Machine Learning For Wifi

1
WiFi Meets ML: A Survey on Improving IEEE

802.11 Performance with Machine Learning
Szymon Szott, Katarzyna Kosek-Szott, Piotr Gawłowicz, IEEE Student Member, Jorge Torres Gómez, IEEE
Member, Boris Bellalta, IEEE Senior Member, Anatolij Zubow, IEEE Senior Member, Falko Dressler, IEEE
Fellow
Abstract—Wireless local area networks (WLANs) empowered (thanks to operating in unlicensed bands), as well as inexpensive
by IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) hold a dominant position in providing in manufacturing and highly interoperable devices.
arXiv:2109.04786v1 [cs.NI] 10 Sep 2021
Internet access thanks to their freedom of deployment and The 802.11 protocol family has received, in recent years,
configuration as well as affordable and highly interoperable
devices. The WiFi community is currently deploying WiFi 6 regular updates leading to performance improvements and new
and developing WiFi 7, which will bring higher data rates, features. These technical innovations provide a challenge: the
better multi-user and multi-AP support, and, most importantly, next-generations of WiFi are becoming exceedingly complex.
improved configuration flexibility. These technical innovations, Specifically, each new mechanism, designed to improve network
including the plethora of configuration parameters, are making performance, comes with a plethora of parameters which
next-generation WLANs exceedingly complex as the dependencies
between parameters and their joint optimization usually have a have to be configured. Additionally, there are new application
non-linear impact on network performance. The complexity is requirements: WiFi is no longer limited to broadband Internet
further increased in the case of dense deployments and coex- access, but is also being used in other situations, e.g., ultra-low
istence in shared bands. While classic optimization approaches latency communication for machine-to-machine communication.
fail in such conditions, machine learning (ML) is well known This multi-modal operation needs to be supported through
for being able to handle complexity. Much research has been
published on using ML to improve WiFi performance and proper configuration, which in most cases is left out of
solutions are slowly being adopted in existing deployments. In the standard. For example, depending on the combination
this survey, we adopt a structured approach to describing the of resource unit (RU) assignment in 802.11ax, the network
various areas where WiFi can be enhanced using ML. To this throughput may vary by more than 100% (i.e., between 100
end, we analyze over 200 papers in the field providing readers and 280 Mb/s in the scenario considered in [2]). In most
with an overview of the main trends. Based on this review, we
identify both open challenges in each WiFi performance area as cases, multiple parameters have to be jointly optimized, which
well as general future research directions. is a non-trivial task as the dependencies between parameters
and their joint optimization have a highly non-linear impact
Index Terms—WiFi, WLAN, IEEE 802.11, Wireless LAN,
Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Neural Networks. on network performance. For example, [8] shows that the
performance of overlapping 802.11 WiFi networks is not linear
with the sensitivity and the transmission power. The level
I. I NTRODUCTION of complexity is further increased in the case of coexisting
Wireless local area networks (WLANs), standardized in networks, where diverse parameters have to be set across
IEEE 802.11 and commercialized as WiFi, hold a dominant multiple nodes with a multi-modal operation in mind (i.e.,
position in providing wireless Internet access. According to with different applications having different quality of service
Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Forecast, WiFi’s share of (QoS) requirements).
Internet traffic will increase to 51% by 2022 [1]. Today, Up till now, the goal of the mainline 802.11 amendments was
WiFi 6 [2]–[4] has become state of the art for all new consumer to provide high throughput (802.11n, 802.11ac) and efficiency
products and WiFi 7 [5]–[7] is already under development. in dense environments through deterministic channel access
There are several reasons for the popularity of WiFi: well- (802.11ax). However, future WiFi generations are anticipated to
defined use cases, freedom of deployment and configuration accommodate also ultra-low latency and ultra-high reliability
traffic (802.11be). Hence, the proper and timely update of
S. Szott and K. Kosek-Szott are with AGH University of Science and
Technology, Kraków, Poland, e-mail: {szott, kks}@agh.edu.pl. the transmission settings for each class of traffic is of key
P. Gawłowicz, J. Torres Gómez, A. Zubow, and F. Dressler are with the importance. Meanwhile, finding adequate or even, in the best
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, TU Berlin, 10587 case, optimal configurations in an enormous search space using
Berlin, Germany, e-mail: {gawlowicz, torres-gomez, zubow, dressler}@tkn.tu-
berlin.de. traditional algorithms is too time and computation resource
B. Bellalta is with the Department of Information and Communication consuming, i.e., by the time the proper configuration is found,
Technologies, UPF Barcelona, Spain, e-mail: boris.bellalta@upf.edu. it is already out-dated as the propagation characteristics have
This work was supported in part by the Polish Ministry of Science and
Higher Education with the subvention funds of the Faculty of Computer changed. Additionally, new WLAN mechanisms also bring
Science, Electronics and Telecommunications of AGH University. This work overhead in terms of additional measurements which provide
was supported in part by the German BMBF project OTB-5G+ under grant input to their respective control algorithms. In the past, with
agreement no. 16KIS0985. This work was supported in part by grants
WINDMAL PGC2018-099959-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER,UE) and SGR017- only a few possible modulation and coding scheme (MCS)
1188 (AGAUR). values (i.e., in early versions of 802.11), it was possible to
2
• energy efficiency (e.g., power saving protocols), and

• network security (e.g., intrusion detection systems).
There has been broad adoption of ML in these areas and they
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deserve literature reviews of their own, such as [14], [15].

Furthermore, our survey does not describe how various ML
methods operate. There have been also numerous books and
research papers on this topic; we refer the reader to papers such

as [9], [11] for a detailed (though still wireless networking-
related) treatment of these methods.
The overall structure of the survey is depicted in Fig. 2

together with an indication of the ML methods reported in the
state-of-the-art papers, for each of the surveyed area. After

3XEOLFDWLRQ\HDU a short summary of related surveys (Section II), we first
investigate core Wi-Fi features in Section III. This section
explores, e.g., the use of ML for selecting PHY features,
Figure 1. Cumulative number of research papers published in the area of optimizing channel access, configuring frame aggregation and
improving WiFi performance using ML and cited in this survey (Sections III link parameter settings, data rate selection, as well as QoS,
to VII). Results for 2021 are limited to the first part of the year. admission control, and traffic classification. In Section IV,
we study the benefits of using ML in more recent WiFi
quickly test all of them and select the best one. Currently, e.g., features such as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and
the introduction of precoding techniques (with beamforming in multiband operation, multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), spatial
802.11ac) requires additional frequent channel measurements reuse, and spectrum allocation. WiFi management is discussed
towards associated stations, while the interference nulling in Section V. Here, we explore ML applicability to access point
mechanism (envisioned in 802.11be) will require additional (AP) selection and association, channel and band selection,
measurements of the channels to stations in adjacent cells. management architectures, and determining the health of WiFi
The more active measurements have to be performed, the less connections. In Section VI, we investigate ML-optimized
channel air-time is available for actual communication. coexistence of WiFi with other technologies: channel sharing,
This increasing complexity coupled with uncoordinated network monitoring, and cross-technology signal classification.
deployment, distributed management, and network densification Next, in Section VII, we study ML algorithms for multi-hop
may negatively impact the operation of future WiFi networks. WiFi deployments: ad hoc networks, mesh networks, sensor
A candidate approach to solving these performance-related networks, vehicular networks, and relay networks. Finally,
problems is to apply machine learning (ML), a type of artificial we elaborate on future research directions in Section IX and
intelligence, where “algorithms can learn from training data conclude the paper with Section X. Appendix A contains the
without being explicitly programmed” [9]. So far, ML-based list of acronyms used.
techniques have been explored for a variety of problems in For the presented survey on improving WiFi performance
networking [10]–[12]. Successful solutions can be applied to with machine learning, we started with a systematic literature
fields ranging from configuring physical layer parameters to review methodology [16]. First, we searched for WiFi, 802.11,
traffic prediction. and WLAN as well as machine learning in the paper abstracts
Recently, Kulin et al. [11] published a survey on applying in the following databases: IEEE Xplore, ACM, Elsevier, Wiley,
ML for general wireless networking while Zhang et al. [13] and MDPI1 . This yielded 1189 papers, out of which we had to
reviewed almost 600 research papers on ML in 5G systems. remove out-of-scope papers (e.g., related to device positioning
However, neither these nor other recent surveys (as we or network security). Next, we added papers manually, usually
summarize in Section II-D) address in detail the area of WiFi found through cross-citation analysis. Finally, we identified
performance improvement using ML. Indeed, WiFi is already (and cite in Sections III–VII) over 200 relevant papers in total.
too complicated to be covered inside a general survey of Additionally, we reference over 20 survey papers in Section II.
wireless networking with ML and requires a dedicated survey. To summarize, our contributions are the following:
Additionally, a variety of papers in this area have appeared
• A structured approach of describing the various areas
recently (mostly since 2018, cf. Fig. 1). Therefore, motivated
of WiFi performance where ML can be applied: from
by the abundance of research papers in the area of improving
core WiFi features, through recently added features, to
WiFi performance using ML and the lack of such a dedicated
management issues as well as WiFi operating in shared
survey, we have prepared this literature review. We specifically
bands with other technologies and in multi-hop topologies.
target improving WiFi performance because it is an important,
• A review of over 200 papers in the field, to provide
well-defined, and currently relevant issue. Note that there are
readers with an overview of what has been done and what
three non-performance related areas involving both WiFi and
ML which are out of our scope: 1 We could not include SpringerLink at this stage as it does not allow to
• dedicated applications of WiFi (unrelated to network search within the abstracts of published papers. Papers from this database
access), e.g., device positioning, human activity detection, where added manually.
3
Deep learning USL: k-means

