Time-Sensitive Networking in IEEE 802.

11be:
On the Way to Low-latency WiFi 7
Toni Adame, Marc Carrascosa, and Boris Bellalta
Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Email: {toni.adame, marc.carrascosa, boris.bellalta}@upf.edu
arXiv:1912.06086v2 [cs.NI] 26 Nov 2020

Abstract— Short time after the official launch of WiFi 6, such as multi-link operation and multi-access point (multi-
IEEE 802.11 working groups are already designing its successor AP) coordination. At the same time, IEEE 802.11be also
in the wireless local area network (WLAN) ecosystem: WiFi 7. targets reducing worst-case latency and jitter in wireless local
With the IEEE 802.11be amendment as one of its main
constituent parts, future WiFi 7 aims to include time-sensitive area networks (WLANs), for which TSN sub-standards are
networking (TSN) capabilities to support low latency and ultra currently under study for their possible adoption.
reliability in license-exempt spectrum bands. This article first Indeed, to be used as part of a potential IEEE 802.11be
introduces the key features of IEEE 802.11be, which are then low-latency operation mode, original TSN mechanisms will
used as the basis to discuss how TSN functionalities could be need to be redesigned taking into consideration the inherent
implemented in WiFi 7. Finally, benefits and requirements of
the most representative low-latency use cases for WiFi 7 are constraints of the wireless medium (namely, unreliability of
reviewed. links, asymmetric path delay, channel interference, signal
distortion, lack of accurate clock synchronization methods,
and incompatibility of network interface cards) [5], while
I. I NTRODUCTION ensuring backward compatibility with legacy WiFi devices.
In recent years, an increasing number of heterogeneous Overall, wireless TSN opens new research directions for
productive sectors, motivated by the latest technological the upcoming years, and not only in the WiFi ecosystem. In
advances on multimedia, cloud computing, artificial intel- fact, the 3GPP mobile standards body has also defined ultra-
ligence, automation, robotics, and unmanned vehicles, are reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) as one of the
fostering the emergence of cutting-edge real-time applica- main application areas for the enhanced capabilities of 5G.
tions which strongly depend on extremely low latency and, Latency reduction techniques and support to deterministic
occasionally, very high bandwidth-demanding communica- communications are also since long ago in the spotlight of
tions for their successful operation. low-power wireless sensor networks, particularly as a result
Since its emergence in the early 2000s, WiFi world- of the specialized MAC-layer profiles introduced in IEEE
wide success has been mainly substantiated on its high 802.15.4e.
flexibility, mobility of devices, better cost efficiency, and This paper introduces the future IEEE 802.11be amend-
reduced complexity. Although WiFi has been constantly ment, discussing how its new features can be used to support
evolving through successive amendments to improve peak a seamless adoption of TSN mechanisms. Hence, whereas
throughput, capacity, and efficiency, it has not yet been able WiFi networks will never be able to offer bounded delay
to produce a similar solution to manage time-sensitive traffic guarantees due to their own nature and operation in license-
with bounded low latency. exempt bands, the adoption and integration of TSN concepts
To address the requirements of emerging real-time ap- would keep WiFi as one of the leading wireless access
plications within IEEE 802.11-based networks, initiatives technology in the 6G era.
like the Real Time Application Technical Interest Group The remainder of this article is organized as follows:
(RTA TIG) [1] are promoting physical (PHY) and medium Section II overviews the limitations of current WLANs to
access control (MAC) enhancements, as well as new capabil- handle time-sensitive traffic. Section III describes the main
ities under the time-sensitive networking (TSN) framework. features of IEEE 802.11be in terms of PHY and MAC layers.
Originally intended for Ethernet, TSN sub-standards, which A brief description of TSN and the potential enhancements
ensure zero packet loss due to buffer congestion, extremely to support it in WiFi 7 are provided in Section IV. The
