Efficient real-time 802.11ax OFDMA statistics logging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11659427-B2
Application number	US-202117239473-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2021
Priority date	Apr 27, 2020
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

The disclosed technology addresses the problem of testing performance of RU scheduling algorithms used by an OFDMA enabled AP to support multiple clients, using a two-armed test harness with a wired connection to one side of an AP under test and multiple wireless clients coupled in RF communication with the AP. The wireless clients can be connected over the air or conductively to antenna(s) of the AP under test. The test harness generates test traffic. A sniffer radio listens to RU allocation and schedules traffic broadcast by the AP to multiple clients. A recording module records the RU allocation and traffic and a report generator categorizes the recorded resource allocation with the scheduling traffic heard by the sniffer radio and provides resource allocation statistics. The wireless clients are connected conductively or OTA to antennas of the AP under test. One sniffer radio replaces multiple sniffers used in prior test systems.

First claim

We claim as follows:

1. A system for testing performance of resource unit scheduling algorithms used by an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (abbreviated OFDMA) enabled access point (abbreviated AP) to support multiple wireless clients, including:
a two-armed test harness with a wired connection to one side of an AP under test and multiple wireless clients coupled in radio frequency (abbreviated RF) communication with the AP;
the wireless clients coupled by RF to antenna(s) of the AP under test;
the test harness including a test traffic generator;
a sniffer radio that listens to resource unit (abbreviated RU) allocation and scheduling traffic broadcast by the AP to multiple clients;
a recording module that records the RU allocation and the scheduling traffic; and
a report generator that categorizes the recorded resource RU allocation with the RU scheduling traffic heard by the sniffer radio and provides resource allocation statistics.

2. The system of claim 1 , further including the wireless clients connected conductively to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

3. The system of claim 2 , further including resource allocation statistics recorded by the wireless clients connected conductively to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

4. The system of claim 1 , further including the wireless clients connected over-the-air (abbreviated OTA) to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

5. The system of claim 4 , further including traffic statistics recorded by the wireless clients connected OTA to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

6. The system of claim 1 , further including a report displaying data that reflects the recorded resource allocation statistics categorized with the RU scheduling traffic heard by the sniffer radio.

7. The system of claim 1 , further including traffic statistics recorded by the wireless clients, on the wired side of the AP.

8. A method for testing performance of resource unit scheduling algorithms used by an access point (abbreviated AP) configured for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (abbreviated OFDMA) support of multiple wireless clients, the AP coupled by a wired connection to a first side of a two-armed test harness and wirelessly to multiple wireless clients on a second side of the test harness, the test harness further including a sniffer radio that receives traffic broadcast by the AP to the multiple wireless clients, the method including:
the test harness generating test traffic and sending the test traffic to the AP;
receiving resource unit (abbreviated RU) allocation and scheduling traffic broadcast by the AP to the multiple wireless clients;
recording the RU allocation and the scheduling traffic; and
reporting by category the recorded resource RU allocation with the RU scheduling traffic and further reporting resource allocation statistics.

9. The method of claim 8 , further including the wireless clients connected conductively to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

10. The method of claim 9 , further including resource allocation statistics recorded by the wireless clients connected conductively to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

11. The method of claim 8 , further including the wireless clients connected over-the-air (abbreviated OTA) to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

12. The method of claim 11 , further including traffic statistics recorded by the wireless clients connected OTA to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

13. The method of claim 8 , further including a report displaying data that reflects the recorded resource allocation statistics categorized with the RU scheduling traffic heard by the sniffer radio.

14. The method of claim 8 , further including traffic statistics recorded by the wireless clients, on the wired side of the AP.

15. A tangible non-transitory computer readable storage media impressed with computer program instructions that, when executed, test performance of resource unit scheduling algorithms used by an access point (abbreviated AP) configured for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing access (abbreviated OFDMA) support of multiple wireless clients, the AP coupled by a wired connection to a first side of a two-armed test harness and wirelessly to multiple wireless clients on a second side of the test harness, the test harness further including a sniffer radio that receives traffic broadcast by the AP to the multiple wireless clients, including:
the test harness generating test traffic and sending the test traffic to the AP;
receiving resource unit (abbreviated RU) allocation and scheduling traffic broadcast by the AP to the multiple wireless clients;
recording the RU allocation and the scheduling traffic; and
reporting by category the recorded resource RU allocation with the RU scheduling traffic and further reporting resource allocation statistics.

16. The tangible non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 15 , further including the wireless clients connected conductively to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

17. The tangible non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 16 , further including resource allocation statistics recorded by the wireless clients connected conductively to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

18. The tangible non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 15 , further including the wireless clients connected over-the-air (abbreviated OTA) to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

19. The tangible non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 18 , further including traffic statistics recorded by the wireless clients connected OTA to antenna(s) of the AP under test.

20. The tangible non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 15 , further including a report displaying data that reflects the recorded resource allocation statistics categorized with the RU scheduling traffic heard by the sniffer radio.

Assignees

• Spirent Communications Inc

Inventors

• Rumsby Steven R
• Dong Fengbin
• Jin Liang

Classifications

• H04W24/04

  Arrangements for maintaining operational condition · CPC title

• H04L5/0007

  the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A) or DMT · CPC title

• H04W72/27

  between access points · CPC title

• H04W72/53

  based on regulatory allocation policies · CPC title

• H04L5/0037 Primary

  Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation · CPC title