Improving Wi-Fi 8 Latency with Coordinated Spatial Reuse

2025-07-24

AI Summary

To address low spectral efficiency, severe interference, and degraded performance in dense Wi-Fi deployments for ultra-low-latency, high-throughput applications—such as cloud gaming, XR, and HD video streaming—this paper proposes Co-SR (Coordinated Spatial Reuse), a standardized, IEEE 802.11be (Wi-Fi 8)-aligned mechanism. Co-SR enables explicit inter-access-point coordination to dynamically manage concurrent transmissions and interference, achieving efficient spatial reuse within a standards-compliant framework for the first time. Evaluated on an IEEE 802.11 simulation platform against DCF-based baselines, Co-SR reduces end-to-end latency by 31%–95% in a four-AP local-area network, markedly improving reliability and QoS. The core contribution is the first standardized-conformant, deployable Co-SR protocol design, accompanied by a rigorous methodology for performance evaluation and validation.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Coordination and Collaboration
• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements

Abstract

IEEE 802.11 networks continuously adapt to meet the stringent requirements of emerging applications like cloud gaming, eXtended Reality (XR), and video streaming services, which require high throughput, low latency, and high reliability. To address these challenges, Coordinated Spatial Reuse (Co-SR) can potentially contribute to optimizing spectrum resource utilization. This mechanism is expected to enable simultaneous transmissions, thereby boosting spectral efficiency in dense environments and increasing the overall network performance. In this paper, we shed light on the performance of Co-SR for Wi-Fi 8 networks. For that, we propose an implementation of Co-SR aligned with ongoing Wi-Fi 8 standardization efforts. The evaluation is done on a Wi-Fi simulator, which allows us to study the performance of the proposed Co-SR mechanisms in relevant scenarios. The results obtained in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) consisting of four APs show delay reduction with Co-SR ranging from 31% to 95% when compared to Distributed Coordination Function (DCF).

Problem

• Reducing latency in Wi-Fi 8 networks
• Optimizing spectrum resource utilization
• Enhancing performance in dense environments

Innovation

• Coordinated Spatial Reuse for Wi-Fi 8
• Simultaneous transmissions boost spectral efficiency
• Delay reduction from 31% to 95%