low packet loss due to equipment failure, and guaranteed most representative WiFi 7 use cases that could leverage low-
upper bounds on end-to-end latency [2], are now making latency communications are reviewed in Section V. Lastly,
their way to wireless networks. Section VI presents the obtained conclusions and discusses
IEEE P802.11be Task Group (TGbe) [3] was created open challenges.
in May 2019 to address the design of a new PHY and
MAC amendment. Considered as the successor of IEEE II. L IMITATIONS OF IEEE 802.11 TO HANDLE
802.11ax [4] and the core piece of next WiFi 7, IEEE TIME - SENSITIVE TRAFFIC
802.11be aspires to achieve a peak throughput of 30 Gbps IEEE 802.11 offers great accessibility and ease of use,
and incorporate disruptive solutions in the WiFi ecosystem creating an open environment for any station (STA) willing
to associate to the network. But at the same time, the wireless cusses to what extent they would help to satisfy low-latency
medium is precisely the main cause that hinders proper requirements. In general terms, and following the traditional
delivery of time-sensitive traffic, due to its variable capacity IEEE 802.11 evolution, IEEE 802.11be will adopt IEEE
(which depends on the link quality) and typically higher 802.11ax contributions, further refining and extending them,
PER (due to the stochastic properties of the channel and and adding some new features [10].
the presence of interference) [6].
As for the MAC layer, IEEE 802.11 has traditionally relied A. PHY layer
on the distributed coordination function (DCF): a contention-
The ongoing release of the 6 GHz band throughout the
based random access scheme based on carrier sense and
world will be of great benefit to WiFi dense scenarios, not
exponential backoff rules. The main drawback of DCF,
only due to the additional 1.2 GHz of available spectrum,
however, is its non-predictable behavior and lack of traffic
but also to the resulting interference reduction among net-
prioritization techniques. In fact, in presence of multiple
works/BSSs. The incorporation of the 6 GHz band into IEEE
STAs, DCF may lead to channel saturation by contending
802.11be will also encompass channels as wide as 320 MHz,
packets, thus being unable to guarantee timely data delivery.
hence enabling higher transmission rates.
The alternative point coordination function (PCF), based on
As for the maximum number of spatial streams, it is
a centralized polling system, has never been widely adopted.
expected to double its number from 8 in IEEE 802.11ac/ax
The enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) was
to 16 in IEEE 802.11be, thus further benefiting from funda-
envisioned as part of the IEEE 802.11e amendment to extend
mental advantages of predominantly indoor WiFi operation:
DCF and provide quality of service support according to
rich scattering, higher angular spreads, lower correlation, and
4 differentiated access categories (ACs): background, best
diversity of channels with good propagation conditions.
effort, video, and voice. Prioritization is then implemented
The maximum supported modulation size in IEEE
by allocating different contention-related parameters to each
802.11be is likewise expected to be boosted with the adop-
AC. Nevertheless, the low number of ACs, the lack of mech-
tion of the 4096-QAM modulation, whose practical use, how-
anisms for the prioritization of different streams belonging
ever, will only be feasible in combination with beamforming.
to the same AC, and (in some hardware devices) the use of
All in all, new IEEE 802.11be PHY features favor low-
a single buffer to store packets with different priorities are
latency operation, as (1) wider available bandwidth results
among the main EDCA shortcomings.
in faster transmissions and (2) more spatial streams turn into
To outperform IEEE 802.11e operation for real-time mul-
higher rates in the single-user (SU) mode and into more
timedia content delivery, IEEE 802.11aa introduced the intra-
parallel transmissions (with less waiting time in the buffer)
AC traffic differentiation functionality, with the definition
in the multi-user (MU) mode.
of two new time-critical voice and video ACs. However,
in general, none of IEEE 802.11 mechanisms guarantee
the quality of service of heterogeneous real-time streams B. MAC layer
