A code set for a Robust 8.25 Mb/s data rate for IEEE 802.11b WLANs

Abstract

In this paper, a code set for an 8.25-Mb/s data rate is proposed for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11b system, which can act as a better fallback option than a 5.5-Mb/s data rate when an 11-Mb/s data rate is not sustainable in a large delay-spread channel environment. We present a systematic procedure for the design of the code set. The proposed code set works at significantly higher path loss when compared to an 11-Mb/s data rate in moderate to large delay-spread channel environment. We also discuss the resource requirement for including the proposed data rate in the existing 802.11b transceiver and note that the additional hardware is minimal. Since the current WIreless FIdelity chipsets are enabled with the 802.11g option, we investigated the performance of the proposed data rate and the 6and 9-Mb/s data rates provided by 802.11g, and the results show that the 8.25-Mb/s data rate is a reliable fallback option compared to the 9-Mb/s rate when the 11-Mb/s data rate is not sustainable. The 8.25-Mb/s data rate is shown to work at 1.7 dB higher path loss when compared to the 9-Mb/s rate in a frequently occurring moderate delay-spread channel.