Network Throughput Improvement in Wi-Fi 6 over Wi-Fi 5: A Comparative Performance Analysis

Abstract

Novel Wi-Fi version 6 is the youngest generation of Wi-Fi standard, which supports better throughput than its successful predecessor Wi-Fi 5. Both of these standards have several physical (PHY) layer enhancements, such as higher channel bandwidths (40/80/160 MHz), also the improved Multi User-Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MU-MIMO). The novel IEEE 802.11ax protocol now supports MU-MIMO in case of both uplink transmission and downlink transmission, whereas Wi-Fi 5 can support only downlink MU-MIMO. In addition, Wi-Fi 6 practices Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access technology which is popularly known as OFDMA technology and a higher spectral efficiency, and as a result, Wi-Fi 6 can upsurge the average throughput/area in dense networks. Moreover, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) 10 and 11 are introduced in Wi-Fi 6, which further help improve the network throughput. To this end, in this research paper, we present a proportional network throughput analysis of Wi-Fi version 5 and Wi-Fi version 6, and also discuss the key features of these two WLAN standards. For the simulation, we use NS3, where it has been observed that Wi-Fi 6 can drastically improve the network throughput compared to Wi-Fi 5.