Characterizing the basic performance of IEEE 802.11ax using actual hardware measurements

IEEE 802.11ax, which was designed to improve effective throughput in dense environments, is expected to improve communication performance in campus wireless LANs serving classroom buildings and other areas containing densely concentrated access points. However, stable operation will require careful consideration of how overall throughput is affected by channel-bonding configurations and coexistence with older wireless networking standards. To this end, in the present study, we prepared multiple terminals and used iperf3 to measure throughput for various channel widths and in coexistence with older standard, obtaining insight into the optimal deployment of 802.11ax in campus wireless LANs. Our experimental results include the following findings: (1) When the number of simultaneously connecting terminals is small—on the order of 2 or 3— and electromagnetic interference from the surrounding environment is minimal, the use of 40-MHz channel bonding may improve overall throughput. (2) The coexistence with IEEE 802.11ac, overall throughput should improve as the ratio of 802.11ax terminals increases.