Wait-to-pick-as-available (W2PAA): A new MAC protocol for uplink multi-users transmissions in WLAN

Uplink multi-users (UL-MU) transmissions are the key solution for the next IEEE 802.11ax to fully benefit from spatial resources. In this context, it is important to bring optimized solutions to address the technical challenges associated with UL-MU, particularly, issues associated to the management of multiple packets reception in the MAC layer. In this paper, we propose a novel 802.11ax MAC protocol aiming at reducing elapsed time in managing the establishment of an UL-MU communication, which would enhance system performance. Further, an analytical model, based on semi-Markov chains is proposed to evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol. Obtained results show notable system performance compared to Single User (SU) transmission.