when a WLAN is overloaded [7]. In such cases, flexible Many significant MAC features from IEEE 802.11ax such
scheduling policies and/or admission control algorithms are as MU-MIMO, OFDMA, and spatial reuse will be extended
highly required to effectively manage different traffic flows. in IEEE 802.11be. The support of more spatial streams will
Neighboring networks represent a key limitation to provide also enable more flexible MU-MIMO arrangements. How-
low-latency guarantees in all the aforementioned channel ever, current explicit channel state information acquisition
access methods. In dense scenarios, overlapping of basic procedure may not cope well with such high number of
service set (BSS) coverage areas turns into large delays for antennas and, for that reason, TGbe is currently evaluating
STAs waiting to access the channel. IEEE 802.11ax partially several alternatives to enhance explicit sounding, even con-
addresses this issue by allowing concurrent transmissions sidering the introduction of an implicit procedure.
under the spatial reuse scope, showing a clear gain for As for OFDMA, enhanced resource unit (RU) allocation
time-sensitive communication [8]. A gain that could be schemes will allow to allocate multiple contiguous and non-
remarkably boosted by means of coordination mechanisms contiguous RUs to a single STA. Consequently, these novel
among neighboring APs. schemes could significantly increase spectral efficiency and
And lastly, when it comes to the transport layer, the overall network throughput, and even better satisfy timely
bufferbloat problem may prevent IEEE 802.11 networks from data delivery [11]. In fact, whether based on MU-MIMO or
delivering time-sensitive traffic in presence of TCP flows, OFDMA, MU transmissions are key to reduce the channel
due to the high latency produced by excessive buffering access latency, as packets from different users can be de-
of packets. In fact, well-known techniques to mitigate this queued simultaneously.
problem in wired networks (e.g., decreasing buffer sizes Multi-link operation will likely become the most repre-
and/or applying modern queue management algorithms) have sentative feature of IEEE 802.11be, aiming to 1) improve
proven low success in WiFi [9]. throughput by aggregating links, 2) enhance reliability by
transmitting multiple copies of the same frame in separated
III. IEEE 802.11 BE links, and 3) decrease channel access delay by selecting the
This section introduces the main technologies under dis- first available link in terms of latency [12]. As it can be seen
cussion in TGbe for both PHY and MAC layers and dis- in Figure 1, having two active links operating at different
bands between an AP and an STA may increase channel higher levels of determinism, thus facilitating the manage-
access efficiency by enabling opportunistic link selection, ment of real-time deterministic traffic and the inclusion of
link aggregation, and multi-channel full duplex. TSN mechanisms.
TGbe also considers multi-AP coordination, which con-
sists in the cooperative use of neighboring APs in enterprise C. Standardization status
IEEE 802.11be WLANs, as a way to improve overall per- The standardization process of IEEE 802.11be, initiated
formance by means of different techniques: by TGbe in May 2019, consists of two stages: Release 1
• Coordinated spatial reuse (CSR) consists in jointly and 2, and it is expected to be completed in May 2024 with
negotiating the transmission power of potential overlap- the publication of the final amendment. Release 1 is aimed to
ping APs to reduce overall interference. Access delay prioritize the development of a small distinctive set of IEEE
to the medium could be then reduced, since CSR allows 802.11be candidate features, such as the 320 MHz channels,
to increase the number of concurrent transmissions. the 4096-QAM modulation, and the multi-link operation,
• Coordinated OFDMA (Co-OFDMA) optimizes the ef- becoming available by 2022. Release 2 shall contain the rest
ficiency of the wireless spectrum both in time and of the features (including a low-latency operation mode) as
frequency, as APs are able to allocate the available RUs well as the potential extensions and/or modifications of the
to their corresponding STAs in a coordinated way. In already introduced ones in Release 1.
consequence, time-sensitive and best-effort traffic could
