WiFi 7 with Different Multi-Link Channel Access Schemes: Modeling, Fairness and Optimization

Multi-link operation is regarded as a crucial feature in the upcoming WiFi 7 networks, which allows a single multi-link device (MLD) to make concurrent data transmissions over multiple links. To facilitate synchronous multi-link channel access, IEEE 802.11 Task Group BE has proposed various channel access schemes, such as Longest Backoff (LB) access and Shortest Backoff (SB) access. However, the coexisting performance of WiFi 7 networks with multiple channel access schemes remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to evaluate the data rate and mean access delay performance of a multi-link WiFi 7 network with two types of devices adopting LB and SB, respectively, each employing different initial backoff window sizes. The ratio of device data rates between LB-MLDs and SB-MLDs is inversely correlated with the number of links, and the ratio of their initial backoff window sizes, indicating potential unfairness if the backoff parameters are not appropriately chosen. The optimal initial backoff window sizes to maximize the network sum rate and minimize the mean access delay under a given data rate ratio are further derived and verified by simulation results. The maximum network sum rate scales with the number of links, and is independent of the target fairness requirement or number of devices. Conversely, the minimum mean access delay for each type of devices, is strongly influenced by the target fairness requirement, and shows a linear increase with the network size.