause RTS / CTS policies to fail (e.g., a decrease in throughput after enabling RTS / CTS). The rollback mechanism quickly corrects performance issues, preventing disconnections or sudden drops in transmission efficiency. Traditional methods may frequently switch policies due to parameter update failures (e.g., enabling → disabling → enabling RTS / CTS), leading to network instability. The rollback mechanism reduces the frequency of policy switching by retaining historical parameters and reverting to them.
[0137] After rolling back, the current state variables (such as OBSS occupancy rate and traffic pattern) and the current reward value are recorded as training samples for the AI model to use in subsequent training. Through training, the model can gradually learn the rules of new scenarios and avoid similar errors from happening again.
[0138] Artificial intelligence models can be flexibly selected. For example, in Dueling DQN (Dueling Deep Q-Network), each STA associated with an AP corresponds to an agent. Dueling DQN is an algorithm that uses neural networks to predict Q-values. The Q-value can be understood as the value of a state-action relationship, i.e., the expected reward of an agent performing action a in state s, denoted by Q(s,a). Here, state s can represent multiple state variables related to communication quality information, and action a represents the multiple actions mentioned above for RTS / CTS, self-CTS, etc. The network input is an s-dimensional state. The feature normalization layer normalizes the mean and variance of each input feature. Fully connected layer FC1 has 128 units and uses the ReLU activation function (the number of units and activation function can be flexibly adjusted). Fully connected layer FC2 also has 128 units and uses the ReLU activation function (the number of units and activation function can be flexibly adjusted). In the value branch of the Dueling structure, FC_v1 has 64 units and uses the ReLU activation function. FC_v2 has 1 unit and outputs V(s). In the dominant branch of the Dueling structure, FC_a1 has 64 units and the activation function is ReLU (the number of units and the activation function can be adjusted flexibly). FC_a2 has |A| units, where |A| = the number of actions. The combined output Q(s,a) is calculated using the standard combination formula for Dueling DQN:
[0139]
[0140] The final fully connected layer of the Dueling DQN network is divided into two branches: one branch calculates V(s), representing the average expectation of all possible actions in the current state s, which reflects the quality of the state; the other branch calculates A(s,a), representing the difference between the estimated value when choosing action a in state s and the average value. The final Q(s,a) is V(s) plus the normalized A(s,a).
[0141] V(s) = 1 indicates that the estimate of state s is 1, and A(s,a) indicates that the estimates of the three actions in state s are {7 3 2}. Normalizing {7 3 2} (each value is averaged with its mean (7+3+2) / 3=4) yields the normalized A(s,a) = {3 -1 -2}, which is then added to V(s) to obtain Q(s,a).
[0142] In neural networks, the updates of V(s) and Q(s,a) are related to the reward value, and the training objective of the neural network is to maximize the reward value. ,in E represents the reward value at time t. π represents the policy. π γ represents the expected value of a random variable given strategy π. t It is a power of the discount factor γ, representing the decay weight of future rewards (γ∈[0,1]).
[0143] During training, the reward influences Q(s,a) through gradients. The Dueling DQN network approximates Q(s,a). If the reward is large, Q(s,a) will also be increased. If, in a certain state s, the reward is relatively high regardless of which RTS / CTS strategy is used (e.g., in the case of a clean channel), then V(s) will be relatively high. If, in a certain state s, the reward for enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism is significantly higher than that for disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, then A(s, rts_on) will be higher than A(s,rts_off).
[0144] Thus, reinforcement learning can be performed using a Dueling DQN network to intelligently make decisions and execute adaptive RTS / CTS strategies.
[0145] In some embodiments, communication quality information includes channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between a transmitting device and one or more receiving devices on a predetermined communication frequency band and / or quality information of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device.
[0146] Thus, by collecting communication quality information (such as OBSS occupancy rate, IBSS occupancy rate, PER, and traffic patterns) for a specific communication frequency band (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz), the interference intensity and channel contention status of that frequency band can be quantified, thereby determining a band-specific RTS / CTS strategy. For example, the 2.4 GHz band typically experiences severe interference (high OBSS occupancy rate). By collecting band-level information, RTS / CTS protection can be specifically enabled for the 2.4 GHz band to reduce hidden node conflicts. In frequency bands with lower interference, such as 5 GHz, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism can reduce control frame overhead and improve throughput.