be provided with differentiated RUs to meet timely IV. S UPPORTING TSN IN WIFI 7
delivery requirements. TSN consists of a set of sub-standards defined by the
• Coordinated beamforming (CBF) enables simultaneous IEEE 802.1 TSN Task Group [13] to support deterministic
transmissions within the same coverage area while en- messaging on standard Ethernet. Essentially, TSN technology
suring spatial radiation nulls to non-targeted devices. relies on a central management that uses time scheduling
• Distributed MU-MIMO allows APs to perform joint data to ensure reliable packet delivery with bounded latency and
transmissions to multiple STAs by reusing the same low packet delay variation (jitter) in deterministic real-time
time/frequency resources. Spatial diversity can then be applications.1 The coexistence of different traffic classes
exploited to increase frame reception probability. is guaranteed by two TSN sub-standards: whereas IEEE
Thanks to the multi-AP coordination, multiple overlapping 802.1Qbu implements frame preemption to interrupt any
BSSs (OBSSs) can turn channel contention in our favor, ongoing operation if a time-sensitive frame is selected for
resulting in a better use of shared resources. Beyond the transmission, IEEE 802.1Qbv creates exclusive time slots for
latency reduction obtained by using the spectrum more time-sensitive frames managed by a time-aware shaper.
efficiently, new solutions to protect time-critical traffic across A careful design of WiFi 7 technologies taking into
the cooperating BSSs may be enabled. For instance, APs account the TSN principles could certainly contribute to
dealing with best-effort traffic may agree on reducing trans- reduce WiFi latency issues, yet at the present time that
mission power to provide spatial reuse opportunities, so that potential integration is neither straightforward nor exempted
STAs from other BSSs can successfully transmit their short- from uncertainties and incompatibilities. The approach that
duration, time-sensitive packets at the same time. could be followed by TGbe encompasses both adaptations
Advanced transmission schemes such as hybrid automatic from TSN sub-standards and proposals of new solutions in
repeat request (HARQ) offer notable performance gains in several areas, as compiled in Table I.
varying channels compared to the traditional stop & wait This section elaborates on the time synchronization and
approach, but it is not yet clear if such gains will also be the traffic shaping and scheduling components of TSN,
achieved in WLANs due to the severity of collisions. Be analyzes the most suitable IEEE 802.11be enhancements to
that as it may, HARQ still retains the prospect of improving support them, points out the main challenges involved in
performance in terms of latency, because of its ability to the integration process, and sheds some light on possible
reduce the number of required retransmissions per packet. solutions and open research directions.
In short, the new IEEE 802.11be MAC functionalities will
help to use more efficiently the spectrum resources and allo- A. Time synchronization
cate them in a more flexible way to optimize throughput, la- TSN sub-standard IEEE 802.1AS includes a version of the
tency, or reliability, depending on the scenario requirements. precision time protocol (PTP), which enables the distribution
Furthermore, these functionalities can be better exploited of a single reference clock across network devices in a
for low-latency purposes if some core TSN features (e.g., master/slave basis. The availability of a common clock is
admission control and scheduled operation) are integrated likewise a key requirement for WiFi 7, as it would permit to
on top of them, as we will see in Section IV. successfully schedule MU transmissions in both uplink and
Last but not least, the lack of legacy devices operating downlink, as well as to establish coordination mechanisms
in the upcoming 6 GHz band also offers the possibility among APs.
of rethinking channel access for future WiFi 7 adopters. 1 Ultra reliability in TSN is responsibility of IEEE 802.1CB, which
In this sense, traditional channel access schemes based on basically sends duplicate copies of each frame over disjoint wired paths
contention might be partially replaced by others able to offer to provide proactive seamless redundancy.
 DL
Channel #17
1 6 11 36 40 ... 165 1 ... 17 ... 233

