IEEE 802.

11ax – An
Overview
Osama Aboul-Magd
Huawei Technologies, Canada

1
Background
• In mid 2012 discussions in IEEE 802.11 WG focused on the evolution of Wi-Fi
to meet new use cases other than those related to consumers and
enterprises.
• The discussion was initiated by network providers motivated by the increased
volumes of data offloading
• https://mentor.ieee.org/802.11/dcn/12/11-12-0910-00-0wng-carrier-oriented-wifi-c
ellular-offload.ppt

• https://mentor.ieee.org/802.11/dcn/12/11-12-1063-00-0wng-requirements-on-wlan
-celllular-offload.pptx

• Additionally IEEE 802.11ac was in sponsor ballot and close to be published.

• Work on IEEE 802.11ac started in May 2007 just on time for iPhone announcement.
2
Evolution of Use Cases
• IEEE 802.11ac was designed for the
traditional Wi-Fi application.
• Consumer market with emphasize on Internet
access.
• Enterprise application, e.g. an office building or
a university with focus on connectivity.
• IEEE 802.11ac design focus was on
achieving higher aggregate throughput
• Wider Channels (80 and 160 MHz)
• DL MU MIMO
• Higher order MCS (256 QAM)
3
New Use Cases
• The Wi-Fi landscape has been rapidly changing – more devices
and bandwidth demanding applications

Video Traffic is becoming Hotspots and Data offloading

Multiple Interfering Devices Dominate
(dense deployment)
The IEEE 802.11ax Scope
This amendment defines standardized modifications to both the IEEE
802.11 physical layers (PHY) and the IEEE 802.11 Medium Access
Control layer (MAC) that enable at least one mode of operation capable
of supporting at least four times improvement in the average
throughput per station (measured at the MAC data service access
point) in a dense deployment scenario, while maintaining or improving
the power efficiency per station.
This amendment defines operations in frequency bands between 1 GHz
and 6 GHz. The new amendment shall enable backward compatibility
and coexistence with legacy IEEE 802.11 devices operating in the same
band.

5
The IEEE 802.11ax Scope
This amendment defines standardized modifications to both the IEEE
802.11 physical layers (PHY) and the IEEE 802.11 Medium Access
Control layer (MAC) that enable at least one mode of operation capable
of supporting at least four times improvement in the average
throughput per station (measured at the MAC data service access
point) in a dense deployment scenario, while maintaining or improving
the power efficiency per station.
This amendment defines operations in frequency bands between 1 GHz
and 7.125 GHz. The new amendment shall enable backward
compatibility and coexistence with legacy IEEE 802.11 devices operating
in the same band.
In December 2017 the IEEE-SA NesCom approved 802.11ax PAR Modification to include
operation in the 6 GHz band
6
Implications
• Scenarios with dense deployments are the main focus of the new
amendment.
• Simulation Scenarios are developed to support dense environment:
https://mentor.ieee.org/802.11/dcn/14/11-14-0980-14-00ax-simulation-scenarios.do
cx

• Focus is on per-station performance improvement rather than aggregate

throughput.
• The new amendment focuses on 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands
• Improving user experience in traditional WLAN bands.
• Backward compatibility is still a strong requirement.
• Operation in the 6 GHz band added with focus on discovery
7
Timeline
SG Draft RevCom
Draft Draft &
Formation D1.0 D3.0 D5.0 Publication

1/13 1/14 1/15 1/16 1/17 1/18 1/19 1/20

Draft Sponsor
Draft
TG D4.0 Ballot
D2.0
Formation

8
IEEE 802.11ax Main Features – A Quick
Summary
• The use of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)
• Allows the multiplexing of multiple users in the frequency domain.
• A departure from the use of the OFDM where all resources are assigned to a single user as in previous IEEE 802.11
amendments.
• Support of OFDMA is both for the Uplink (UL) and the Downlink (DL)
• Supporting Triggered UL MU MIMO
• DL MU MIMO support is already in IEEE 802.11ac.
• Allows multiplexing of multiple users in the spatial domain
• The use of 256 FFT (20 MHz Channel) for the data portion of the 802.11ax PPDU.
• A departure from the 64 FFT used in previous IEEE 802.11 amendments.
• Pre-defined resource unit (RU) sizes
• Four frame formats
• Allows Spatial Reuse
• MCS 10 and MCS 11 introducing 1024 QAM

