Implementation and Evaluation of a WLAN IEEE 802.11ad Model in ns-3

Abstract

The IEEE 802.11ad amendment to the 802.11 standard for multi-gigabit communication at 60 GHz was published several years ago, but to date, no precise simulation model for networking in this band is available. In this paper, we present a model for IEEE 802.11ad implemented in the network simulator ns-3. We model new techniques that are essential for IEEE 802.11ad operation such as beamforming training and steering, relay support, and fast session transfer. We then evaluate by simulation the performance of IEEE 802.11ad as well as the gains obtained through the aforementioned techniques. The code for our simulation model is publicly available.