RL: QL, RL
RL: QL clustering
Supervised learning
SL: SVM, NN
Reinforcement learning
Unsupervised learning DL: DRL,
MDP,
Ad hoc SL: RF
Mesh networks SL: LSTM
DQN, QL
networks
RL: QL
SL: CT,
DNN, SVM
RL: QL, MAB
USL: NN
Sensor
DL: DNN networks Multihop
networks Channel Network
sharing monitoring
(Section VII)
DL: CNN,
DL: DQN, RL: TRPO
RNN
SL: SVM, DNN
DNN
Coexistence
Vehicular
networks with other Signal
SL: NN Cooperation SL: NN, LR
RL: MAB, QL technologies classification
RL (Section VI)
USL: K-means
MU clustering
SL: MLP
communication SL: SVM,
RF, LR
DL: DRL RL: QL,

SL: NB, SARSA
RL: MAB, QL Spatial reuse NBT, J48DT, USL: EMA
SVM, RT
Recent WiFi Improving WiFi
DL: ANN, DL: ANN,
features performance RNN MLP, DQN,
(Section IV) with ML stochastic
Channel learning
DL: DQN bonding Traffic

prediction SL: ANN, RF
Link
Multi-band,
Beamforming configuration
SL: NN
network
MIMO, RL: QL,
full-duplex MAB, ANN
RL: MAB, RL: QL
RL: MAB, QL
SARSA Core WiFi
features
SL: CNN,
RF, LSTM
SL: MFNN, (Section III) Frame
DL: DNN, RF, DT, DL: ANN
Monte- DL: DNN, LSTM, LR aggregation
Carlo/DDPG DRL AP selection
SL: NN
and association
SL: RFR,
DL: DRL RF, M5P,
Management Channel access PHY features
SVM, ANN
(Section V)
DL: ANN,
RNN
Channel and Management

SL: LASSO, band selection architectures RL: QL, PDS SL: MLP,
OLS SVR, SVM,
SL: RF, Fixed- DL: DRL, DT, DF
Health of Wi- Share, DT DQN,
Fi connections DL: DQL DDPG, DQL
RL: GCN
SL: RF
USL: SL: RF,

SOHMMM DT, kNN,
SVM, NB
Figure 2. Organization of the survey and classification of research areas where WiFi network performance can be improved with ML according to the surveyed
literature. The classification of ML methods into four categories of learning (supervised, unsupervised, deep, reinforcement) is according to [9].
are the main trends of applying ML to particular WiFi II. R ELATED SURVEYS
performance problems.
• The identification of open challenges in every area of A number of surveys address the development of ML models
WiFi performance (at the end of each Section III–VII) as to support wireless networks. Reported contributions consider
well as the general future research directions in applying the application ML to both WiFi and application-specific
ML for improving WiFi performance, to provide readers networks, such as wireless sensor networks (WSNs), cognitive
with an analysis of what remains to be done in the field. radio networks (CRNs), wireless mesh networks (WMNs), and
heterogeneous networks (HetNets). WiFi also constitutes an
We hope that the survey will be beneficial both for beginners important component of fifth-generation mobile networks (5G)
as well as experts in the field, looking for a comprehensive and the future sixth-generation mobile networks (6G), e.g., in
summary of the latest research in the area of improving WiFi the case of cellular traffic offloading. Due to the convergence of
performance with ML. We also believe that this survey will both technologies, not only concerning their operation but also
guide the readers towards proposing new ideas in this area. in the context of shared unlicensed bands, 5G and 6G-related
4
surveys provide valuable insights also for WiFi operation. in [24] for wireless communication networks. Novel comput-
Therefore, in this survey, we also cover some aspects and ing/networking concepts are also addressed like multi-access
functionalities from 5G and 6G that are directly related, or edge computing (MEC), software-defined networking (SDN),
equivalent, in the WiFi area. and network functions virtualization (NFV). ML and RL
Regarding the direct application of ML models in WiFi, models are also illustrated for several networks types such
these surveys are mainly focused on performance indicators as 5G, low-power wide area networks (LPWANs), mobile ad
and the support of a variety of applications, e.g., human hoc networks (MANETs), and Long Term Evolution (LTE)
activity detection, indoor localization, and network security. networks. Additionally, the survey provides a brief overview
The use of ML in application-specific wireless networks of ML-based network security. However, once again, the area
focuses on challenging functionalities like self-configuration, of 802.11 networks is only briefly touched upon.
self-healing, and self-optimization in HetNets, bandwidth and Sun et al. [10] survey a variety of applications of ML models
coverage in WMN, and dynamic spectrum access in CRN. for resource management at the MAC layer, networking and
Regarding 5G, the surveys are mostly focused on interference mobility management in the network layer, and localization in
identification, link quality prediction, traffic demand estimation, the application layer. This survey also identifies conditions
and network management. Additionally, they address the for applying ML models to assist developers in wireless
problem of unlicensed spectrum sharing between 5G or 6G and communication systems. The utility of ML techniques in WiFi
incumbent technologies, like WiFi. All these surveys partially scenarios is illustrated to implement power saving mechanisms
overlap with our literature review. However, since none of them in APs and indoor localization applications.
focus exclusively on Wi-Fi, neither the level of detail, contents Several other surveys address the use of ML models in
organization nor the number of works covered are comparable specific wireless networks like WSNs [25], CRNs [26]–[28],
with our survey. and MANETs [29]. These surveys summarize the support of
ML models to specific-related problems on these networks
like prolonged lifespan in WSNs, feature classification in
A. WiFi-related Surveys
CRNs, or routing in MANETs. Only the surveys concerning
Surveys of WiFi performance-indicators cover mostly WiFi CRNs discuss the applications of ML models in WiFi networks
data analytics for network monitoring [17] and quality indi- (e.g., coexistence, performance evaluation, channel selection,
cators accounting for user satisfaction [18]. Concerning the signal identification). However, specific details concerning the
WiFi analytics, reported ML models are used to extract useful integration of ML techniques and WiFi mechanisms are only
knowledge from big data streams produced over large-scale superficially covered.
wireless networks [17]. Additionally, ML-based solutions to
support the estimation of QoS, quality of experience (QoE),
C. WiFi and 5G/6G-related Surveys
and their cross-correlation (QoS-QoE) are surveyed in [18].
Concerning WiFi-based applications, indoor localization [14], In the 5G area, surveys focus on the PHY, MAC, and network
[19]–[21] and human activity detection [22] are the two main layers to account for interference identification, link quality
covered areas. ML-based techniques are illustrated to detect, prediction, and traffic demand estimation [11]. Through ML,
recognize, and categorize complex patterns in order to support patterns are automatically extracted and trends are predicted to
these applications. optimize parameter settings at different protocol layers. Using
Security in WiFi is also a relevant concern addressed in these patterns, a variety of effective solutions are also used to:
surveys [15], [23]. Considering that WiFi is ranked as the most • analyse and manage mobile networks in several directions,
deployed wireless technology, numerous attacks exploiting e.g., network state prediction, network traffic classification,
its vulnerabilities have been observed. In this direction, ML call details mining, and radio-signal analysis [30];
models are used to develop autonomous and accurate intrusion • improve the performance of mobile systems [13] and
detection systems (IDSs) for WiFi networks. IoT [12];
• identify wireless modulations/technologies [31];
• provide fair and efficient spectrum sharing in 5G [32], as
B. Wireless Communications-related Surveys
well as in future 6G [33];
Wang et al. [9] present an interesting survey, in which the • maximize the potential of unlicensed bands for Industry
thirty-year history of ML is reviewed. It addresses the fun- 4.0 applications [34].
damentals of supervised learning (SL), unsupervised learning
(USL), reinforcement learning (RL), and deep learning (DL).
Additionally, it summarizes the use of ML in many compelling D. Summary
applications of wireless networks, e.g., HetNets, cognitive radio State-of-the-art surveys report the wide applicability of ML
(CR), Internet of things (IoT), and machine to machine (M2M) models for wireless networks. Table I summarizes the presented
communications. However, their use in IEEE 802.11 networks surveys per addressed technology, scope, and remarking their
is only briefly mentioned. Additionally, the use of ML models corresponding WiFi-related topics.
for the layer-specifics’ operation is not covered. Specifically, in the WiFi area, the reported surveys are
The applications of ML supporting physical (PHY), medium application-oriented focusing on human activity detection
access control (MAC), and network layers are also reported algorithms, indoor localization mechanisms, and network
5
Table I
E XISTING SURVEYS CONCERNING W I F I - RELATED TOPICS AND ML MODELS .
Network Ref. Main scope Addressed WiFi feature Year
[17] Large-scale network monitoring WiFi analytics 2020
[18] Quality indicators accounting for user satisfaction WiFi quality indicators 2020
[14] 2020
[19] 2019
Indoor localization
[20] 2019
WiFi
Application-oriented
[21] 2018
[22] Human activity detection 2017
[15] 2021
Intrusion detection WiFi security
[23] 2016
[9] Performance improvement in a variety of wireless 2020

