Wireless Relay Device Multi-Hop Aggregated PPDU Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless communication technologies, such as WiFi extenders and mesh routers, face limitations in extending transmission range while maintaining high data rates, often resulting in high latency and low throughput due to inefficient relay protocols and limited range extension techniques.
Innovation Solution
A wireless relay device and method that utilizes a multi-hop transmission with aggregated physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs), sharing transmit opportunities (TXOP) and implementing end-to-end block acknowledgments, along with compressed preambles and packet extensions to enhance communication range and throughput, while ensuring low latency and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of stationary object
If typical range extension techniques are used to extend transmission range, then communication range is improved, but data rate is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the transmission path into multiple hops with relay devices. Each hop maintains high data rates by using optimal modulation and coding schemes, while the overall communication range is extended through the multi-hop architecture. This avoids the need to use low-rate extension techniques over the entire distance.
Solution Approach 2:
Relay devices act as intermediaries between source and destination, receiving, decoding, and retransmitting data. This allows the system to achieve extended range while maintaining high data rates at each segment, rather than using low-rate techniques across the entire path.
2Length of stationary object
If multi-hop transmission is implemented to extend range, then communication range is improved, but latency is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple PPDUs into an aggregated PPDU structure, allowing multiple data units to be transmitted in a single continuous transmission opportunity. This reduces the number of separate transmission cycles and associated latencies, while still enabling multi-hop relay functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The source device determines transmission parameters for all relayed transmissions in advance and signals them in the initial PPDU. This preliminary configuration allows relay devices to forward data immediately without needing to perform complex parameter negotiations, reducing processing latency.
3Productivity
If TXOP sharing is used in multi-hop transmission, then throughput is improved, but transmission complexity is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The source device determines all transmission parameters for relayed transmissions in advance and includes them in the initial PPDU. This preliminary action simplifies the relay devices' task to mostly forwarding operations, reducing their complexity while enabling efficient TXOP sharing that improves overall throughput.
4Reliability
If FCS checking is performed at relay devices, then reliability is improved, but processing time is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent allows for selective FCS checking at relay devices. In some embodiments, relays perform full FCS verification to ensure reliability. In other embodiments, relays forward data with minimal or no FCS checking, trusting the end-to-end error detection at the final destination. This partial application of error checking reduces processing time while maintaining acceptable reliability levels.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of a method and apparatus for wireless communications are disclosed. In an embodiment, a wireless relay device includes a wireless transceiver configured to receive, from a source wireless device, communications data, and a controller configured to decode and forward the received communications data to at least one destination wireless device.