Device-to-device communications with Wi-Fi Direct: overview and experimentation

Wi-Fi Direct is a new technology defined by the Wi-Fi Alliance aimed at enhancing direct device to device communications in Wi-Fi. Thus, given the wide base of devices with Wi-Fi capabilities, and the fact that it can be entirely implemented in software over traditional Wi-Fi radios, this technology is expected to have a significant impact. In this article we provide a thorough overview of the novel functionalities defined in Wi-Fi Direct, and present an experimental evaluation that portrays the performance to be expected in real scenarios. In particular, our results quantify the delays to be expected in practice when Wi-Fi Direct devices discover each other and establish a connection, and the performance of its novel power saving protocols. To the best of the authors¿ knowledge this is the first article in the state of the art that provides a wide overview and experimental evaluation of Wi-Fi Direct.