Measurement Study of IEEE 802.11ah Sub-1 GHz Wireless Channel Performance

The IEEE 802.11ah WLAN Study Group had their kickoff meeting in 2011 to amend the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard by adding license exempt sub-1 GHz frequencies, which are available in different areas around the world. In this paper, a first version of a commercially available and certified IEEE 802.11ah system is tested and analyzed. The performance study includes the measurement of data transmissions in regionally available sub-1 GHz channels, which are in compliance with Japanese regulators for indoor and long-range outdoor deployments. The wireless measurements include different channel widths (1 to 4 MHz) and multiple sending rates (up to 10 Mbps). Test results indicated that significant data transmission limitations exist, which will be removed in a later release. The long-range performance was analyzed and up to 3km transmission range was found plausible. The tested 802.11ah model is an interesting candidate for dense network deployments and future research.