[0147] Alternatively, communication quality information includes communication quality information when transmitting data to the intended receiving device on all associated communication frequency bands. In this case, a device-specific RTS / CTS strategy can be determined for the intended receiving device based on the communication quality information of the intended receiving device on all associated communication frequency bands. This allows for differentiated strategies, such as enabling RTS / CTS protection for distant receiving devices with poor signal strength (e.g., RSSI < -70 dBm) to reduce collisions, and disabling RTS / CTS for nearby receiving devices with good signal strength (e.g., RSSI > -60 dBm) to reduce overhead.
[0148] This design differs significantly from traditional fixed or threshold strategies. It enables efficient and stable operation of wireless communication networks in complex environments by using frequency band and receiver-specific communication quality data collection and RTS / CTS strategy decisions.
[0149] Figure 8 A block diagram of a transmitting device 800 according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.
[0150] The transmitting device 800 includes at least: at least one memory 820 configured to store program instructions; and one or more processors 810 coupled to the at least one memory and configured to execute the program instructions to perform various wireless communication methods of the transmitting device in at least one embodiment of this disclosure.
[0151] For example, only one processor 810 is shown, but there can be multiple processors. Furthermore, processing can be performed by a single processor, or by more than one processor simultaneously, sequentially, or using other methods. Additionally, processor 810 can be mounted on more than one chip.
[0152] The functions of the transmitting device 800 can be implemented, for example, by reading the instructions (programs) stored in the memory 830 into hardware such as the processor 810 and the memory 820, so that the processor 810 can perform operations, control the communication performed by the communication device 830, and control the reading and / or writing of data in the memory 820.
[0153] The processor 810, for example, enables the operating system to operate, thereby controlling the device as a whole. The processor 810 may be composed of a central processing unit (CPU) that includes interfaces with peripheral devices, control devices, arithmetic devices, registers, etc. For example, the aforementioned units can be implemented by the processor 810.
[0154] Furthermore, the processor 810 reads programs (program code), data, etc., from the memory 820 and performs various processes accordingly. The program can be one that causes the computer to perform at least a portion of the actions described in the above embodiments. For example, the method executed by the transmitting device can be implemented using a control program stored in the memory 820 and operated by the processor 810.
[0155] The memory 820 may be a computer-readable recording medium, such as at least one of a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a random access memory (RAM), or other suitable storage media. The memory 820 may include registers, caches, main memory (main storage device), etc. The memory 820 may store executable programs (program code), software modules, etc., for implementing the methods according to an embodiment of this disclosure.
[0156] In addition, the memory 820 may also include, for example, a computer-readable recording medium consisting of at least one of a flexible disk, a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a read-only optical disc (CD-ROM, etc.), a digital universal optical disc, a Blu-ray disc), a removable disk, a hard disk, a smart card, a flash memory device (e.g., a card, a stick, a key driver), a magnetic stripe, a database, a server, or other suitable storage media.
[0157] Communication device 830 is hardware (transmitting and receiving device) used for communication between computers via wired and / or wireless networks, and is also referred to as a network device, network controller, network interface card (NIC), communication module, etc. To implement, for example, frequency division duplex (FDD) and / or time division duplex (TDD), communication device 830 may include high-frequency switches, duplexers, filters, frequency synthesizers, etc. For example, the aforementioned transmitting and receiving operations can be implemented by communication device 830.
[0158] The communication device 830 can communicate bidirectionally via one or more antennas, wired or wireless links, as described herein. For example, the communication device 830 can represent a wireless transceiver and can communicate bidirectionally with another wireless transceiver. The communication device 830 may also include a modem to modulate packets and provide the modulated packets to the antenna for transmission, and to demodulate packets received from the antenna. In some cases, the communication device may include a single antenna 850. However, in some cases, the communication device may have more than one antenna 850, which are capable of simultaneously transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions.
[0159] Furthermore, the processor 810, memory 820, and other devices are connected via a bus 840 for communication of information. The bus 840 can consist of a single bus or different buses between devices.
