wlanLinkConfig

Link configuration of WLAN MLD

Since R2024a

Description

Use the wlanLinkConfig object to set the link configuration of an IEEE^® 802.11be™ (Wi-Fi^® 7) multilink device (MLD).

Creation

Syntax

mldLinkCfg = wlanLinkConfig

mldLinkCfg = wlanLinkConfig(Name=Value)

Description

mldLinkCfg = wlanLinkConfig creates a default link configuration object for a WLAN MLD.

mldLinkCfg = wlanLinkConfig(Name=Value) sets the properties of the link configuration object by using one or more optional name-value arguments. For example, TransmissionFormat="VHT" sets the physical layer (PHY) transmission format to very high throughput (VHT).

Properties

BandAndChannel — Operating frequency band and channel number

[5, 36] (default) | N-by-2 matrix

Operating frequency band and channel number, specified as an N-by-2 matrix. N specifies the number of wlanLinkConfig objects, and must be greater than or equal to 1. The first value in each row is the operating frequency band, specified as 2.4, 5, or 6. The second value in each row is the channel number, specified according to the constraints in this table.

Operating Frequency Band	Channel Number
2.4	Integer in the range [1, 14]
5	Integer in the range [1, 200]
6	Integer in the range [1, 233]

When creating a wlanLinkConfig object, configure multiple links simultaneously by setting this property as a name-value argument. Once you create the object, you can configure a single wlanLinkConfig object at a time by setting this property.

The Valid Channel Number and Bandwidth Combinations topic describes the valid combinations of band, channel number, and channel bandwidth.

Data Types: double

TransmissionFormat — PHY transmission format for unicast data frame

"EHT-SU" (default) | "Non-HT" | "HT-Mixed" | "VHT" | "HE-SU" | "HE-EXT-SU"

PHY transmission format for unicast data frame, specified as "Non-HT", "HT-Mixed", "VHT", "HE-SU", "HE-EXT-SU", or "EHT-SU". The "EHT-SU" value of this property specifies extremely high-throughput (EHT) multiuser PHY protocol data unit (MU PPDU) format for a single user (SU). Note that the broadcast data frame transmissions always use the "Non-HT" PHY transmission format, regardless of the value of this property.

Data Types: char | string

ChannelBandwidth — Maximum bandwidth for transmission or reception in Hz

20e6 (default) | 40e6 | 80e6 | 160e6 | 320e6

Maximum bandwidth for transmission or reception in Hz, specified as 20e6, 40e6, 80e6, 160e6, or 320e6. The possible values for this property depend on the BandAndChannel and TransmissionFormat properties.

• If you set the first entry of the BandAndChannel to 2.4, this property supports 20e6 Hz and 40e6 Hz.

• If you set the TransmissionFormat property to "Non-HT" or "HE-EXT-SU", this property supports only 20e6 Hz.

• If you set the TransmissionFormat property to "HT-Mixed", this property supports 20e6 Hz and 40e6 Hz.

• If you set the TransmissionFormat property to "VHT" or "HE-SU" this property supports 20e6 Hz, 40e6 Hz, 80e6 Hz, and 160e6 Hz.

• If you set the TransmissionFormat property to "EHT-SU", this property supports all channel bandwidths.

The Valid Channel Number and Bandwidth Combinations topic describes the valid combinations of band, channel number, and channel bandwidth.

Data Types: double

MCS — Modulation and coding scheme

0 (default) | integer in range [0, 13]

Modulation and coding scheme (MCS), specified as an integer in the range [0, 13]. For unicast data frame transmissions, the set of values that this property can take depends on the TransmissionFormat property.

• When TransmissionFormat is "Non-HT" or "HT-Mixed", the range of values is [0, 7]. When TransmissionFormat is "HT-Mixed", the given value in the range [0, 7] maps to a value in the range [0, 31] using the calculation MCS + (N_STS – 1) × 8, where N_STS is the value of the NumSpaceTimeStreams property.

• When TransmissionFormat is "VHT", the range of values is [0, 9]. The set of possible values additionally depends on the ChannelBandwidth and NumSpaceTimeStreams properties.

  • When ChannelBandwidth is 20e6, you can set the MCS value to 9 only when NumSpaceTimeStreams is set to 3 or 6.