6 GHz band 2.4 GHz 5 GHz 6 GHz f

band channels band channels band channels

AP 1 DL Downlink packet Acknowledgement (ACK)

Channel #40 STA 1,1 UL
5 GHz band Channel busy
UL Uplink packet
(transmissions from other nodes)

DL 1 Opportunis
c DL 2 Link UL 1 Opportunisc DL 3 UL 2 Mul-channel

link selec on aggregaon link selecon full duplex

Channel #17
DL 2 UL 1 DL 3
6 GHz band

Channel #40
DL 1 DL 2 UL 2
5 GHz band

t
Fig. 1: Multi-link operation techniques at ISM frequency bands.

TABLE I: Potential enhancements to support TSN in WiFi 7.

Targeted feature
Component Subcomponent Potential enhancement Resource
Latency Jitter Reliability
management
IEEE 802.1AS over IEEE 802.11 x x
Time synchronization
IEEE 802.11mc FTM x x
Traffic
EDCA operation enhancements x
prioritization
Frame
IEEE 802.1Qbu-based frame preemption x x
Traffic preemption
shaping Admission IEEE 802.11e/aa admission control x x
and control Multi-band admission control x x
scheduling IEEE 802.1Qbv-based time-aware shaper x x x
Scheduled
Trigger-based access x x x
operation
TWT mechanism x x x
Multi-link operation x x
HARQ x x
Ultra reliability
Rate adaptation in trigger-based access x
IEEE 802.1CB adaptations x
CSR x x x
Multi-AP
Resource Co-OFDMA x x x x
resource
management CBF x x x
coordination
Distributed MU-MIMO x x x

Indeed, IEEE 802.1AS can already be operated over opportunities (TXOPs) are used (for instance, to allow using
IEEE 802.11 by means of the timing measurement (TM) any TXOP, regardless the AC that has obtained it, to send
procedure defined in IEEE 802.11v, which takes wireless link time-sensitive traffic when available [10]).
asymmetric delay into consideration. Time is propagated in In addition, the adaptation of the IEEE 802.1Qbv time-
private action frames between a master (i.e., the AP) and a aware shaper on top of one of the IEEE 802.11 MAC
slave (i.e., the STA), being the latter able to compute the modes would allow devices to control how traffic arrives
clock offset and adjust its own time accordingly. to the different EDCA ACs according to new rules yet to
Furthermore, the next revision of the IEEE 802.1AS stan- be defined. By shaping the traffic that arrives to the MAC
dard (IEEE 802.1AS-Rev, still in draft version) will contain a layer, devices will be able to reduce inter-AC contention, as
novel synchronization method by using the IEEE 802.11mc well as better control how and when they content for the
fine timing measurement (FTM) procedure. FTM provides channel. On this basis, Figure 2 exemplifies the hypothetical
0.1 ns of timestamp resolution, far more accurate than TM, integration and joint operation of a TSN-based time-aware
whose timestamp resolution is 10 ns [14]. shaper with EDCA.

B. Traffic prioritization C. Frame preemption

The four access categories (ACs) employed by EDCA are In the case a node is transmitting multiple traffic flows,
insufficient for fine control of real-time applications, as they placing the time-sensitive traffic in the highest priority queue
cannot provide hard bounds on latency/jitter, especially under may not be enough to mitigate the residual delay caused
congestion. For that reason, TGbe is considering possible by large ongoing low-priority transmissions, which may
enhancements to EDCA, such as the incorporation of a new include many aggregated packets and last up to the maximum
AC with the highest priority for time-sensitive traffic [15], physical protocol data unit (PPDU) duration (i.e., ∼ 5 ms).
as well as some modifications to how obtained transmission As shown in Figure 3, a possible solution to that issue could
be based on the adaptation of the IEEE 802.1Qbu frame TABLE II: WiFi 7 low-latency use cases.
preemption mechanism, which would also foster the use of Sector and Requirements
use case Latency Reliability Throughput
packet aggregation even in presence of time-sensitive traffic, (ms) (%) (Mbps)
thus improving overall throughput. MULTIMEDIA
Integrating frame preemption into WiFi would require, Real-time high-quality
3 - 10 >99.9 5 - 25
video streaming
however, several changes in the physical and link layers, Virtual Reality 10 - 20 >99.9 25 - 500
such as the format of preemptable frames and the methods Augmented Reality 1 - 50 >99.99 1 - 200
Real-time pro graming 5 - 50 >99.9 >3
to fragment frames while preserving integrity of preemptable Cloud gaming 5 - 50 >99.9 10 - 35
traffic. In any case, it seems reasonable to only support this HEALTH CARE
Telediagnosis, telemonitoring,
new feature when aggregate MAC protocol data units (A- and telerehabilitation
50 - 200 >99.9 0.5 - 5
MPDUs) are transmitted, and so extend the service field used Telesurgery 1 - 10 >99.9999 ∼10
Exoskeletons and prosthetic hands 5 - 20 >99.999 0.2 - 1
to identify the different MPDUs. INDUSTRIAL
Despite the fact that frame preemption may well be applied Process automation 1 - 50 >99.99 0.1 - 5
on outgoing transmissions from a same node, its extension Human machine interface 50 - 200 >99.9 ∼1
Tactile / Haptic technology 1-5 >99.999 ∼1
to incorporate transmissions from other APs/STAs would re- TRANSPORT
quire a complex channel access mechanism. In that situation, Real-time traffic information 40 - 500 >99 0.1 - 1
Autonomous vehicle,
and in presence of a time-sensitive traffic flow, it would be automated guided vehicle, 10 - 100 >99.9999 1-5
advisable to simply avoid the use of packet aggregation in and drone control
Remote-controlled vehicle
the OBSS, even if that implied a severe throughput loss. with video
10 - 100 >99.99 ∼10

