Project

Breaking the Wi-Fi joint transmission barrier with openwifi and White Rabbit

Code
1SAE526N
Duration
01 November 2025 → 31 October 2029
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Engineering and technology
    • Computer communication networks
    • Data communications
    • Wireless communications
    • Embedded systems
Keywords
Wi-Fi Joint Transmission Software-Defined Radio
 
Project description
In an era driven by wireless connectivity, Wi-Fi plays a pivotal role in our daily lives. As a complementary technology to 5G/6G, Wi-Fi shines as an affordable, self-managed, sustainable, and widely deployed indoor solution. Deeply embedded in our home and professional environments, Wi-Fi is ideal for future applications such as collaborative robots, Internet of Things (IoT), or operating a crane in a factory. These applications demand a link with Ultra-High Reliability (UHR). Joint Transmission (JT) enhances reliability by enabling multiple Access Points (APs), distributed in space, to serve the users together. Today, this promising Wi-Fi technology is far from a reality. Initially proposed for standardization in July 2018, it has faced multiple deferrals. The latest projection on standardization (not implementation) is at the earliest expected to start in 2028 and be completed in 2032. This PhD research aims to revolutionize Wi-Fi by overcoming the barriers withholding the valorization of theoretical studies on JT, with the higher purpose of demonstrating the world’s first full-stack JT-capable Wi-Fi chip. Due to unparalleled flexibility, openwifi, an open-source Wi-Fi chip on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) developed within our lab, is an excellent research platform for this mission. To achieve the required picosecond synchronization accuracy for JT, a groundbreaking wired approach to synchronize APs using White Rabbit (WR) (developed at CERN) is selected.