  • When ChannelBandwidth is 80e6, the MCS value 6 is not supported when you set the NumSpaceTimeStreams property to 3 or 7. The MCS value 9 is not supported when you set the NumSpaceTimeStreams property to 6.

  • When ChannelBandwidth is 160e6, the MCS value 9 is not supported when NumSpaceTimeStreams is set to 3.

• When TransmissionFormat is "HE-EXT-SU", the range of values is [0, 2].

• When TransmissionFormat is "HE-SU" the range of values is [0, 11].

• When TransmissionFormat is "EHT-SU", the range of values is [0, 13].

Note that the MCS value for broadcast data frame transmissions is always 0, regardless of the value set for this property.

Data Types: double

NumTransmitAntennas — Number of transmit antennas

1 (default) | integer in range [1, 8]

Number of transmit antennas, specified as an integer in the range [1, 8]. The link uses the same number of antennas for reception.

If you specify the EnhancedMultilinkMode property of the corresponding wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object as "EMLSR", the link also uses this number of antennas to listen for an initial control frame (ICF). When the link is active, it aggregates the NumTransmitAntennas values of all the links in the wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object and uses this value for transmission and reception. The aggregate must be less than or equal to eight. An EMLSR link at a STA is active when it initiates a frame exchange sequence with an AP MLD or responds to an ICF to continue a frame exchange sequence initiated by an AP MLD. (since R2024b)

Note

• All the links operating in simultaneous transmit and receive (STR) mode in the network must have the same value for this property.

• If an EMLSR STA has i links with NumTransmitAntennas values of N₁, …, N_i, its associated AP must have a NumTransmitAntennas value of N₁ + ⋯ + N_i for each link.

Data Types: double

NumSpaceTimeStreams — Number of space-time streams

1 (default) | integer in range [1, 8]

Number of space-time streams, specified as an integer in the range [1, 8]. The value of this property must be less than or equal to the value of the NumTransmitAntennas property. If you set this value as less than the NumTransmitAntennas value, the node uses Fourier spatial mapping to transmit unicast data frames. This property is applicable only for transmitting unicast data frames. The number of space-time streams for broadcast data frame transmissions is always 1, regardless of the value of this property.

If you specify the EnhancedMultilinkMode property of the corresponding wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object as "EMLSR", when the link is active, it aggregates the NumSpaceTimeStreams values of all the links in the wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object and uses this value for data frame transmission. (since R2024b)

Data Types: double

AggregateHTMPDU — HT MPDU aggregation selection

true or 1 (default) | false or 0

High throughput (HT) MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) aggregation selection, specified as a logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). To create an aggregated MPDU (A-MPDU) by concatenating multiple MPDUs, set this property to true.

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the TransmissionFormat property to "HT-Mixed".

Data Types: logical

MPDUAggregationLimit — Maximum number of MPDUs in A-MPDU

64 (default) | integer in range [1, 1024]

Maximum number of MPDUs in an A-MPDU, specified as an integer in the range [1, 1024]. The set of values that this property can take depends on the TransmissionFormat property:

• When TransmissionFormat is "HT-Mixed" and the AggregateHTMPDU property is true, the range of values is [1, 64].

• When TransmissionFormat is "VHT", the range of values is [1, 64].

• When TransmissionFormat is "HE-SU" or "HE-EXT-SU", the range of values is [1, 256].

• When TransmissionFormat is "EHT-SU", the range of values is [1, 1024].

This property does not apply when TransmissionFormat is "Non-HT", or when TransmissionFormat is "HT-Mixed" and AggregateHTMPDU is false.

Note

All MLDs in the network must have the same value for this property.

Data Types: double

RTSThreshold — Threshold for RTS transmission

0 (default) | integer in the range [0, 6500631]

Threshold for RTS transmission, specified as an integer in the range [0, 6500631]. If the size of a MAC frame exceeds the value of this property, the node uses the request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) mechanism.

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the DisableRTS property to false.

Data Types: double

DisableRTS — RTS/CTS mechanism selection

false or 0 (default) | true or 1

RTS/CTS mechanism selection, specified as a logical 0 (false) or 1 (true). To disable the RTS/CTS mechanism in the simulation, set this property to 1 or true.