9
 A Quick Summary of Previous Amendments
(A/N/AC) – Frame Formats
STF: Short Training Field
Legacy Preamble LTF: Long Training Field
“A” STF STF LTF LTF SIG Data SIG: Signal Field

L-Preamble is included for

backward compatibility
SU-MIMO: As many LTF fields as
“N” L-Preamble SIG 1 SIG 2 LTF-1 LTF-2 LTF-n Data number of Antennas
Auto-Detection is achieved by
changing the polarity of the signal

L-Preamble is included for backward

“AC” L-Preamble SIG-A 1 SIG-A 2 LTF-1 LTF-n SIG-B Data compatibility
SU-MIMO and DL MU-MIMO
SIG-B includes per user signal
parameters
Auto-Auto-Detection is achieved by
changing the polarity of the 10
signal
IEEE 802.11ax Main PHY Features
L-Preamble RU

HE-Data
General Frame
RL-SIG

HE-LTF
HE-STF
HE-LTF
HE-SIG-A HE-SIG-B … Format

• As in IEEE 802.11n/ac, HEW PPDU starts with a legacy preamble for backward compatibility. Legacy preamble is duplicated on every
20 MHz channel.
• L-Preamble consists of L-STF, L-LTF, and L-SIG.
• Repeated L-SIG (RL-SIG) is included for auto-detection.
• HE-SIG-A is two-symbol long and is duplicated on every 20 MHz channel. HE-SIG-A is available in every PPDU.
• HE-SIG-B is of variable length. It includes resource allocation information. HE-SIG-B is only present in the MU PPDU.
• HE-Data uses DFT period of 12.8 msec and subcarrier spacing of 78.125 KHz.
• Tone plan allowing 26-tone, 52-tone, 106-tone, 242-tone for OFDMA. 484-tone and 996-tone for non-OFDMA cases.
• Mandatory support for LDPC coding in HE PPDU Data field for allocation sizes of 484 tones, 996 tones and 996*2 tones.
• 1024-QAM is an optional feature for SU and MU using resource units equal to or larger than 242 tones in 11ax.
• Dual sub-carrier modulation (DCM) is an optional modulation scheme for the HE-SIG-B and Data fields. DCM is only applied to BPSK,
QPSK and 16-QAM modulations

11
 802.11ax: A Quick Score Card
802.11ax 802.11ac 802.11n
Channel Bandwidth 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz 20, 40, 80, and 20, 40 MHz Same Channel Bandwidth as in Wi-Fi 5
160 MHz
Waveform OFDMA OFDM OFDM Achieve multiplexing gain and per User focus
Band 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz 5 GHz 2.4 and 5 GHz Make use of the large spectrum available in the 6 GHz band
Number of Antennas 8 8 4 Same as in Wi-Fi 5
Advanced Target Wake up Time No No Efficient support of devices with power constraints
Power Save (TWT)

Aggregate Data Rate 9.6 Gbps 6.9 Gbps 600 Mbps Modest rate increase compared to Wi-Fi 5
User Experience 4x improvement ? ? Focus is on user experience and per user throughput.
20 MHz-only operation Yes No Yes Allows support of IoT applications and eventual replacement of Wi-Fi 4

Spatial Reuse Yes No No Efficient use of available spectrum

MU MIMO DL MU MIMO and DL MU MIMO No Access point schedules users based on their traffic requirements, e.g. buffer size
Triggered UL MIMO and delay requirements.
Outdoor Improved support No No Improved outdoor performance for open stadiums and hot spots.
QAM 1024 QAM 256 QAM 64 QAM Improved throughput by packing more signals in the same space.

