WLAN IEEE 802.

11ac Introduction
Evolution of WLAN 802.11 standards Technologies OFDM, SDMA, MIMO, MU-MIMO Facts about WLAN IEEE 802.11ac Test Solutions for WLAN 802.11ac

Coen van Bergen

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 1

Evolution of WLAN 802.11 Standards

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 2

802.11 WLAN Evolution

802.11ac = Backwards compatible with 802.11a and n
802.11a Release Carrier freq. Bandwidth Data rate 1 Access method Modulation Coding
Sep. 1999

802.11b
Sep. 1999 2.4 GHz ISM band

802.11g
June 2003 2.4 GHz ISM band 20 MHz 6 to 54 Mbps OFDM, DSSS DBPSK, DQPSK, CCK, PBCC

802.11n
Oct. 2009 2.4 GHz ISM band, 5 GHz U-NII bands 20 / 40 MHz 7.2 to 150 Mbps OFDM BPSK, QPSK, 16 / 64QAM Convolutional Coding, LDPC
2

802.11ac
under development

5 GHz U-NII bands 20 MHz 6 to 54 Mbps OFDM BPSK, QPSK, 16 / 64QAM Forward error correction coding (convolutional; code rates 1/2, 2/3, 3/4) 1 20 MHz 1 to 11 Mbps FDMA, DS-CDMA DBPSK, DQPSK, BPSK, QPSK 11 chip Barker sequence, CCK, PBCC

5 GHz U-NII bands 20 / 40 / 80 / 160 MHz 500 Mbps

3

SDMA (OFDM) BPSK, QPSK, 16 / 64 / 256 QAM BCC, LDPC, STBC

MIMO stream
1 2

4x4

8x8

The maximum data rate can be achieved by higher order modulation In case of 4 streams the maximum data rate is 600 Mbps 3 For 160 MHz and 8 streams theoretically 6.93 Gbps

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 3

Technologies: OFD ! "D A! I O! #$ I O

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 4

Facts about WLAN 802.11ac OFDM

l

802.11ac PHY is based on the well known OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) PHY used for 802.11a and 802.11n

f2 f1 f0 duration TS f0 1/TS f1 f2 f

fCarrier= f0+n/TS where n is an integer, f = 1/TS , therefore: fn = n x f The maximum of one carrier is at the zero crossings of all others

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 5

M MO Multi!l" n!ut Multi!l" Out!ut

Coding Data 1 Fading on the air interface

Different data on both antennas

Data 2
s S2 = 1 s2 s * s1
* 2

Throughput:

<200% 200% 100%

Alamouti Pre-Coding
R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 6

M#$M MO % Multi#s"r M MO
SDMA = Spatial Division Multiple Access = Access Method

- Downstream only - Max. 8 Streams - Max 4 Users - Max 4x4 antennes per user

Beamforming ?

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 7

Facts a%out WLAN IEEE 802.11ac

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 8

Facts about WLAN 802.11ac OFDM

l

OFDM Subcarriers
Bandwidth (MHz) Number of Subcarriers 64 Subcarriers Transmitting Signal

20 40 80 160 80+80

-28 to -1 and 1 to 28, 4 Pilots -58 to -2 and 2 to 58, 6 Pilots -122 to -2 and 2 to 122, 8 Pilots -250 to-130, -126 to -6, 6 to 126 and 130 to 250, 16 Pilots -122 to -2 and 2 to 122, 16 Pilots
Rotation Value 90 degrees (j) 180 degrees (-1) 180 degrees (-1) Same as 80MHz

128 256 512 256 per 80MHz Chan

Bandwidth (MHz) 20 Subcarrier Rotation 40 80 reduces Peak to 160 Average Power Ratio 80+80 PAPR
R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 9

