Radio Access Control of Access Points and Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces for Data Rate Improvement in Joint Transmission

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) have become an indispensable part of day-to-day living. In the future, as the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices increases, the amount of communication per terminal is expected to increase. To cope with this increase in demand, it is necessary to introduce a multi-access point (AP) communication environment, which is currently being discussed in the IEEE 802.11be Standardization Committee, to perform joint transmission (JT). Furthermore, the use of high-frequency bands is necessary to increase transmission capacity. However, when using high-frequency bands in a multi-AP communication environment, communication may become difficult owing to blockages, or interference may occur in an environment where there is high density deployment of APs. In this study, we first consider the introduction of an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) in a multi-AP network to manage the blockage of radio waves due to shielding in high-frequency bands. When IRSs are introduced, it becomes possible to generate transmission paths that bypass blockages even in an environment where shielding exists, and it becomes possible to use multiple APs for a single communication. However, JT communication with IRSs may be prone to interference instead of increasing the paths. This study demonstrates that the effect of interfering signals can be decreased by the optimal allocation of stations by the AP and IRS.