A Study of Channel Bonding in IEEE 802.11bd Networks

In recent years, Vehicle-To-Everything (V2X) applications have been actively developing, and the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements are becoming more stringent. To support V2X applications, IEEE developed the IEEE 802.11p standard in 2010. However, systems based on this standard fail to fulfill requirements on very low frame transmission delay and packet loss ratio imposed by modern V2X applications, such as applications for autonomous driving and platooning. To satisfy new requirements, IEEE has launched a new IEEE 802.11bd project to design the next generation of IEEE 802.11p. An important feature of IEEE 802.11bd is the channel bonding technique, which allows transmitting data in two adjacent channels simultaneously. Thus, it increases data rates and may reduce delays and packet loss ratio. The current version of IEEE 802.11bd specifies two channel bonding techniques, which differ from that used in modern Wi-Fi networks. This work evaluates the performance of the three aforementioned techniques from the IEEE 802.11 family of standards considering frame transmission delays and packet loss ratio. With rigorous simulations, it is shown that, in most cases, the channel bonding techniques highly decrease the percentage of both IEEE 802.11bd and legacy stations with unsatisfied QoS requirements on delays and packet loss ratio. Unfortunately, sometimes, the IEEE 802.11bd channel bonding techniques significantly worsen performance. Moreover, the work highlights that the choice of the primary channel for channel bonding techniques significantly affects the network performance. As a result, the paper provides a recommendation for selecting both the most suitable channel access method and primary channel.