802.

11 AX Spec - 2

26.3 Dynamic Fragmentation and defragmentation

Compressed Block Ack
• In the legacy Block Ack Mechanism, the bitmap size was 128 bytes. This
was due to the fact that fragmentation was allowed in 802.11a/b/g.
– A block Ack frame could ack 64 complete MPDUs and each MPDU could in theory be
broken into 16 fragments. Hence, 64 MPDUs can be Acked and 2 octets per MPDU
made the bitmap to be 128 octets in size.
• In 802.11n and 802.11ac, fragmentation of packets was not allowed.
– Hence, each bit in the block Ack bitmap corresponded to one complete MPDU
frame. The block Ack Bitmap was reduced to 8 bytes from 128 bytes.
Compressed Block Ack
 Compressed Block Ack
• The missing frame is what the receiver expects to receive first in next TXOP.
 11ax fragmentation goal
• UL Instead of padding to the allocation boundary, an STA may insert a
fragment of an MSDU.
• Use fragmentation to improve efficiency for UL or DL txtime.
• Defines the procedure for generating non-uniformly fragmented
MSDUs, A-MSDUs or MMPDUs, where the length of each fragment is
not necessarily the same.
 Dynamic fragmentation level
• Level 0: No support for fragments
• Level 1: Support for one dynamic fragment of an MSDU, A-MSDU or
MMPDU that is a non-A-MPDU
• Level 2: Support for dynamic fragments in an A-MPDU that does not
contain an S-MPDU, subject to the following conditions
 No more than one dynamic fragment of any given MSDU or A-MSDU in the A-MPDU;
this dynamic fragment is sent under a block ack agreement.
 No more than one MPDU that is a dynamic fragment of an MMPDU in the A-MPDU.
• Level 3: Support for dynamic fragments in an A-MPDU that does not
contain an S-MPDU, subject to the following conditions
 No more than four dynamic fragments of any given MSDU or A-MSDU in the A-
MPDU; these dynamic fragments are sent under a block ack agreement.
 No more than one MPDU that is a dynamic fragment of an MMPDU in the A-MPDU.
A-MSDU and A-MPDU
 Level 1 fragmentation
• Level 1: A single MPDU (not an A-MPDU) carries one MSDU, A-MSDU,
or MMPDU fragment. A recipient responds with an ACK frame.

MSDU F-MSDU AMSDU F-AMSDU MMPDU F-MMPDU

PLCP MAC PLCP MAC PLCP MAC

header header
F-MSDU F-AMSDU header header
F-MMPDU
header header

MPDU
 Level 1 defragmentation
The recipient STA responds with
• Level 1: An Ack frame or a Multi-STA BlockAck frame if the received
fragment is contained in an MPDU that solicits an immediate response.
 11ax Block Ack

BlockAck frame structure in 11n BlockAck frame structure in 11ax