D. Admission Control
• By using the target wake time (TWT) mechanism, STAs
A traditional approach to protect time-sensitive traffic is to adopt a wake time schedule that makes them wake up
avoid channel overloading (i.e., to limit the traffic load, the on a periodic basis to transmit/receive data.
number of traffic flows, and/or the number of STAs allowed
Whereas the two aforementioned methods just determine
to transmit data) in a given band and time period:
the very moment in which the channel is accessed, the new
• Whereas IEEE 802.11e admission control mechanisms
MAC features fostered by TGbe could empower scheduled
limit the number of traffic flows per service class in operation, especially if, as discussed before, only devices
a BSS, IEEE 802.11aa extends this capability to an supporting those mechanisms are admitted in the 6 GHz
entire OBSS. Both could be used by WiFi 7 alone or in band. In consequence, multi-link operation and OFDMA
combination with the traffic shaping solution previously could play an important role by allocating devices’ and
introduced in subsection Traffic prioritization to control network resources together with the computed schedule in
how traffic arrives to the transmission buffer. function of the existing time-sensitive traffic load.
• Multi-link operation and the incorporation of the 6 GHz
In brief, such a scheduled operation is key in terms of
band in IEEE 802.11be foresee the emergence of traffic- delay. However, the main obstacle that hinders its precise
aware multi-band admission control systems. For in- operation in the wireless domain continues to be the con-
stance, depending on the network conditions and exist- tention in the context of several OBSSs, which can only be
ing load, the 6 GHz band could be fully and exclusively effectively handled in combination with a proper multi-AP
dedicated to time-sensitive traffic. resource coordination strategy (as in Figure 4, for instance).
Future admission control mechanisms may also be re-
quired to support scheduled operation. Thus, in the aforemen- V. U SE CASES
tioned example, the 6 GHz band would become even more
The ability of WiFi 7 to support low-latency operation
exclusive, by only accepting time-sensitive traffic coming
would open the door to multiple use cases. This section
from devices able to operate in contention-free mode.
groups them into a set of productive sectors, details their
performance requirements in Table II, and discusses the
E. Scheduled operation suitability of using WiFi 7 with respect to other alternatives.
Transmission of time-sensitive and non time-sensitive traf-
fic could be performed on a periodic basis to isolate one A. Multimedia
from another. In this sense, two methods of scheduled access WiFi is nowadays the predominant Internet access tech-
facilitating collision-free operation are already available in nology for mobile devices in home and office environments
IEEE 802.11ax: running multimedia applications. The short-term evolution
• The trigger-based access allows the AP to schedule of this sector foresees the consolidation of more advanced
uplink MU transmissions. Future improvements could time-sensitive services such as real-time high-quality 4K/8K
include a rate adaptation mechanism to increase the de- audio and video streaming, virtual reality, augmented reality,
livery ratio of time-sensitive frames as well as persistent cloud gaming, and interactive applications which will not be
allocation schemes to reduce control overhead caused by only targeted for entertainment, but also for educational and
trigger signaling. instructive purposes.
 Fig. 2: TSN-based traffic classification and scheduling over EDCA.

