Feasibility study of IΕΕΕ 802.11ah radio technology for IoT and M2M use cases

TLDR

IoT and M2M devices are expected to communicate wirelessly, requiring a reliable, low‑energy wireless technology that offers sufficient coverage and data rate without draining batteries. The study investigates the feasibility of IEEE 802.11ah for IoT and M2M use cases by examining link budget, data rate, and packet size design across channel scenarios. The authors analyze link budget, achievable data rate, and packet size design of IEEE 802.11ah in various channel scenarios. Simulation results indicate that IEEE 802.11ah can provide reliable links with better coverage and comparable throughput to ZigBee, meeting most system parameter requirements.

Abstract

In this paper we study the feasibility of IEEE 802.11ah radio technology for internet of things (IoT) and machine to machine (M2M) use cases. Devices in internet of things and machine to machine networks are foreseen to communicate wirelessly. Therefore, it is of foremost importance to have a reliable, low-energy wireless technology available that may be used anywhere and anytime without draining the device battery and could achieve satisfactory coverage and data rate. Here we study the link budget, achievable data rate and packet size design of the IEEE 802.11ah radio technology in different channel scenarios. System design and simulation results show that when using this technology the system parameters can be selected to satisfy in most of the cases a reliable communication link while providing better coverage and relatively comparable throughput when compared to other existing solutions like ZigBee.