Wi-Fi/LTE-U Coexistence: Real-Time Issues and Solutions

Coexistence of small-cell LTE-U and Wi-Fi networks in unlicensed bands at 5 GHz is a topic of active interest, primarily driven by industry groups affiliated with the two (cellular and Wi-Fi) segments. Our focus in this work is on real-time deployment aspects of such coexisting networks, a topic which has seen little traction in the existing literature. The aim is to explore the following questions: (1) How do Wi-Fi clients associate with a Wi-Fi access point (AP) when a LTE-U base station is active with its maximum duty cycle, (2) How is the latency of Wi-Fi connection affected (in terms of association and data transmission) during coexistence with LTE-U, and (3) How does the energy sensing threshold of Wi-Fi affect the latency and throughput performance of Wi-Fi and LTE-U?