Best eort Time-sensive

frame arrival frame arrival characteristics with the multimedia sector (e.g., telediagnosis,
Time-triggered slot
telemonitoring, and telerehabilitation). Due to their criti-
cality, some others additionally impose extremely stringent
Frame transmission
(non-preemp
ve) network requirements in terms of end-to-end reliability,
latency, and security (e.g., telesurgery). And lastly, a third
BE TS t
group involving remote motion control with relatively low
tBE traffic load requires a fully deterministic approach (e.g.,
tTS
exoskeletons and prosthetic hands).
Frame transmission (non-
Guard band preemp ve with guard band)
C. Industrial
TS BE t
During the next years, wireless networks will have in-
tBE creasing weight in the industry, leading a trend towards more
tTS
flexible production sites and consolidating the Industry 4.0
Frame transmission concept. Connected factories will then become a reality,
(preempve + fragmentaon)
involving monitoring, management, and direct control of
Reduced Preempon machines, robots, and other industrial assets.
guard band overhead
Future industrial communications will probably rely on the
BE (1) TS BE (2) t
coexistence among wired (e.g., Fieldbus-based and Industrial
tBE Ethernet), wireless (from RFID to LoRa, to cite two exam-
tTS
ples), and 5G/6G-based cellular technologies. WiFi 7 is also
Fig. 3: Frame preemption mechanism, being BE: Best- expected to get a foothold in this sector, not only because of
effort frame, TS: Time-sensitive frame, tBE : Best-effort frame its inherited features (namely, flexibility, ease of installation,
latency, and tTS : Time-sensitive frame latency. scalability, and interoperability), but also thanks to its new
enhancements, particularly in terms of improved resource
management and support to deterministic communications.
The already generalized adoption of WiFi technology in-
doors, its backward compatibility, and its distinctive features D. Transport
with respect to wired alternatives (that is, essentially, flexi- Transport is experiencing such profound changes that
bility, simplicity, and mobility) suggest that the emergence future mobility will certainly be substantiated by automa-
of a low-latency operation mode for WiFi 7 would position tion, sustainability, road/air/sea safety, and energy efficiency.
it as a preferential option for upcoming multimedia use cases Real-time traffic information is starting to be served on a
together with 5G enhanced Mobile Broadband. regular basis to drivers, using for instance city-wide WiFi
deployments. Yet the upcoming revolution is being led by
autonomous vehicles and automated guided vehicles, which
B. Health care will be able to transport people and goods thanks to their
Latest IT advances such as ultra high video resolution, WiFi/5G connections without any human intervention.
Big Data and artificial intelligence will take health care to Next-generation vehicle communication and processing
a next level, enabling a plethora of innovative applications systems, such as vehicle-to-everything communication or
in remote diagnosis (telediagnosis), treatment (telesurgery), advanced driver-assistance systems, will assist future trans-
and recovery (telemonitoring, telerehabilitation, exoskele- port systems on the basis of TSN and artificial intelligence.
tons, and prosthetic hands) for a wide set of diseases. WiFi 7 Hence, ensuring very high reliability and low latency in
and 5G will play here again an important role as enablers future transport applications will become crucial regardless
of novel medical wearables and devices intended for use in the employed technology, due to the high relative speeds
smart health care and home environments. among end devices, and the continuous dynamism and low
As for the specific use cases, some of them share common predictability of the outdoor environment.
 AP 1 wins the conten on and shares part of the AP 1 has no more data to send, so that STA
channel with AP 2 by using Co-OFDMA 2,1 wins the contenon and transmits using
BE 80 60 the whole 80 MHz channel width
MT BE BACK
AP 1
STA 1,1 80 MHz AP 1
bandwidth
MT BE BACK
TS

STA 1,1
STA 2,1 20 80
MT BT TS ACK TS ACK
AP 2 Primary Primary tTS tTS
AP 1 AP 2 STA 2,1
20
P1 P2 MT BT TS ACK TS ACK

Time-sensi ve AP 2 tells STA 2,1 that it can Time-sensi ve AP 2

80 MHz channel transmit using 20 MHz channel
frame arrival frame arrival

Fig. 4: Multi-AP resource coordination based on Co-OFDMA, being MT: Multi-AP trigger, BT: Basic trigger, BE: Best-effort
frame, TS: Time-sensitive frame, (B)ACK: (Block) acknowledgement, and tTS : Time-sensitive frame latency.

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