[0160] In addition, the transmitting device may include hardware such as microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
[0161] This disclosure may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Instructions, such as computer instructions, are stored on the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. When the computer instructions are executed by a processor, the various methods described above can be performed. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, computer storage media (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, solid-state drives, removable disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, Blu-ray discs, etc.). For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium can be connected to a computing device such as a computer, and then, when the computing device executes the computer instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium, the various methods described above can be performed.
[0162] This disclosure may also include a computer program product capable of performing the methods, steps, and operations given herein. For example, such a computer program product may be a computer software package, computer code instructions, or a computer-readable tangible medium having computer instructions tangibly stored (and / or encoded) thereon, which can be executed by a processor to perform the operations described herein. The computer program product may include packaging materials.
[0163] The block diagrams of devices, apparatuses, devices, and systems disclosed herein are merely illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that they must be connected, arranged, or configured in the manner shown in the block diagrams. As those skilled in the art will recognize, these devices, apparatuses, devices, and systems can be connected, arranged, and configured in any manner. Words such as “comprising,” “including,” “having,” etc., are open-ended terms meaning “including but not limited to,” and are used interchangeably with them. The term “such as / for example” as used herein refers to the phrase “such as / for example but not limited to,” and is used interchangeably with it.
[0164] The flowcharts and method descriptions in this disclosure are merely illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed in the given order. As those skilled in the art will recognize, the steps in the above embodiments can be performed in any order. Words such as "then," "next," etc., are not intended to limit the order of the steps; these words are only used to guide the reader through the description of these methods. Furthermore, any reference to a singular element, such as the use of the articles "a," "one," or "the," is not to be construed as limiting that element to the singular.
[0165] The above description has been given for purposes of illustration and description. Furthermore, this description is not intended to limit at least one embodiment of the present disclosure to the forms disclosed herein. Although numerous exemplary aspects and embodiments have been discussed above, those skilled in the art will recognize certain variations, modifications, alterations, additions, and sub-combinations thereof.
Claims
1. A wireless communication method, performed by a transmitting device, the method comprising: Obtain communication quality information between the transmitting device and the receiving device, wherein the communication quality information includes channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between the transmitting device and the receiving device and / or quality information of data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device; and Based on the communication quality information, the transmitting device performs multiple actions to send data to the receiving device, and determines a strategy for enabling or disabling the request to send / clear send RTS / CTS mechanism. The multiple actions include at least two of the following: enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism, enabling the self-CTS mechanism, and enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism in response to the length of the transmitted data being greater than a length threshold.
2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein, The channel occupancy information includes at least one of the following: the Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) occupancy rate of the associated frequency band between the transmitting device and the receiving device; the Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) occupancy rate of the associated frequency band between the transmitting device and the receiving device. The quality information includes at least one of the following: the data flow rate from the transmitting device to the receiving device; the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) when the transmitting device receives feedback data from the receiving device; the packet error rate (PER) of the data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device; the transmission rate of the data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device; the failure rate or success rate of the receiving device's response after the transmitting device sends an RTS; and the transmission time from the transmitting device sending data to the receiving device to the acknowledgment response.
3. The method as described in claim 1, wherein, The strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: In response to whether the current RTS / CTS mechanism is enabled or enabled by CTS, and if the communication quality is determined to be higher than the quality threshold, a strategy to determine whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is triggered. In response to whether the current RTS / CTS mechanism is off or off the self-CTS mechanism, and if it is determined that enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or enabling the self-CTS mechanism brings positive gain, a strategy to determine whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is triggered.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the request sending / clear sending RTS / CTS mechanism includes: In response to determining that the communication quality information meets the threshold condition for enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism, the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism is enabled. In response to determining that the communication quality information meets the threshold condition for disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism, the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism is disabled.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The step of responding to determining that the communication quality information meets the threshold condition for disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism, and disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism, includes: If the current RTS / CTS mechanism is enabled and the response failure rate after sending an RTS is higher than the failure rate threshold, then the RTS / CTS mechanism will be disabled.