12
Frame Format (I) – Single User (SU) Frame
Format
SIG-A SIG-A
L-STF L-STF L-LTF L-LTF L-SIG R-SIG 1 2
STF LTF LTF Data

Bit Field Name Bit Field Name Bit Field Name

B0 Frame format (SU PPDU B19-B20 Bandwidth B11-B12 Pre-FEC padding
or Trigger-based PPDU) Factor
B1 Beam Change B21-B22 GI+LTF Size B13 BE Disambiguaty
B2 UL/DL B23-B25 Nsts B14 Reserved
B3-B6 MCS B0-B6 TXOP Duration B15 Doppler
SIG-A 1
B7 DCM B7 Coding B16-B19 CRC
And
B8-B13 BSS Color B8 LDPC Extra Symbol B20-B25 Tail SIG-A2
B14 reserved B9 STBC
B15-B18 Spatial Reuse B10 TxBF

13
Frame Format (II) – SU Extended Range

SIG-A SIG-A SIG-A SIG-A

L-STF L-STF L-LTF L-LTF L-SIG R-SIG 1 2 1 2
STF LTF LTF Data

Repeated SIG-A

• Originally designed for out-door environment to increase SIG-A reliability

• Results have shown a gain of 6 dbs allowing the signal to reach further
• The SIG-A contents are the same as the SU Frame format

14
Frame Format (III)- Multi-User (MU) Frame
Format
SIG-A SIG-A
L-STF L-LTF L-LTF L-SIG R-SIG 1 2 SIG-B STF LTF LTF Data

Bit Field Name Bit Field Name Bit Field Name

B0 UL/DL B22 SIG-B Compression B15 PE Disambiguity
B1-B3 SIG-B MCS B23-B24 GI+LTF Size B16-B19 CRC
B4 SIG-B DCM B25 Doppler B20-B25 Tail
SIG-A 1
B5-B10 BSS Color B0-B6 TXOP Duration And
B7 DCM B8-B10 Number of LTF Symbols SIG-A2
B11-B14 Spatial Reuse B11 LDPC Extra Symbol

B15-B17 Bandwidth B12 STBC

B18-B21 Number of Sig-B symbols B13-B14 Pre-FEC padding Factor
or MU-MIMO Users

15
Frame Format (VI) – Trigger-Based Frame
Format

Bit Field Name Bit Field Name

B0 Frame format (SU PPDU B0-B6 TXOP Duration
or Trigger-based PPDU)
B1-B6 BSS Color B7-B15 Reserved

B7-B10 Spatial Reuse 1 B16-B19 CRC

B11-B14 Spatial Reuse 2 B20-B25 Tail SIG-A 1

And
B15-B18 Spatial Reuse 3
SIG-A2
B19-B22 Spatial Reuse 4

B23 reserved

B24-B25 Bandwidth

16
OFDMA Tone Plan – 20 MHz, 40 MHz, and
80 MHz Channel
7 1
6 1 26 26 1 26 26 13 26 26 1 26 26 1 5 12 Edge1 26
5
DC 3 26 2 26 26 1 26 1 26 26 2 26 26 1 1 26 26 2 26 26 1 26 1 26 26 2 26 26 1 11 Edge
Edge Edge DC
1 7 1 5
6 Edge 1 52 1 52 52 1 52 1 5 12 Edge 1 52 2 52 1 26 1 52 2 52 1 1 52 2 52 1 26 1 52 2 52 1 11 Edge
3 D 3 Edge
DC
C
5
6 Edge 102+4 pilots 1 7 1 102+4 pilots 5 Edge 12 Edge 1 102+4 1 26 1 102+4 1 1 102+4 1 26 1 102+4 1 11 Edge
D DC
3 3
C
5
5 Edge 12 Edge 242 242 11 Edge
6 Edge 242 + 3 DC D
C

HE20 with 7DC for OFDMA 12 Edge

484 usable tones +5 DC 11 Edge

20 MHz Tone Plan

40 MHz Tone Plan

2 1 7 1 2 11 Edge
12 1 26 26 2 26 26 1 26 1 26 2 26 26 2 26 26 2 26 26 1 26 1 26 26 2 26 26 1 1 26 26 2 26 26 1 26 1 26 2 26 26 2 26 26 2 26 26 1 26 1 26 26 2 26 26 1
Edge 6 3 DC 3 6
52 1 7 1 52 52 11 Edge
12 1 52 2 1 26 1 52 2 52 2 52 2 52 1 26 1 52 2 52 1 1 2 1 26 1 52 2 52 2 52 2 52 1 26 1 52 2 52 1
3 DC 3
Edge
12 Edge 1 7 1 11 Edge
1 102+4 1 26 1 102+4 2 102+4 1 26 1 102+4 1 1 102+4 1 26 1 102+4 2 102+4 1 26 1 102+4 1
3 DC 3

12 242 242 1 7 1 242 242 11 Edge

Edge 3 DC 3

12 Edge 996 usable tones +5 DC 11 Edge

80 MHz Tone Plan 17

Downlink (DL) Procedure
STA-1
STA-2
H STA-3
AP
STA-4
BA STA-1
STA BA STA-2 Time
BA STA-3
BA STA-4

• ACKs from different stations are transmitted using trigger-based PPDU format
• Unlike DL MU MIMO in 802.11ac where different stations are polled to transmit their ACKs to the AP.
• ACK resources are indicated in either a Trigger frame or Resource Allocation A-Control (Aggregate
Control) field.