networks like HetNets, CRNs, IoTs, and M2M Insufficient details concerning Wi-Fi functionalities
(IoT, CRN, M2M, MANET)
[24] Performance improvement in the PHY/MAC/Network 2020

layers as well as novel computing/networking concepts
Wireless networks
(MEC, SDN, NFV)
[10] ML models to support resource management, network- Power saving mechanisms for WiFi infrastructure, indoor 2019
ing and localization in wireless networks localization mechanisms
[26] Decision making and feature classification in CRNs Collaborative coexistence of WiFi networks with other tech- 2013
nologies, performance evaluation, dynamic channel selection
[27] ML models to support cognitive radio capabilities Collaborative coexistence of WiFi networks with other tech- 2013
nologies
[28] ML models to support cognitive radio capabilities WiFi signal identification 2010
[11] Broad survey covering data science fundamentals, 5G, Insufficient details concerning WiFi functionalities 2020
Wi-Fi, CRN General networking concepts like interfer-
ence recognition, network traffic predictions, and MAC
identification
WiFi and 5G/6G
[32] 2020
Coexistence mechanisms in 5G networks Coexistence of 5G and WiFi
[35] 2018
[13] Mobile and wireless networking research based on deep Indoor localization applications and signal processing in WiFi 2019
learning networks
security issues. In the wireless networks area, the surveys in current state of the network is available through performance
general provide few details concerning the use of ML models to metrics both at the user as well as the AP level, along with
improve performance of the 802.11 protocol family. The most historical data. The availability of this information provides a
often surveyed topics are the coexistence of WiFi networks favorable environment for ML methods. In the literature, many
with other technologies, its performance evaluation, channel ML solutions have been proposed for 802.11’s PHY and MAC
selection mechanism, and signal identification in the context of layers to adaptively optimize the internal parameters of WiFi’s
cognitive radio technologies. Finally, concerning the 5G/6G and core features in dynamic scenarios (Table II). Additionally, the
WiFi area, in the surveys the conception of spectrum sharing capability of ML-based methods to gain knowledge, generalize,
mechanisms to articulate coexistence mechanisms between and learn from past experience allows conceiving smart systems
the two networks is mostly covered. Therefore, the lack of a using augmented functionalities of the IEEE 802.11 standard.
dedicated WiFi performance survey coupled with the variety In this section, we cover core WiFi features (such as channel
of research papers addressing the specifics of using WiFi with access, rate selection, frame aggregation settings, mitigating
ML (Fig. 1) have motivated our work, which we hope will be interference) and summarize the open challenges.
valuable to the research community.
A. Channel Access
III. C ORE W I F I F EATURES Channel access mechanisms are perhaps the most often
The new IEEE 802.11 amendments introduce a variety of addressed topic concerning the improvement of WiFi perfor-
functionalities for ensuring robust network operation. The mance with ML. Proposed optimizations refer mostly to the
6
Table II
S UMMARY OF WORK ON IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF CORE W I F I FEATURES WITH ML.
Area Ref. ML category ML mechanisms Year Evaluation method

[36] RL QL 2012 Simulation
[37] RL PDS 2015 Theoretical
[38] SL RF 2019 Simulation
Channel access [39] RL QL 2019 Simulation
(Section III-A) [40] SL fixed-share 2019 Simulation
[43] SL DT 2020 Simulation
[46] DL DRL, DQN, DDPG 2021 Simulation
[47] DL federated DQL 2021 Simulation
[48] DL federated DQL, QNN 2021 Simulation
[49] DL Stochastic learning 2008 Simulation
[51] DL ANN, MLP 2013 Simulation
[52] RL MAB 2016 Simulation
[53] SL RF 2018 Experimental
Link configuration [54] SL ANN 2020 Experimental
(Section III-B) [54] RL ANN 2020 Experimental
[55] RL MAB 2020 Experimental
[56] DL DQN 2020 Experimental
[57] Online learning TS 2020 Simulation
[59] DL DQN 2021 Experimental
[60] DL ANN 2009 Simulation
[55] SL M5P, RFR 2019 Simulation
Frame format, packet aggregation [61] SL RF 2020 Simulation
(Section III-C) [62] SL M5P, RF 2020 Experimental
[63] SL ANN 2020 Experimental
[64] SL SVM 2021 Simulation
[65] USL EMA 2010 Experimental
[66] SL NB, NBT, J48DT, SVM 2012 Experimental
[67] SL NB, NBT, J48DT, SVM 2015 Experimental
[68] SL RT 2015 Experimental
Traffic prediction [69] DL ANN 2019 Simuation
(Section III-D) [70] ML DPPL 2019 Theoretical
[71] DL ANN 2019 Simulation
[72] DL RNN 2019 Experimental
[74] RL SARSA 2020 Simulation
[75] SL SVM 2006 Experimental
PHY features [76] DL ANN 2011 Experimental
(Section III-E) [77] SL MLP, SVR, DT, DF 2020 Experimental
[78] DL RNN 2020 Experimental
7
Network status: probability of collisions) is minimized by optimally adjusting a

Collisions, channel utilization, throughput
policy to update the CW size. The iQRA mechanism increments
or decrements CW (according to COSB), finding a balance
Controller between optimal actions (concerning the best policy to reduce
Wi-Fi System Machine ML models:
the collision probability) and exploring new actions to account
Learning SL: RF, Fixed Share
RL: QL for the dynamicity of WiFi environments. Results obtained
DRL: DQN, DDPG
from the ns-3 network simulator for both small (15 station)
and dense (50 station) networks show that the proposed
solution outperforms the baseline 802.11ax protocol in terms
SENDER A
CW (16)
DIFS
SIFS
SIFS
SIFS
… RTS DATA of throughput while delay remains similar.
Considering as a reward the difference between successful
transmissions and collisions, the work in [36] implements a
DESTINATION
CTS ACK programming paradigm called adaptation-based programming

(ABP). ABP is used to optimize the specifics of RL concerning
two possible actions: halve the CW size or leave CW unchanged
CW (32) CW
after a successful transmission. Simulations performed in ns-2
SENDER B
… NAV-RTS … with 20 stations showed a reduction of the total number of