This property does not apply to multi-user request to send (MU-RTS) ICF transmissions from an AP to an EMLSR STA.

Data Types: logical

DisableACK — Disable acknowledgements selection

false or 0 (default) | true or 1

Disable acknowledgements selection, specified as a logical 0 (false) or 1 (true). To disable the transmission of acknowledgements in response to data frames, set this property to 1 or true.

Data Types: logical

CWMin — Minimum range of contention window for access categories

[15 15 7 3] (default) | four-element vector of integers in range [1, 1023]

Minimum range of the contention window for the four access categories (ACs), specified as a four-element vector of integers in the range [1, 1023]. The four entries are the minimum ranges, in slots, for the Best Effort, Background, Video, and Voice ACs, respectively.

CWMax — Maximum range of contention window for access categories

[1023 1023 15 7] (default) | four-element vector of integers in the range [1, 1023]

Maximum range of the contention window for the four ACs, specified as a four-element vector of integers in the range [1, 1023]. The four entries are the maximum ranges, in slots, for the Best Effort, Background, Video, and Voice ACs, respectively.

AIFS — Arbitrary interframe space values for access categories

[3 7 2 2] (default) | four-element vector of integers in the range [1, 15]

Arbitrary interframe space values for the four ACs, specified as a four-element vector of integers in the range [1, 15]. The entries of the vector represent the AIFS values, in slots, for the Best Effort, Background, Video, and Voice ACs, respectively.

• If the Mode property of the wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object is "AP", each element of this vector must be in the range [1, 15].

• If the Mode property of the wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object is "STA", each element of this vector must be in the range [2, 15].

TXOPLimit — Transmission opportunity duration limit

[0 0 0 0] (default) | vector of four integers in the range [0, 1023]

Transmission opportunity (TXOP) duration limit, specified as a vector of four integers in the range [0, 1023]. The four integers are the TXOP limit values for the Best Effort, Background, Video, and Voice ACs, respectively. The limits are in units of 32 microseconds. If you specify a vector element as 0, the object disables multiple frame transmissions within a TXOP for the AC that corresponds to that element.

Note

The value of this property must be [0 0 0 0] in these cases:

• You specify the TransmissionFormat property as "Non-HT".

• You specify the TransmissionFormat property as "HT-Mixed" and the AggregateHTMPDU property as false.

Use6MbpsForControlFrames — Control frames rate of 6 Mb/s

false or 0 (default) | true or 1

Control frames rate of 6 Mb/s, specified as a logical 0 (false) or 1 (true). To use a data rate of 6 Mb/s for control frames, set this property to 1 or true.

Data Types: logical

BasicRates — Non-HT data rates supported in basic service set

[6 12 24] (default) | vector which is a subset of [6 9 12 18 24 36 48 54]

Non-HT data rates supported in the basic service set (BSS), specified as a vector that is a subset of these values: [6 9 12 18 24 36 48 54]. The mandatory data rates are 6, 12, and 24. The stations associated with an AP use the same basic rates as the AP.

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the Mode property of the wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object to "AP".

Data Types: double

TransmitPower — Transmit power in dBm

10 (default) | real scalar

Transmit power in dBm, specified as a real scalar.

Data Types: double

TransmitGain — Transmit gain in dB

0 (default) | real scalar

Transmit gain in dB, specified as a real scalar.

Data Types: double

ReceiveGain — Receive gain in dB

0 (default) | real scalar

Receive gain in dB, specified as a real scalar.

Data Types: double

NoiseFigure — Receiver noise figure in dB

7 (default) | nonnegative scalar

Receiver noise figure in dB, specified as a nonnegative scalar.

Data Types: double

BeaconInterval — Beacon interval in time units (TUs)

Inf (default) | integer in range [1, 254]

Beacon interval in TU, specified as an integer in the range [1, 254]. A TU is a measurement of time equal to 1024 microseconds. At the end of each beacon interval, the beacon frames contend for medium access by using the voice access category. The MAC internally sets the service set identifier (SSID) in a beacon frame to "WLAN". To differentiate beacons of different APs in a packet analyzer tool, such as Wireshark, use the MAC address of the AP transmitting the beacon.

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the Mode property of the wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object to "AP".

