The development of the IEEE 802.11n standard amendment enables MIMO-OFDM waveform transmission in the 2.4 GHz band. Additional PHY modifications relative to 802.11a/g include 40 MHz channels, additional data tones in 20MHz channels, and rate 5/6 coding. MAC enhancements include two types of frame aggregation. In this paper we model and simulate the sensitivity of an 802.11n device in the presence Bluetooth interference. Spatial and temporal properties of both systems are considered. Results are provided in terms of packet error rate, throughput, and required separation between devices.

Introduction

The most current draft of IEEE 802.11n (11n) enables MIMO-OFDM waveform transmission in the 2.4 GHz band [11]. Therefore, analysis of IEEE 802.11b/g coexistence with Bluetooth (BT) devices [1], [2], [3], and [5] must be extended to cover 11n. Not only will 11n extend the physical layer (PHY) for spatial division multiplexing with one to four spatial streams, but will also increase the data rate with additional data tones in 20MHz as compared to 802.11g, and rate 5/6 coding. In addition, 11n will create a new 40 MHz channel width, for more than double the data rate, relative to 20 MHz transmissions.

The scope of 11n is to increase the throughput of IEEE 802.11, not just the PHY data rate. In order to do so, the efficiency of the medium access control (MAC) layer must also be improved. Two types of frame aggregation have been developed: aggregate MAC protocol data unit (A-MPDU) and aggregate MAC service data unit (A-MSDU).