Duet: An adaptive algorithm for the coexistence of LTE-U and WiFi in Unlicensed spectrum

Abstract

LTE in Unlicensed band (LTE-U) has gained intensive attention recently due to its capability to offload mobile data to unlicensed bands. In order to use unlicensed band, LTE-U has to coexist with WiFi - another wireless technology that operates in unlicensed bands. This coexistence is riddled with several challenges as these technologies use different core networks, backhauls and deployment plans. Within this broad paradigm, we present Duet, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer solution that enables both LTE-U and WiFi nodes to operate fairly and efficiently, with the following properties: (1) no changes in WiFi framework, (2) high performance of LTE-U and WiFi networks within static and dynamic load scenarios, and (3) robustness to fully and partially connected networks. Using ns-3, we simulate Duet in various scenarios and show that Duet can improve the overall network throughput by up to 74%.