NAV-CTS dropped packets by four.
The random forest (RF) algorithm is applied in a supervised
manner to balance the minimum CW size among users and
Figure 3. WiFi channel access (DCF) supported by ML models. Dashed accounting for fair channel access [38]. The algorithm departs
arrows represent observation and solid lines represent actions. from monitoring channel variables (i.e., busy time, channel
occupancy by the user, a number sent frames) to build a
decision tree regarding the variety of settings. The algorithm
basic 802.11 MAC protocol, i.e., the distributed coordination is implemented in indoor 802.11ac scenarios with up to 8
function (DCF), which is the baseline mechanism to avoid nodes. Throughput, latency, and fairness are improved by
collisions among devices when accessing a common radio 153.9 %, 64 %, and 19.34 %, respectively, when compared to
channel [79]. the 802.11ac standard.
The main parameter responsible for the performance of DCF The size of the CW can be also adjusted by directly
is the contention window (CW). It defines the range from which increasing the access to the channel through the fixed-share
stations randomly select their waiting periods (i.e., the backoff algorithm [40]. CW is derived by weighting a set of possibilities
counter) to avoid collisions when accessing the channel. Larger on the CW range predefined in advance, where the larger the
CW values reduce collisions, but increase idle times, which weight, the larger the influence of the particular CW value.
in turn reduces throughput. Smaller CW values increase the Whenever a successful transmission occurs, the weight for
chance for a node to transmit, but also increase the collision users with the largest CW is reduced to increase the chances
probability, thereby reducing throughput. Determining proper of transmissions, and the weight of users with a less CW
CW values to maximize throughput by reducing both collisions is increased (the contrary occurs after a collision). With this
and idle time periods is the focus of multiple research studies, mechanism, a balance is achieved between aggressive (small
where SL and RL models are typically applied. Loss functions CW) and non-aggressive (large CW) users to achieve better
and rewards are addressed in the form of reduced collisions channel access probabilities among users. Simulations in ns-
[39], [45], increased difference between successful and collided 3 randomly deployed senders show that in a heavily loaded
frames [36], improved channel utilization [38], increased scenario (100 users), throughput is improved by 200 %, and
successful channel access attempts [40], [48], throughput [46], the end-to-end delay is reduced by 33 % when compared to
network utility [80], and a combination of throughput, energy, DCF.
and collisions [37]. As summarized in Fig. 3, SL [38], [40], RL Addressing the scalability of 802.11ax networks, a DRL
[36], [37], [45], deep reinforcement learning (DRL) [39], [46], model is applied to provide stable throughput for an increasing
[48], and federated learning (FL) [47], [48] models are applied number of stations [46]. A centralized solution is applied
to the IEEE 802.11 standard [37], [48] and its amendments, for two trainable control algorithms: deep Q-network (DQN)
most importantly 802.11ac [38], 802.11e [36], [43], 802.11n and deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG). A three-
[40], and 802.11ax [39], [46]. We provide a summary of the phase algorithm is designed to (1) evaluate the history of
major findings next. collision probabilities, (2) the training of both DRL models by
In high-density 802.11ax WLANs, RL with the intelligent maximizing the reward (throughput), and (3) their deployment
Q-learning based resource allocation (iQRA) mechanism is in the network. The algorithm is implemented using ns3-gym
considered by Ali et al. [39]. Instead of resetting the CW value [82] with a single AP and up to 50 stations. Compared to
whenever the channel is idle (as in DCF), CW calculated by the 802.11ax standard, which leads to a decreased network
considering the channel collision probabilities according to the throughput up to 28 %, the two algorithms exhibit a stable
channel observation-based scaled backoff (COSB) protocol [81]. throughput value for an increasing number of stations.
In this direction, the cumulative reward (accounting for the A post-decision state-based (PDS) learning algorithm is
8
applied in [37] to take advantage of previous knowledge of the priorities defined by EDCA. Simulation results are derived
system components such as the CW and the transmission buffer in the ns-3 simulator, where the throughput per traffic type is
occupancy. In contrast to Q-learning (QL), PDS achieves faster improved in comparison to the standard EDCA mechanism.
convergence to optimally compute the CW when asserting its Additionally, collisions can be avoided when implementing
value in specific states. For instance, when the channel is free channel access mechanisms where users are scheduled per time
and the station is waiting to transmit, it is certain that the slots as indicated in [41]. In this approach, each node stores a
CW will be reduced by one. In such a case, the corresponding table consisting of the available time slots in which a given
transition probabilities do not have to be learned, thereby frame to be transmitted. The available time slots are selected
increasing the convergence speed by eliminating exploration by an RL method to find appropriate actions when occupying
actions. The solution exhibits enhanced throughput, expressly the channel.
with moderate network load, in comparison to the Q-learning Finally, Kihira et al. [44] consider a channel access problem
algorithm, the 802.11 standard, and alternative deterministic between two APs: the protagonist, which is equipped with an
mechanisms like exponential-increase exponential-decrease agent, and a second AP called the ‘outsider’. In the paper,
(EIED). the time is divided in slots, where both APs can decide to
The CW can be also adjusted considering user fairness transmit independently. Therefore, the goal of the agent in
metrics [48]. To that end, FL and Q neural network (QNN) the protagonist AP is to find the transmission probability that
models are implemented in APs and stations, respectively, as maximizes its throughput based on learning the behavior of the
a distributed method. Considering that each station will have outsider AP. To do so, the authors rely on a robust adversarial
random initialization of its QNN parameters, some stations reinforcement learning framework, that uses game theory to
will use a more aggressive strategy to get access to the channel model the interactions between the two APs, and is able to
(small CW), which in turn will block the transmissions of learn the best transmission policies through Q-learning.
these stations initialized with a less aggressive strategy (large
CW). The AP obtains a global model of the QNN through
B. Link Configuration
FL and later broadcasts it to stations. Simulation results for a
single AP and a total number of stations up to 50 show that In response to growing user demands, the IEEE
throughput is improved by 20 % when compared to the DCF. 802.11n/ac/ax amendments implement high-throughput wireless
Considering user fairness, an improved DQN is trained for links through dedicated features at the PHY and MAC layers
distributed deployment at stations [45]. The DQN improvement [57]. For example, IEEE 802.11ax provides data rates up
is achieved through rainbow agents [83], which incorporate to 9 Gbit/s using eight spatial streams (SSs) and 160 MHz
double DQN, prioritized reply, duelling networks, multi-step channels. Such high data rates are achieved through a variety
learning, distributional RL, and noisy nets. The ns-3 simulation of functionalities at the PHY layer including channel bond-
results, for 32 nodes transmitting at a constant rate of 1 Mbit/s, ing, multi-SS transmissions, the use of short guard interval
show that the proposed solution achieves results close to an (SGI), and high modulations (1024-QAM for 802.11ax) [52],
optimal solution and it is superior to an RF-based method. [86], [87]. At the MAC layer, frame aggregation and block
Driven by the needs to distinguish between traffic priorities, acknowledgment are the two main features for improving the
DCF is extended to enhanced distributed channel access maximum link throughput.
(EDCA) in the 802.11e amendment to support QoS [84]. To Link configuration, in the form of selecting appropriate
that end, new medium access parameters are introduced per PHY and MAC parameters, is required to achieve optimum
traffic class (access category): CW, arbitration inter-frame space throughput for given network and channel conditions. Consider
(AIFS), and transmission opportunity (TXOP) Limit. The AIFS rate adaptation, i.e., the selection of MCS values for each
accounts for the waiting period before starting a transmission transmission, which needs consider fluctuating channel condi-
or invoking a backoff counting. The TXOP Limit specifies the tions. In dynamic WiFi scenarios (e.g., due to user mobility
time limit on a granted TXOP [85]. AIFS together with the or interference), rate adaptation deals with the following
CW account directly to balance the trade-off between delay counteracting mechanisms: (i) on one hand, high data rates
and throughput. In this direction, a three-phase scheme is may lead to high error rates when decoding the transmitted bits,
implemented in [43] to select the best combination of CW thereby reducing throughput; (ii) on the other hand, reducing
and AIFS supported by ML. In the first two phases, a range the data rate may incur poor channel utilization and thus also
of AIFS and CW values are selected relying on decision tree reducing throughput. It is then appropriate to evaluate the
algorithms like J48 for classification and M5 for prediction. trade-off between transmission errors and channel utilization
Then, in the third phase, the best combination for AIFS and by applying ML models, particularly to deal with the varying
CW are derived. Simulation results exhibit high accuracy on channel conditions in WiFi networks. Fig. 4 depicts how ML
the throughput prediction when varying the CW range, AIFS, models can be used for rate selection. In the following, we
and the total number of stations. summarize the contributions in the area of support the optimal
Accounting for channel priority, in the EDCA distributed selection of MCS and SGI values, and a variety of trade-offs
scheme, a QL model is implemented to infer network density at the PHY.
and adjust the CW value [42]. In EDCA, the CW is set to be 1) Rate Adaptation: Rate adaption solutions reported in the
smaller for high priority traffic like voice and video. The literature predict the probability of successful transmissions
optimal CW value is derived for the four different traffic for each MCS candidate. Then, the data rate is selected
9
Link status:
SNR, ACK/NACK
the highest probability of successful transmission, throughput
can be improved by around 15 % in comparison to other
ML models:
reported solutions.
Controller
SL: Random Forest Thresholds to detect successfully and non-successfully
Wi-Fi System Machine RL: stochastic learning, MAB
received packets can be derived through ML models to improve
Learning DL: ANN
aggregate throughput also by counting received ACKs [51].
Based on the auto rate fallback (ARF) algorithm, the data rate
is increased or decreased when the total number of ACK
MCS-level: are higher than a given threshold. Using an ANN, these
▪ BPSK
▪ QPSK
thresholds are adjusted when estimating their correlation to the
achievable throughput considering the total number of stations,
…
▪ 1024-QAM
channel conditions, and traffic intensity. Using this solution,
Symbol SGI Symbol the aggregated output can be increased by 10 % in a network
Sender Destination
of 10 stations.
Rate selection can also be performed by first identifying
Figure 4. Rate selection supported by ML models. Dashed arrows represent the channel condition, e.g., using supervised learning [53]
observation and solid lines represent actions. or Q-learning [58]. In the former, the channel condition is
classified as residential or office environments, then the proper
MCS level can be selected. The model is trained based on
corresponding to the MCS with the best result. They either rely selected characteristics of an 802.11 frame’s preamble. In the
on the estimated signal to noise ratio (SNR) [50], [54] or follow Q-learning model, the MCS level is adjusted based on the
a cross-layer approach based on acknowledgment (ACK) or total number of received ACKs. Observation of the network
negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback [49], [51], [58]. state is conceived through the timeout events, which is referred
SNR is preferred to timely update the channel status when to the total number of not received ACKs. Simulations are
dealing with station mobility, e.g., in case of vehicular ad doc implemented in ns3-gym [82] considering a dynamic scenario,
networks (VANETs) [50]. However, more accurate solutions where the receiver node moves away from the sender at a speed
are obtained when updating the channel status based on the of 80 m/s [58] with throughput comparable to Minstrel [88].
ACK and NACK feedback [50]. Alternatively, MCS can be selected considering also the
Using the SNR metric, throughput can be improved through available bandwidth and selected spatial streams. Chen et al.
a two-level data rate search algorithm based on an artificial [59] applies the double deep Q-network (DDQN) model
neural network (ANN) model [54] or using an RF algorithm using goodput as a reward and also includes further learning
[50]. In the former, the ANN is implemented as a coarse techniques like prioritized training, history-based initialization,
estimator to find a possible set of best data rate candidates. In and adaptive training interval. Results show that the proposed
the second stage, a fine-grained solution is devised to identify method, implemented in hardware, significantly outperforms
the best candidate from this set. With this solution, at least a default mechanisms.
25 % improvement was is reported in mobile scenarios when 2) SGI Adaptation: Selection SGI values is another link
compared to baseline rate adaptation algorithms. In [50], the configuration mechanism which can be supported by ML
RF algorithm is implemented for the uplink data rate adaptation models [57]. The SGI assumes two (802.11ac) or three
in VANETs. The algorithm uses the position and velocity of (802.11ax) different values. The selection between them can
cars to estimate the SNR in the link between the APs and the be implemented through Thompson sampling (TS), an online
vehicle. The algorithm predicts the probability of successful learning mechanism, to deal with the fluctuation of channel
transmission for each possible data rate candidate, and then quality (signal interference, signal fading, and attenuation).
selects the best candidate. With this approach, the goodput is A TS model was tested through simulations in ns-3 for an
improved at least by 27 % in comparison to reported solutions 802.11ac network with up to 40 stations. The SNR was varied
like collision-aware rate adaptation (CARA). randomly in the range of 20–60 dB and the results showed
However, the unpredictable impact of fast fading de- a slight throughput improvement compared to the static SGI
correlates the correspondence between SNR and packet losses settings.
due to their large fluctuation in short time periods. To deal 3) PHY Layer Trade-offs: There are a variety of trade-
with this problem, Joshi et al. [49] implement a variant of the offs inherent to the PHY layer: wider channels versus more
stochastic automata rate adaptation (SARA) without assuming interference, MCS versus required SNR, frame aggregation
any predefined relation between SNR and packet losses. The versus packet loss, etc. These trade-offs may be jointly
algorithm updates a selection probability vector in a one- addressed to optimize the overall performance using ML
to-one mapping with the available data rates. The learning methods such as multi-armed bandit (MAB) [52], [89]–[91]
procedure is implemented to adjust this vector, with throughput and DL [56].
being the reward function, while the ACK frames are used The authors of a series of papers [52], [89]–[91] design an
as a feedback to account for the channel condition. Thus, the online learning-based mechanism based on the MAB framework
probability corresponding to the rate that produces the best for link configuration in IEEE 802.11ac networks. The solution
reward is updated. After selecting the data rate resulting with takes into account both network load and channel conditions,
10
and uses a MAB-based adaptive learning (AL) methodology Link status:

