Advanced directional networking: LTE vs WiFi radios

Advanced Nodes are the main components of Physical Layer based fully-directional networks. They consist of sets of appropriately programmed antenna arrays that enable them to conform to the standards of the radio being used. This paper provides an in-depth comparison of advanced nodes implementations for the two main choices of radios: 3GPP's Long Term Evolution (LTE) and IEEE 802.11 (WiFi). Component-by-component comparison is carried out, investigating several implementation aspects as well as estimated performance (in terms of standard performance metrics such as bit error rate, data rate, capacity, coverage radius) for the two radios. Based on the comparison, the associated implementation trade-offs are analyzed which help in choosing between the two radios.