6. The method of claim 3, wherein, The determination that the communication quality is higher than the quality threshold includes at least one of the following: The data transmission rate of the transmitting device to the receiving device is higher than the rate threshold. The overlap rate of the Basic Service Set (OBSS) between the transmitting device and the receiving device is less than the occupancy rate threshold.
7. The method of claim 3, wherein, The determination that enabling the RTS / CTS mechanism or enabling the self-CTS mechanism brings a positive gain includes: It is determined that the data transmission throughput when the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism is enabled is greater than the data transmission throughput when the RTS / CTS mechanism or the self-CTS mechanism is disabled.
8. The method of claim 3, wherein, The strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: In response to fluctuations in at least one of the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), the data transmission flow, and the data transmission rate being less than their respective fluctuation thresholds, a strategy for enabling or disabling the RTS / CTS mechanism is determined to transmit data to the receiving device.
9. The method of claim 3, wherein, The strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: Obtain communication quality information related to each action; Based on the communication quality information related to each action, a reward value for each action is calculated, wherein the reward value is positively correlated with the amount of data sent that is acknowledged within a predetermined period, and negatively correlated with the transmission time from the sending device to the receiving device to the acknowledgment response or the air interface time occupied by the sending device to the receiving device for transmitting data. If the difference between the maximum reward value and the reward value of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism is greater than a reward threshold, the action with the maximum reward value is executed. If the difference between the maximum reward value and the reward value of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism is not greater than the reward threshold, the current RTS / CTS mechanism is maintained.
10. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: In response to the current RTS / CTS mechanism being either enabled or self-CTS mechanism being enabled, and determining that RSSI is lower than the RSSI threshold and the transmission time from the sending device to the receiving device to the acknowledgment response is higher than the transmission time threshold; Obtain each of the transmission durations associated with each action; in response to the fact that the minimum transmission duration among the transmission durations is less than the transmission duration of an action corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism, and the absolute value of the difference between the two exceeds the execution threshold, execute the action associated with the minimum transmission duration. In response to the minimum transmission duration not being less than the transmission duration of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism, or the minimum transmission duration being less than the transmission duration of one of the multiple actions corresponding to the current RTS / CTS mechanism but the absolute value of the difference between the two not exceeding the execution threshold, the current RTS / CTS mechanism is maintained.
11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein, The acquisition of communication quality information related to each action also includes: In response to determining that the data transmission traffic is higher than a traffic threshold, and / or determining that the number of times the RSSI rate of change exceeds the RSSI rate of change threshold is less than a number threshold, the plurality of actions are performed to transmit data and obtain communication quality information associated with each action.
12. The method of claim 9 or 10, further comprising: In response to the policy of determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism being executed multiple times, and the policy of continuously determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism being maintained at a number higher than a predetermined number, the policy of determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism is disabled for a predetermined time period.
13. The method of claim 3, wherein, The strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism includes: Multiple state variables describing the communication quality information are used as input to an artificial intelligence model for determining a strategy to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism, and the first action output by the artificial intelligence model is used as the optimal RTS / CTS strategy. The artificial intelligence model is trained to maximize a reward value that is positively correlated with one or more communication quality target parameters to be improved and negatively correlated with one or more communication quality target parameters to be reduced. The reward value is calculated by performing the first action or a second action randomly selected from a plurality of actions to send data.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein, The strategy for determining whether to enable or disable the RTS / CTS mechanism also includes: In response to the AI model making a predetermined number of predictions, a subset of parameters in the AI model are updated to maximize the reward value; In response to a decrease in the communication quality information or the reward value obtained from prediction using the updated artificial intelligence model exceeding a degradation threshold, the updated portion of parameters in the artificial intelligence model is rolled back to the state before the update, and the artificial intelligence model is trained based on the current multiple state variables and the reward value.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein, The communication quality information includes channel occupancy information of the wireless communication environment between the transmitting device and one or more receiving devices on a predetermined communication frequency band and / or the quality information of the data transmitted by the transmitting device to the receiving device.
16. A transmitting device, comprising: At least one memory is configured to store program instructions; as well as One or more processors, said one or more processors coupled to said at least one memory, and configured to execute said program instructions to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 15.