(i.e., the ε-greedy algorithm) along with fuzzy logic. Through SNR, ACK/NACK
this approach, the network performance is improved thanks

to the ability to explore multiple configurations. The resulting Controller
ML models:
implementation exhibits an increased throughput (up to and Wi-Fi System Machine SL: RF, M5P
358 %) when compared to reported solutions like MU-MIMO Learning RL: Online learning
DL: ANN
user selection (MUSE) [89].
Addressing several parameters from the PHY and MAC
layers simultaneously (channel bonding, MCS, and frame
Aggregation level
aggregation settings), a two step algorithm is conceived in
[56] to improve throughput. First, a deep neural network subframe 1 subframe 2 … subframe N
(DNN) is applied to estimate throughput assuming different
link parameter settings. Then, a predictive control-based search
algorithm is applied to find the optimal parameter values PHYHDR MACHDR A-MSDU FCS
which maximize throughput. Experimental results are obtained

through IEEE 802.11ac client boards installed on laptops. Figure 5. Configuring frame aggregation settings supported by ML models.
Dashed arrows represent observation and solid lines represent actions.
Results exhibit superior performance concerning delay and
throughput in comparison to three baseline algorithms.
Rate adaptation algorithms are also designed for specific ap-
their dynamical adjustment in the 802.11 standards is not
plications in industrial networks [74]. An RL-based mechanism
designed to deal with the varying channel state information
is used to solve the trade-off between reduced packet losses
(CSI) in wireless links.
and increased rate of transmission. The learning procedure
To optimally select the frame size under dynamic conditions,
is implemented through the state action reward state action
ML techniques are used, including supervised learning [61],
(SARSA) algorithm, and the balance between exploration and
[62], [64], online learning [55], and ANN [60], [63] models.
exploitation is conceived through the ε-greedy algorithm. With
Their use is reported in the 802.11n standard to maximize
this approach, packet losses are reduced by 6 % when compared
goodput [61], [62], in 802.11 networks to maximize throughput
to non-RL-based algorithms. Additionally, to account for the
[60], and in 802.11ac for addressing the energy-throughput
industrial network, packet delay is assessed to illustrate the
trade-off [55]. Furthermore, ML methods are also reported
improved performance of the implemented RL-based approach.
to estimate the aggregation levels in 802.11ac, which is not
typically accessible by non-rooted mobile handsets [64].
C. Frame Aggregation Specifically, a low computational complexity technique is
Frame format and packet aggregation are two main tech- implemented in the downlink direction in [61]. An random
niques directly impacting the communication efficiency in terms forest regressor (RFR) model is used to properly combine the
of useful transmitted data and overhead introduced by headers aggregation and MCS settings. Exhibited results are obtained
and preambles. User data packets are amended with PHY and for small and medium-sized networks up to 20 stations.
MAC layers headers to account for the proper functioning This solution lowers the rate of re-transmission resulting in
of the protocol. The resulting frame inevitably reduces the goodput improved by 18.36 % when compared to legacy 802.11
available resources to transmit useful data due to the introduced aggregation mechanisms.
overhead. In this regard, ML models are proposed to maximize Aggregation methods supported by ML are also designed
the efficiency when increasing the frame size by aggregating for software-defined WLANs (SD-WLANs) as an artificial
packets with a unique sequence for the preamble, that is, intelligence (AI)-based operating system [62]. The M5P and the
reducing the number of individual transmissions (Fig. 5) [92]. RFR models are implemented due to their low computational
In this case, efficiency is analyzed in terms of errors produced complexity. Intended to provide a frame length that maximizes
during the packet decoding. Larger frames can lower the goodput for each user, their training is performed with real
impact of overhead but they can are also more susceptible measurements in a WiFi scenario with up to 10 stations. Here,
to transmission errors. This trade-off is addressed by frame the RFR model presents the highest goodput improvement
aggregation techniques to derive the optimum frame size to (55 %) when compared to the A-MSDU mechanism.
maximize efficiency. To that end, the 802.11 standard introduces The MCS level can be also predicted through an ANN as
two basic aggregation methods: aggregated MAC service data presented in [63]. The model is trained in a client device by
unit (A-MSDU) and aggregated MAC protocol data unit (A- receiving packets from an AP using all the available rates
MPDU) [2]. These aggregations can also be used together within a 1 s time window. Estimated rates are then used to
[85]. compute the best aggregation level using a previously designed
The A-MSDU method is more efficient but more prone to (non-ML) method [93]. Regarding throughput, the implemented
errors than A-MPDU, since it contains only one frame check solution outperforms baseline algorithms by at least 13 %.
sequence (FCS) accounting for all the aggregated frames. The Designing aggregation level estimators can help in queue
A-MPDU method is more robust but introduces more overhead backlogging. Hassani et al. [64] use ML techniques on obtained
as it generates several FCSs, one per each sub-frame. However, hardware-level timestamps to determine the aggregation level
11
Network status:
implemented at a given AP. A logistic regression estimator Connected users, signal strength,
model is used to devise an accurate aggregation level estimator traffic rates
with low computational complexity. The solution is imple-