18
Uplink (UL) Procedure
BA STA-1
BA STA-2
BA STA-3
AP Trigger BA STA-4
STA-1
STA STA-2 Time
H
STA-3
STA-4

• AP initiates UL transmissions by mean of a trigger frame

• Trigger frame includes information related to each STA participating in the UL transmissions.
• Stations responds with a triggered-based PPDU SIFS time units after the reception of the trigger frame.
• The AP may use the multi-STA block ACK to acknowledge UL transmissions from multiple stations.
• The AP may send the
• Padding

19
Uplink (UL) Procedure

AP Trigger Multi-STA BA
STA-1
STA STA-2 Time
H
STA-3
STA-4

• AP initiates UL transmissions by mean of a trigger frame

• Trigger frame includes information related to each STA participating in the UL transmissions.
• Stations responds with a triggered-based PPDU SIFS time units after the reception of the trigger frame.
• The AP may use the multi-STA block ACK to acknowledge UL transmissions from multiple stations.
• The AP may send the
• Padding

20
Scheduled Trigger Frames
• The main power save mechanism in 802.11ax
• Makes use of the Target Wake Time (TWT) to establish trigger frame
schedule with the AP
• TWT was introduced in 802.11ah amendment to address requirements of
low-power devices, e.g. sensors
• Two TWT flavors are introduced:
• Individual TWT
• Broadcast TWT

21
Trigger Frame Variants
Variant Trigger Dependent Common Trigger Dependent User Info
Info
Basic Trigger Not present MPDU MU TID Aggregation AC Preference Preferred
Spacing Limit Level AC

Beamforming Report Not Present

Feedback Segment
Poll Retransmission Bitmap
MU-BAR Variant Not present
BAR Control BAR Information
MU-RTS Variant Not present Not present

BSRP Variant Not present Not Present

GCR MU-BAR Variant Not present

BAR Control BAR Information
BQRP Variant Not Present Not present

22
Spatial Reuse: The Concept
OBSS signal@-82dBm

OBSS signal@-72dBm

CCA idle
A CCA busy
Intra-BSS CCA busy->idle; OBSS
duration decoding
correctly
B
CCA busy->idle;
duration decoding
error

• Pre 802.11 NAV rule: A station updates its NAV based on the Duration field in any valid frame.
• Setting OBSS PD level to -72dBm, an intra-BSS device A located in the OBSS yellow ring with receiving OBSS
signal strength from (-82, -72)dBm can change from CCA busy to idle.
• However, if device A decodes the duration field correctly from OBSS signal, device A can’t transmit for spatial reuse due to the
higher NAV value, following 11ac NAV rule.
• When a STA uses its OBSS PD level(e.g. -72dBm) for OBSS signal, it should not update its NAV when
receiving a valid duration field from OBSS signal, if the measured RSSI of OBSS signal is less than the OBSS
PD level.
• A station will need to maintain two NAV timers.

23
Spatial Reuse – BSS Color and 2 NAV
Timers
• BSS color in SIG-A field allows devices to differentiate between Intra-
BSS frames and Inter-BSS frames.
• An IEEE 802.11ax station maintains two NAV timers (Network Access
Vector): Basic NAV and Intra-BSS NAV
• Pre IEEE 802.11 devices maintain a single NAV. The value of the NAV is
updated according to the Duration/ID field in the Frame Control.
• The medium is idle when the two NAV timers are zero.
• Two types of Spatial Reuse are defined:
• OBSS PD-based Spatial Reuse
• Spatial Reuse Parameters

24
OBSS_PD Adjustment
• If using OBSS PD-based spatial reuse, an HE STA shall maintain an OBSS PD level and may adjust this OBSS PD
level in conjunction with its transmit power and this adjustment shall be made in accordance with Equation: 