Data Types: double

InitialBeaconOffset — Time offset specified for first beacon transmission in TUs

[0, BeaconInterval] | [] | nonnegative integer | nonnegative vector of form [MinTimeOffset MaxTimeOffset]

Time offset specified for the first beacon transmission in TUs, specified as a nonnegative integer or a nonnegative vector of form [MinTimeOffset MaxTimeOffset]. A TU is a measurement of time equal to 1024 microseconds.

• If you specify this value as a scalar, this object assigns this value to the initial time offset.

• If you specify this value as a vector, this object assigns a random initial time offset between MinTimeOffset and MaxTimeOffset. MinTimeOffset must be less than MaxTimeOffset.

Each element of this property must be an integer in the range [0, 254]. If you enable beacon transmission, the default value is [0, BeaconInterval]. Otherwise, the default property is an empty array ([]).

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the Mode property of the wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object to "AP" and the BeaconInterval property of the wlanLinkConfig object to a finite value.

Data Types: double

InterferenceModeling — Type of interference modeling

"co-channel" (default) | "overlapping-adjacent-channel" | "non-overlapping-adjacent-channel"

Since R2025a

Type of interference modeling, specified as "co-channel", "overlapping-adjacent-channel", or "non-overlapping-adjacent-channel".

• "co-channel" — If you set this property to "co-channel", the object considers signals with the same center frequency and bandwidth as the receiver to be signals of interest (SOIs) and interference.

• "overlapping-adjacent-channel" — If you set this property to "overlapping-adjacent-channel", in addition to signals that satisfy the conditions described for "co-channel", the object makes these additional considerations:

  • Signals that satisfy these conditions are SOIs:

    • One of the 20 MHz subchannels that receives the signal aligns with the primary 20 MHz of the receiver.

    • Bandwidth of the signal is less than or equal to the operating bandwidth of the receiver.

  • Signals that overlap in frequency with the frequency range of the receiver operation are interference.

• "non-overlapping-adjacent-channel" — If you set this property to "non-overlapping-adjacent-channel", in addition to signals that satisfy the conditions described for "co-channel" and "overlapping-adjacent-channel", the object makes this additional consideration:

  • Signals that overlap with frequencies in the range [f₁ – f_d, f₂ + f_d] are interference. f₁ and f₂ are the starting and ending frequencies of receiver operation, respectively. f_d is the value of the MaxInterferenceOffset property.

In networks where nodes operate in channels and bandwidths that cause partial frequency overlap, specify this property as "overlapping-adjacent-channel" or "non-overlapping-adjacent-channel".

Dependencies

Abstract PHY simulations do not support modeling adjacent channel interference. To specify this property as "overlapping-adjacent-channel" or "non-overlapping-adjacent-channel", you must specify the PHYAbstractionMethod property of the wlanNode object as "none".

Data Types: char | string

MaxInterferenceOffset — Maximum frequency offset for determining interference

0 (default) | nonnegative scalar

Since R2025a

Maximum frequency offset for determining interference, specified as a nonnegative scalar. Frequency is measured in Hz. This property specifies the offset between the edge of the receiver operating frequency and the edge of the interfering signal. If you specify this property as Inf, the object considers all signals that overlap in time to be interference, regardless of their frequency. If you specify this property as a nonnegative finite scalar, the object considers signals that overlap with the SOI in time and with the interval [f₁ – MaxInterferenceOffset, f₂ + MaxInterferenceOffset] in frequency to be interference. f₁ and f₂ are starting and ending frequencies of the receiver operation, respectively.

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the InterferenceModeling property to "non-overlapping-adjacent-channel".

Data Types: double | single

PrimaryChannelIndex — Index of primary 20 MHz channel

1 (default) | integer in range [1, MaxPrimaryChannelIndex]

Since R2025a

Index of primary 20 MHz channel, specified as an integer in the range [1, MaxPrimaryChannelIndex]. MaxPrimaryChannelIndex is the maximum number of 20 MHz channels that can be present in the channel bandwidth. This table shows how the MaxPrimaryChannelIndex value depends on the ChannelBandwidth value.

ChannelBandwidth Value	MaxPrimaryChannelIndex Value
40e6	2
80e6	4
160e6	6
320e6	8

If you specify the ChannelBandwidth value as 20e6, the value of this property is 1. Note that the indexing of the primary 20 MHz channel starts from the lowest 20 MHz subchannel.