Models:
mented in non-rooted hardware as client nodes, where the Controller
Supervised learning (random forest,
achieved accuracy to determine the proper aggregation level is Wi-Fi System Machine SVM, SVR)
Learning Reinforcement learning (Q-learning)
close to 100 %. Deep learning (ANN, RNN, MLP)
Frame aggregation settings can also be consider the asso-

ciated energetic costs [55]. Based on the channel condition
(given by the SNR value), the aggregation level is selected
as the ones with the less frame error rate (FER) to reduce Traffic Prediction
the energetic costs caused by re-transmissions. The solution
is a combination of an online learning algorithm to define a
set of suitable aggregation levels and fuzzy logic to select the
most suitable level from that set, by estimating which frame
size would have the lowest FER. Following this approach,
the resulting energy efficiency with 10 stations is 14 % better
when compared to the standard use of A-MSDU and A-MPDU
mechanisms. Figure 6. Illustration of the traffic prediction capabilities of ML models.
Finally, channel condition and impact of collisions are jointly Dashed arrows represent observation and solid lines represent actions.
addressed in [60] to adjust both the frame size and CW. An
ANN model is trained with frame size-throughput patterns to
provide a gradient indicating the direction of the optimal frame reduced at least by 33 % when compared to the performance
and the CW sizes. Simulation results, provided for 10 mobile of the ANN.
users, show that throughput is when compared to the case that Khan et al. [77] analyzed the most suitable ML models
only the frame size is optimized and without considering the to predict traffic among MLP, SVR, DT, and RF. To train
optimal CW. these models, several features are extracted from simulation
and real data (using the Wireshark network trace) namely
the number of connected users, signal strength, modulation
D. Traffic Prediction scheme, data rate, inter-arrival time, packet arrival rate, number
Traffic prediction techniques play a major role in assisting of re-transmissions, and several other channel parameters. The
network management operations for better short and long solutions are implemented in a WiFi network consisting of
term planning. Proper planning, using methods such as traffic 10 users and a single 802.11 AP. The reported prediction
forecasting, congestion control, power saving, bandwidth accuracy presents a maximum value of 96.2 %, 94.5 %, 93.3 %,
allocation and buffer management, leads to improved user and 91 % using MLP, DT, RF, and SVR, respectively. The
QoE For instance, based on the predicted traffic, APs may study also analyses the complexity of these mechanisms in
perform better load balancing, while a given AP may perform real-time schemes by reporting the time elapsed for each model.
adequate admission control. The highest time-consuming model is MLP followed by RF,
Real-time traffic prediction becomes a challenging problem SVR, and DT.
in WiFi networks due to varying channel conditions, changing Dealing with large-scale traffic prediction, the work in [78]
network topologies, and random user traffic. Traffic estimation deploys an RNN on an SDN framework. The model is trained
is also dependent on several other parameters, such as the to improve the prediction accuracy by minimizing its mean
total number of users in the network, the SNR on the link, square error (MSE) metric. The model is evaluated with 23
or the communication capabilities of users and APs [77]. In nodes interconnected through 38 different links. The resulting
such scenarios, ML models are used to deal with the diverse prediction error is 10 units of magnitude-order less than feed
conditions of WiFi networks, otherwise intractable through forward neural network (FFNN) and traditional linear prediction
analytical methods. As summarized in Fig. 6, ML models models like autoregressive moving average (ARMA).
are used to augment legacy 802.11 devices through support Barabas et al. [76] use ANNs operating in the multi-task
vector machine (SVM) [75], recurrent neural network (RNN), learning (MTL) paradigm to improve prediction accuracy.
multilayer perceptrons (MLP), support vector regressor (SVR) Following this paradigm, three upcoming traffic values are
and polynomial regression [94], decision tree (DT), RF [77], predicted instead of one. The network is trained with three
or ANN [76], [78]. tasks simultaneously, which improves the accuracy of the
Specifically, the solution proposed in [75] trains an SVM network. The learning procedure is implemented through multi-
to predict the traffic evolution one step ahead. Besides, resolution learning (MRL) by decomposing the traditional
by recursively applying the one-step-ahead solution, traffic learning into three stages. A wavelet transform is used to
estimation for l-step-ahead is also conceived. The SVM model provide this decomposition by filtering the data set into its low
is implemented as a Gaussian radial basis function and trained and high-frequency band representation. The network is trained
with 100 samples to predict the next 100 samples. Through first with coarse resolution, then with finer ones, and finally
the SVM model, the error to predict the upcoming traffic is with the original resolution of the data set. Results exhibited
12
Network status:
transition probabilities are assessed through the expectation
Signal strength, CSI, Interference modification algorithm (EMA). Based on the derived transition
probabilities, the probability of collisions is directly computed
Controller based on the estimated total number of senders that simultane-
ML models:
Wi-Fi System Machine SL: RF, SVM, kNN, SVR
ously transmit. Results are provided by estimating deferring
Learning RL: Q-learning probabilities performed by deploying 7 APs and an equal
DL: ANN, RNN number of clients over two floors of a building. The estimated
deferring probabilities exhibit a good correspondence with the
real condition scenario.
To reduce collisions, produced by the ambiguous decoding of
PHY layer Interference request to sends (RTSs)-like frames, the solutions in [66], [67]
Collisions
implement an ML model. A Bloom filter is conceived to decode
the RTS frames, and a supervised ML technique is used to solve
their inherent ambiguity with an accuracy larger than 99 %.
Localization The ML is implemented through a variety of algorithms such
as naive Bayes, naive Bayesian tree, J48 decision tree, and
SVM. Additionally, this solution is connected to a second,
Kε-greedy algorithm for channel allocation. The integration of
both algorithms allows improving the performance 3.3 times
Figure 7. Mitigating negative PHY effects with ML models. Dashed arrows over the legacy 802.11 operation.
represent observation, solid lines represent actions. The interference level can be estimated by modeling the
network through a determinantal point process (DPP). Saha
and Dhillon [70] present such a model, in which a supervised
the best performance when having 4 nodes, 5 hidden neurons, learning process is implemented to evaluate the total number
and 3 outputs. of active transmitters that may interfere with each other as well
Finally, network congestion levels are also predictable with as their locations. Interference is then evaluated by providing
SL and USL models [94]. Based on captured data attributes the cumulative density function (CDF) for the total number
like the number of clients, throughput, frame retry rate, and of active users. This is then used when modeling the power
frame error rate, SVR and polynomial regressor models are of the interference signals through a path-loss model for each
applied to predict the same values for a certain location, day, link. Results illustrate a good match with the theoretical model
and time. These predicted values are then fed to the expectation Matérn hard-core processes (MHCP) regarding the CDF of
maximization (EM) algorithm to predict congestion levels by interference levels.
forming three different clusters. Each cluster is identified with Interference can be also mitigated by jointly optimizing
high, medium, and low congestion levels based on the numeric the transmitted power of APs and the channel allocation
value of the clustered samples. Results are presented after policies [73]. An RL model is implemented with the Q-
collecting data in a network of over 1200 APs distributed in learning algorithm to maximize throughput in dense WLANs.
an area of 1.17 km2 with more than 80 buildings. The obtained The model is trained through a learning process of reduced
accuracy is 24 %, 50 %, and 26 %, for a low, medium, and total iterations driven by an event-triggered mechanism, i.e.,
high level of congestion. whenever the network status changes due to the mobility of
users, the learning process is called again to optimize power and
E. PHY Features channel allocation policies. Results are derived based on the
At the PHY layer, a variety of actions can be supported deployment of 15 APs, where a 16 % throughput improvement
by ML techniques to improve the performance of WiFi is obtained in comparison to traditional power and channel
networks. Issues that can be addressed include collision allocation mechanisms.
detection characterization [65] and its mitigation [66], [67], The received signal strength can be predicted though deep
interference power-level characterization [70] and its mitigation learning techniques [72]. In an RNN model, encoder and
[73], signal de-noising [69], source detection to improve decoder components are implemented to capture the CSI
spectral efficiency [95], prediction of signal strength variability and predict its variability, respectively. The model is trained
[72], or the enhanced modeling of the PHY and MAC layer according to the three different schemes to balance the trade-off
interactions to improve throughput [68]. As depicted in Fig. 7, between convergence speed and performance: guiding training
a variety of ML models are available to deal with these effects which used the current measured signal strength (resulting in
and the variable conditions of WiFi networks in terms of the faster convergence), unguided training which uses the predicted
total number of users, power level, CSI, etc. signal strength (resulting in better prediction performance), and
To estimate the number of collisions in the channel, the curriculum training which combines both previous methods
activity of nodes in the network can be modeled as a hidden to balance the speed and prediction performance. With the
Markov model (HMM) [65]. The approach is to use RL curriculum training scheme, the resulting prediction accuracy
techniques to learn the parameters of such models, then to of the signal strength is improved when compared to linear
mathematically evaluate the probability of collisions. The regression and auto-regression methods.
13
The quality of the received signal can be also improved due to the variety of related parameters. As yet unexplored,
at the PHY layer using DL techniques [69]. With an ANN, this constitutes a promising research direction to address by
the preamble of the 802.11 family protocols can be de-noised ML models.
by unfolding the useful signal from noise in the spectrogram Third, only a few papers provide details on the impact of user
domain (i.e., time-frequency domain). It is proposed that the mobility on communication performance [58], [60]. However,
spectrogram is processed as an image, where the ANN is used considering the growing number of connecting mobile devices
as a convolutional de-noising auto-encoder to estimate the to WiFi networks (e.g., phones, tablets, even vehicles), further
originally emitted patterns. Using this approach, the derived insights can be provided to better characterize the influence of
reconstruction accuracy is around the 85 %. movement on the network performance.
The spectral efficiency of WiFi transmissions can also be Finally, many reported works remark future directions
improved when avoiding the exposed terminal problem. To concerning the improvement of ML-based solutions to:
that end, senders can be identified according to their CSI to • provide accurate ML models (additional loss functions)
later predict whether they will interfere with each other [95]. [40],
To implement such an identification mechanism, a model is • reduce the coordination overhead between agents in
trained through k-nearest neighbor (kNN) and ANN with 20 decentralized solutions [37],
wireless nodes in indoor scenarios, where an accuracy of 90 % • further integrate ML models into network controllers for
is achieved with at least 30 samples per node. Besides, in case proactive management [76],
of reduced total samples, better performance is obtained with • further study the impact of network status parameters on
the kNN model. traffic prediction [52], [75], [90], and
The PHY layer can be also modeled in unison with the • increase complexity of ML models to better characterize
MAC layer to characterize the impact of different features network functioning [58], [61], [65], [70].
on observed throughput [68]. The selected input features are
received power, channel width, spectral separation between IV. R ECENT W I F I F EATURES
users, traffic load, and physical rates. The idea is to find a
In a push for higher and more efficient performance levels,
mathematical function that maps input features to throughput
recent WiFi amendments such as 802.11ac [144], 802.11ax
values supported by supervised ML. This mathematical function
[3], and 802.11be [145] support new advanced and complex
then becomes a black box representation of a given link to
techniques such as multi-user communications (OFDMA, MU-
later optimize throughput. The learning phase, which is used to
MIMO) [146], spectrum aggregation (channel bonding, multi-
obtain this function, is derived through regression techniques:
link operation) [147], spatial reuse, and multi-AP coordination
regression tree, gradient boosted regression tree (GBRT), and
[5]. All these techniques promise high-performance gains in
SVR). In particular, it is found that GBRT and SVR provide
both throughput and latency and pose new challenges regarding
the most accurate results.
how to use them. These challenges can be solved, or at least
alleviated, using ML methods (Table III).
F. Open Challenges
From the multitude of papers addressing core WiFi PHY A. Beamforming
and MAC features, we have identified several open challenges Transmissions in the millimeter wave (mmWave) 60 GHz
related to studying more realistic settings, removing common shared band are a specific WiFi use case aimed at greatly
simplifying assumptions, and improving ML-based solutions. increasing the transmission rate in line of sight (LoS) commu-
We describe these challenges below. nication scenarios, both short-range (indoor) and long-range
First, there is a need for more more realistic simulations. (outdoor), the latter known at fixed wireless access (FWA)
Several reports address the intention to provide simulation [148]. To cope with the increased attenuation in this band,
testbeds with less simplifying assumptions. For instance, the beamforming of transmissions is required. This functionality
inclusion of more realistic channel and traffic models, variable was first introduced to WiFi in 802.11ad and later extended in
channel condition per user, dense networks, or the addressing 802.11ay.
of multi-hop networks are some remarked requirements to A key problem of 802.11ad/ay networks, which can be solved
conduct further research as remarked in [36], [39], [40], [46], using ML, is finding the optimum beam sector pairs (i.e., beam
[49], [74], [84], [85]. alignment) between transmitter and receiver (Fig. 8). Alignment
Second, studies needed to consider overall network per- is derived from a beam sweeping procedure, which can take up
formance. Currently, papers address specific optimization to tens of milliseconds and needs to be periodically repeated.
parameters under specific conditions. Although some work To facilitate the beam sector pair selection, Chang et al. [101]
is reported to simultaneously address a variety of parameters propose to replace the standard method of exhaustive beam
of WiFi networks (cf. Section III-B3), an overall perspective search with one of three neural network (NN)-based algorithms
of network functioning, which would account for optimization proposed to predict the optimal beam sector, including the
criteria in several layers simultaneously, has been not conducted use of historical data. This work is then extended in [111],
yet. While improved performance can be achieved when where the training duration is reduced through a combination
addressing cross-layer designs [96], solutions to posed problems of SL-based feature extraction and RL-based training beam
in this direction are rather difficult to solve by analytical means selection. Meanwhile, Polese et al. [112] developed DeepBeam,
14
Table III
S UMMARY OF WORKS ON IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF RECENT W I -F I FEATURES WITH ML.