Rotated Subcarriers N/A 0 -64 -192 to -1 and 64 Same as 80 MHz

Facts about WLAN 802.11ac &'ann"li(ation

l l l

Support of 20, 40, 80 MHz, 160 MHz channel bandwidth The 80MHz channel will consist of two adjacent, non-overlapping 40MHz channels. The 160MHz channels will be formed by two 80MHz channels
l l

adjacent (contiguous) non-contiguous

5170 MHz IEEE channel # 20 MHz 40 MHz 80 MHz 160 MHz 5330 5490 MHz MHz 5710 MHz

Europe, Japan and Global Operating Class Channel Allocation

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 10

100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140

36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64

Facts about WLAN 802.11ac Fra)" For)at

All 802.11 devices (L= Legacy) to synchronize to the signal

l l l

L-STF (Short Training Field) L-LTF (Long Training Field) L-SIG (Signal). VHT-SIG-A field contains two OFDM symbols (BPSK, 90 rotated BPSK) VHT-STF VHT-LTFs.. The VHT-SIG-B is the last field in the preamble

New for 802.11ac: VHT (Very High Throughput.)

l l l l

VHT auto-detection

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 11

Facts about WLAN 802.11ac Optional/Mandatory

Properties
20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz channels 1 spatial stream BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM 256QAM 80+80 MHz, 160 MHz channels 2 to 8 spatial streams Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) 400 ns short guard interval Space Time Block Coding (STBC) Low Density Parity Check (LDPC)

Mandatory
X X X

Optional

X X X X X X X

Peak Data Rate

~293 Mbps ~3.5 Gbps

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 12

Facts about WLAN 802.11ac &alculation of Data *at"

l Mandatory
l l l l l l l l l

242 carrier 8 pilot carriers = 234 carriers Sample Frequency 80 MHz Guard Interval 800 ns FFT 256 MCS7, 64 QAM (6 bits), Coding 5/6 Symbol time: 256/80 MHz + 800 ns = 4 s Number of bits 6 x 234 x 5/6 = 1170 bits/symbol Maximum data rate: 1170 bits/symbol / 4 s /symbol = 292.5 Mbit/s

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 13

Facts about WLAN 802.11ac

Ov"rvi"+ of datarat"s d"!"ndin, on M&S

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 14

Facts about WLAN 802.11ac Mar-"t .i"+

l

First wave of chips will support:

l l l l

80 MHz bandwidth 256 QAM support expected MIMO support plans vary for customers
Some start with 2x2, some plan 3x3 initially

Some plan MU-MIMO initially with 2 streams for 2 users

Next wave will support 160 MHz

l l

Planned for mid to end of this year Some indicating plans for 4x4 MIMO

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 15

&'" Test "olutions WLAN IEEE 802.11ac

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 16

/"st Solutions for 80M0( and 110 M0(

Max. bandwidth 80 MHz
R&S SMU R&S SMBV R&S FSQ R&S FSW

Max. bandwidth 160 MHz

R&S AFQ100A/B + R&S SMU R&S SMBV R&S SGS R&S FSW + R&S FSW-B160

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 17

WLAN 802.11ac Anal2sis +it' *3S FSW

Transmiter Specifications Spectrum Measurements with R&S FSW
l

Spectral Mask for 20, 40, 80 and 160 MHz Channels

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 18

WLAN 802.11ac Anal2sis +it' *3S FSW

Modulation Analysis
l

Transmitter Constellation Error

MCS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Modulation BPSK QPSK QPSK 16-QAM 16-QAM 64-QAM 64-QAM 64-QAM 256-QAM 256-QAM

Coding Rate 1/2 1/2 3/4 1/2 3/4 2/3 3/4 5/6 3/4 5/6

RCE (dB) -5 -10 -13 -16 -19 -22 -25 -27 -30 -32 For error < 1dB a residual EVM of < -38 dB for T&M is needed

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 19

WLAN 802.11ac Anal2sis +it' *3S FSW

Modulation Analysis R&S FSW- !"/!"ac Bandwidth 160 MHz

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 20

WLAN 802.11ac Anal2sis +it' *3S FSW

Modulation Analysis R&S FSW- !"/!"ac
DUT EVM: -33 dB With -45 dB res. EVM, the result is -32.7 dB Constellation diagram R&S FSW-K91ac Residual EVM < -45 dB at 5 GHz

R&S FSW quality is needed, because with e.g. -35 dB res. EVM, the result is -30.9 dB, which does not meet the spec.

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 21

WLAN 802.11ac Anal2sis +it' *3S FSW M#MO Analysis

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 22

nfor)ation about 802.11ac

l l

R&S Technology paper 1MA192 Wikipedia -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ac

R&S | 802.11ac Introduction | 23