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the Mode property of the corresponding wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig object to "AP" and the ChannelBandwidth property to a value greater than 20e6.

Data Types: double

ChannelFrequency — Channel center frequency in Hz

Read-only: numeric scalar

This property is read-only.

Channel center frequency in Hz, specified as a numeric scalar. This value specifies the operating center frequency of the link corresponding to the value that you set using the BandAndChannel property.

Data Types: double

Examples

Simulate MLO in 802.11be Network

Simulate an IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi 7) multilink operation (MLO) in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands.

Using this example, you can:

1. Create an 802.11be network consisting of an access point (AP) MLD and a station (STA) MLD.

2. Configure the AP MLD and STA MLD to operate in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands.

3. Associate the STA MLD with the AP MLD, and add full buffer downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) application traffic between them.

4. Simulate the network and get the statistics.

The example creates, configures, and simulates this scenario.

Check if the Communications Toolbox™ Wireless Network Simulation Library support package is installed. If the support package is not installed, MATLAB® returns an error with a link to download and install the support package.

wirelessnetworkSupportPackageCheck

Specify the simulation time in seconds. Initialize the wireless network simulator

simulationTime = 1;
networkSimulator = wirelessNetworkSimulator.init;

Create an MLD link configuration object, specifying the operating frequency bands as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz.

mldLinkCfg = wlanLinkConfig(BandAndChannel=[2.4 6; 5 36; 6 1]);

Create a WLAN node with an AP MLD configuration.

mldAccessPointCfg = wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig(Mode="AP",LinkConfig=mldLinkCfg);
mldAccessPointNode = wlanNode(Name="AP",DeviceConfig=mldAccessPointCfg)

mldAccessPointNode = 
  wlanNode with properties:

                    Name: "AP"
                Position: [0 0 0]

   Read-only properties:
     MACFrameAbstraction: 1
    PHYAbstractionMethod: "tgax-evaluation-methodology"
            DeviceConfig: [1×1 wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig]
                      ID: 1

Create a WLAN node with an STA MLD configuration.

mldStationCfg = wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig(Mode="STA",LinkConfig=mldLinkCfg);
mldStationNode = wlanNode(Name="STA",DeviceConfig=mldStationCfg)

mldStationNode = 
  wlanNode with properties:

                    Name: "STA"
                Position: [0 0 0]

   Read-only properties:
     MACFrameAbstraction: 1
    PHYAbstractionMethod: "tgax-evaluation-methodology"
            DeviceConfig: [1×1 wlanMultilinkDeviceConfig]
                      ID: 2

Associate the STA MLD with the AP MLD, and add full buffer DL and UL application traffic between them.

associateStations(mldAccessPointNode,mldStationNode,FullBufferTraffic="on")

Add the nodes to the wireless network simulator.

addNodes(networkSimulator,[mldAccessPointNode mldStationNode])

Run the network simulation for the specified simulation time.

run(networkSimulator,simulationTime)

Retrieve and display statistics of the AP MLD and STA MLD. For more information about the MLO statistics, see WLAN System-Level Simulation Statistics.

mldAccessPointStats = statistics(mldAccessPointNode)

mldAccessPointStats = struct with fields:
    Name: "AP"
      ID: 1
     App: [1×1 struct]
     MAC: [1×1 struct]
     PHY: [1×1 struct]
    Mesh: [1×1 struct]

mldStationStats = statistics(mldStationNode)

mldStationStats = struct with fields:
    Name: "STA"
      ID: 2
     App: [1×1 struct]
     MAC: [1×1 struct]
     PHY: [1×1 struct]
    Mesh: [1×1 struct]

Version History

Introduced in R2024a

R2025a: Model adjacent channel interference

The new InterferenceModeling and MaxInterferenceOffset properties enable you to model adjacent channel interference.

R2025a: Configure index of primary 20 MHz channel

The new PrimaryChannelIndex property enables you to configure the index of the primary 20 MHz channel.

R2024b: Transmit multiple data frames within a TXOP

You can now transmit multiple data frames within a single transmission opportunity (TXOP). To use this feature, specify the TXOPLimit property as a vector with at least one nonzero element.