[97] Statistical learning 2017 Theoretical
[99] NN CNN 2018 Theoretical, experimental
[100] DL DNN 2019 Simulation
[102] SL CNN, Conv. LTSM, RF 2019 Simulation, experimental
Beamforming [103] RL QL 2020 Simulation
(Section IV-A) [104] N/A N/A 2020 Simulation
[105] DL CNN 2020 Experimental
[108] SL DT, RF, SVM 2020 Simulation, experimental
[109] DL DRL 2020 Experimental
[110] DL DRL 2021 Simulation
[111] SL, DL CNN, DRL 2021 Simulation, experimental
[112] DL CNN 2021 Experimental
[113] SL SVM 2014 Simulation
[115] RL QL 2019 Experimental
Multi-user communication [116] DL DNN 2019 Simulation
(Section IV-B)
[117] SL DNN 2020 Experimental
[118] DL DQN 2020 Simulation
[119] DL DQN 2021 Simulation
[120] RL QL 2021 Experimental
[121] DL DNN 2021 Experimental
[122] RL IState-GPOMDP 2008 Simulation
Spatial reuse [126] RL MAB 2019 Simulation
(Section IV-C)
[129] SL MLP 2020 Simulation
[131] RL MAB 2017 Theoretical, simulation
[133] RL SARSA 2019 Experimental
[134] RL MAB 2019 Theoretical, simulation
Channel bonding [135] DL DQN 2020 Simulation
(Section IV-D) [136] DL DQN 2020 Simulation
[139] SL NN 2021 Simulation
[140] SL GNN 2021 Simulation
[141] SL DNN 2019 Simulation
Multi-band, network MIMO, [142] DL Monte-Carlo/DDPG 2019 Simulation
and full-duplex (Section IV-E)
15
Possible observations:
Current SNR levels, historical
(NLoS) This classification can be augmented with ML, as
SNR levels, camera images, etc. shown in [98], where classification is done based on the random
forest technique. Predicting the statistical characteristics of a
Machine
Learning
channel can also be useful and there are many papers focusing
on the PHY layer (regardless of the wireless technology). For
example, Bai et al. [99] use a trained CNN to predict the
statistical characteristics of a channel for any given (indoor)
Actions: location for technologies using massive MIMO.
Beam sector selection
Alternatively, rate adaptation can be based on typical
AP
metrics available in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices.
Aggarwal et al. [108] predict optimal MCS settings using
three ML models: DT, RF, and SVM. They conclude that
RF provided best results and outperformed SNR-based rate
Figure 8. Example of beam sector alignment in IEEE 802.11ad/ay networks: selection strategies. This approach was then extended in the
8-sector AP and 4-sector client station. learning-based beam and rate adaptation (LiBRA) framework
[107], where the same ML-based classification methods are
used to determine which of the two adaptation methods (rate
a framework for beam selection which replaces the time- selection or beam selection) give better performance for a given
consuming beam sweeping procedure with inferring the beam link.
sector to use through convolutional neural network (CNN)- The data rate of mmWave links can be improved by
based deep learning based on passive listening to other better channel estimation techniques. Lin et al. [106] combine
transmissions. transceiver location information with a DNN to evaluate the
Alternatively, improved ML-based beam alignment predic- channel frequency response. This approach decreases the
tions can be performed with the use of camera images. Salehi number of transmitted pilot signals leaving more room for
et al. [105] show that visual information can significantly user data.
reduce the time required to establish the best beam pairs. The Finally, in terms of channel access, 802.11ad introduces a
application of camera images was also shown by Nishio et al. new, hybrid MAC with contention-free and contention-based
[102], where ML was able to accurately and rapidly predict periods. The definition of the resource scheduler is out of the
received power, which is the necessary information needed to standard scope and remains an open research challenge [104].
find beam sectors. Camera-based predictions of link outage Azzino et al. [103] propose an RL-based approach to find the
can be made with DRL and lead to improved handovers in optimal duration of the contention-free period by observing the
mmWave networks [109]. time-varying network load. Their scheme is able to preserve
Since the range of mmWave bands is short, 802.11ad/ay APs the throughput for the allocated streams, while leaving more
may need to be densely deployed for certain use cases. Under resources for contention-based traffic.
such network densification, beam coordination, and interference
management becomes necessary. Mohamed et al. [97] propose
an architecture to reduce cross-beam interference by applying B. Multi-user Communication
statistical learning to construct a radio map of the network With the IEEE 802.11ac amendment, and the support of
environment, which serves as input for beam selection. In this downlink MU-MIMO transmissions, Wi-Fi opened the door for
scenario, signalling is carried over the WiFi network in the multi-user transmissions, i.e., simultaneously transmitting to
5 GHz band through a centralized AP controller. Zhou et al. different stations in the same TXOP. Then, both downlink and
[100] propose a DNN-based solution to optimize the beams uplink MU-MIMO was introduced by IEEE 802.11ax, as well
in a centrally-managed AP deployment. Their solution is able as orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA).
to achieve nearly the same performance as an optimization OFDMA divides the available bandwidth into different sub-
algorithm at a fraction of the computational time. channels, called RUs, which are then allocated to other users.
A related problem in dense deployment scenarios is the Both MU-MIMO and OFDMA will also play an important role
association between user stations and APs, especially since in future IEEE 802.11be networks. In IEEE 802.11be, beyond
next-generation stations will have multi-homing capabilities extending Wi-Fi capabilities by using 320 MHz channels and
(i.e., methods allowing sustained connectivity to multiple APs). up to 16 spatial streams, some improvements such as the
This leads to an interesting user-to-multiple APs association allocation of multiple RUs to the same user will be introduced.
problem, which can be solved using ML methods. Ly Dinh et al. The most significant challenge in multi-user communications
[110] consider a generic WLAN where users can autonomously is identifying and creating groups of compatible stations that,
learn, using their own DQN, which APs to connect to and when simultaneously scheduled, result in an improvement of
using which band (sub-6 GHz or mmWave). network performance. This is a complex non-linear problem
Once appropriate 802.11ad/ay beam sectors have been and so suitable to be tackled using ML techniques due to the
found, rate adaptation is required. MCS selection for mmWave need to choose a particular group of stations and configure
transmissions relies on appropriate channel classification, i.e., their link parameters with only partial information in a rapidly
determining whether a channel is LoS or non-line of sight changing environment. Fig. 9 shows the case where an AP
16
Figure 9. The ML agent is in charge of finding groups of compatible stations