25
CCA Sensitivity
• The 802.11ax hasn’t changed the CCA levels on the primary 20 MHz

26
CCA Sensitivity
• The 802.11ax accounts for the introduction of the new parameter OBSS_Pdlevel
o Any signal within the any 20 MHz subchannel of secondary 20 MHz, secondary 40 MHz or
second-ary 80 MHz at or above a threshold of –62 dBm within a period of aCCATime after
the signal arrives at the receiver's antenna(s); then the PHY shall not issue PHY-
CCA.indication(IDLE) primitive while the threshold continues to be exceeded.
o An 80 MHz non-HT duplicate, VHT PPDU or HE PPDU detected in the secondary 80 MHz
channel at or above max(–69 dBm, OBSS_PDlevel + 6 dB) with > 90% probability within a
period aCCAMidTime (see 27.4.4 (HE PHY)).
o A 40 MHz non-HT duplicate, HT_MF, HT_GF, VHT or HE PPDU detected in any 40 MHz sub-
channel of the secondary 40 MHz or the secondary 80 MHz channel at or above max(–72
dBm, OBSS_PDlevel + 3 dB) with > 90% probability within a period aCCAMidTime.
o A 20 MHz NON_HT, HT_MF, HT_GF, VHT, or HE PPDU detected in the any 20 MHz
subchannel of secondary 20 MHz, secondary 40 MHz or secondary 80 MHz channel at or
above max(–72 dBm, OBSS_PDlevel) with >90% probability within a period aCCAMidTime
(see 27.4.4 (HE PHY)). 

27
Operation in the 6 GHz Band- Channelization
5945 U-NII-5 U-NII-6 U-NII-7 U-NII-8
5965
5985
6005
6025
6045
6065
6085
6105
6125
6145
6165
6185
6205
6225
6245
6065
6285
6305
6325
6345
6365
6385
6405
6425
6445
6465
6485
6505
6525
6545
6565
6585
6605
6625
6645
6665
6685
6705
6725
6745
6765
6785
6805
6825
6845
6865
6885
6905
6925
6945
6965
6985
7005
7025
7045
7065
7085
7105
7125
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
249
213
257
261
265
269
273
277
281
285
189
193
197
201
205
209
213
217
221
225
229
233
237
241
245

289
293
297
301
305
309
313
317
321
325
329
333
337
341
345
349
353
357
361
365
369
373
377
381
385
389
393
397
401
405
409
413
417
421
     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 
191 199 207 215 223 231 239 247 215 263 271 279 287 295 303 311 319 327 335 343 351 359 367 375 383 391 399 407 415        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 
195 211 227 243 259 275 291 307 323 339 355 371 387 403                

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 
203 235 267 299 331 363 395                

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

• Starting frequency of 5940 MHz

• Only 10 MHz of Guard band for U-NII-5 Center Frequency [MHz]
• Challenging filter design 20 MHz Channels
40 MHz Channels
• Channels can cross U-NII boundaries
80 MHz Channels
• In case U-NII-5 and 6 work under different regulatory rules 160 MHz Channels
• No 80 MHz channel in U-NII-6
• Only one 40 MHz channel in U-NII-6

28
Operation in the 6 GHz
• An HE STA indicated its capability to operate in the 6 GHz band
• An HE AP operating in the 6 GHz band shall indicate support for at least 80
MHz channel width 
• A STA shall not transmit an HT PPDU (802.11n) in the 6 GHz band. A STA
shall not transmit a VHT PPDU (802.11ac) in the 6 GHz band. A STA shall not
transmit a DSSS, HR/DSSS (802.11b), or ERP-OFDM (802.11g) PPDU in the 6
GHz band. 
• An HE AP may transmit an HE SU beacon in the 6 GHz band. 
• Rules are defined for passive and active scanning and out-of-band discovery
(for APs in the 2.4 and 5 Ghz and collocated with AP in the 6 GHz).

29
Closing Notes
• IEEE 802.11ax is the next PHY layer after the successful 802.11n and
802.11ac.
• It is the first 802.11 amendment to introduce OFDMA to wireless LAN.
• IEEE 802.11ax adds UL MU MIMO
• Allows power save based on scheduled trigger frames

30