and schedule transmissions based on past experience.
Figure 10. An AP empowered with ML is able to learn from experience which

are the best SR configuration to maximize its own, or the overall network,
empowered with an ML agent is in charge of taking these performance.
scheduling decisions. First, it must learn that station (STA) 1
and STA 3 can belong to the same MU-MIMO group. Then,
given the AP has data to transmit to all three stations, the ML access is a common feature for Wi-Fi and 5G, which was
agent has to decide how to allocate the different available RUs adopted by WLANs after it was successfully applied in the
to the stations. In this example, it has agreed to allocate a cellular domain. In the following papers ML is used to
larger RU to STA 1 and STA 3 for a MU-MIMO transmission, the address the several problems in OFDMA-based cellular
and a smaller one to STA 2. networks: fair scheduling [149], [150], carrier frequency offset
Several papers address the problems of user selection, link (CFO) estimation for uplink transmissions [151], [152], inter-
adaptation, and channel sounding overhead reduction in MU- network interference control [153], and resource allocation
MIMO-enabled WLANs using a variety of ML strategies. [154]. They implement RL [149], [150], [153], supervised deep
Karmakar et al. [114] implement an ε-greedy strategy to learning [151], unsupervised deep learning [152], and a genetic
find the best configuration (group and link parameters) using learning algorithm [154] to support performance optimization.
past experience. The authors of [113] use an SVM classifier We believe that these papers may provide interesting insights
to develop a robust MCS selection procedure. Reducing the and guidelines for researchers working in the Wi-Fi domain.
channel sounding overheads using DNNs to compress CSI Finally, in [121] joint MU-MIMO and OFDMA optimization
at each STA and decompress CSI at the AP is presented in is addressed using DL. The proposed solution, called DeepMux,
[117], showing a significant reduction of the required airtime. is executed at the APs and relies on DNNs to minimize the
Finally, a different approach is considered in [115], [120], impact of channel sounding and find a near-optimal resource
where a policy gradient approach is applied to determine if allocation policy. Experimental results show gains of up to
a certain client will benefit from participating in MU-MIMO 50% in throughput using DeepMux.
transmissions. In this case, the policy function is represented
using a neural network consisting of two convolutional layers. C. Spatial Reuse
In all cases, significant performance results are obtained by The IEEE 802.11ax amendment first introduced spatial reuse
improving the network throughput. (SR) to Wi-Fi networks. The main goal behind this mechanism
Regarding OFDMA, in case of AP-initiated transmissions, is to allow concurrent transmissions between devices that
the AP must determine the group of stations scheduled at belong to different basic service sets (BSSs). When a device
each TXOP, and which is the best RU allocation to them. detects an ongoing transmission, it must first decide whether
Alternatively, in the case of uplink transmissions, stations may another concurrent transmission is possible, and in case it
be allowed to select the RU which they will use for transmission. is, which transmission power to use to avoid disrupting the
These problems are considered in [116], [118], [119] using ongoing one [8]. The IEEE 802.11ax SR solution offers good
DRL techniques. In [118], [119], the authors focus on the performance gains, despite its conservative design. Therefore,
uplink case, and propose a decentralized RU selection method the use of ML techniques to make such a mechanism adaptive
using DRL (i.e., a CNN based DQN) that provides much higher to the current scenario and help decide when and how a device
gains when compared against the case when RUs are selected detecting an ongoing transmission can benefit from a spatial
randomly (as proposed in IEEE 802.11ax). An opposite case, reuse opportunity should result in even higher gains.
i.e., only AP-initiated downlink transmissions, is considered in Fig. 10 shows the case of two neighbouring APs that,
[116] where DRL-based scheduling is implemented. It takes empowered by ML agents, can find a suitable configuration for
into account per-station channel quality and traffic information both of them (i.e., the configuration that gives them the highest
as inputs and different objective policies. Results confirm the possible throughput) to share spectrum resources. In this case,
potential of the use of ML for scheduling in OFDMA systems. we assume both prefer to use the same 80 MHz channel but
It is important to remember that OFDMA-based channel are transmitting at low power. In this case, they maximize
17
mutual spatial reuse opportunities in front of other options considered in [129] to help the selection of SR parameters at
such as the use of non-overlapping channels (less bandwidth) both the AP and stations. The models are trained offline using
or transmitting at high power (higher MCSs) but causing the a dataset that covers multiple scenarios and configurations. A
other BSS to defer. different approach is considered in [155], where a central
The use of ML solutions to tackle the SR problem has raised controller able to configure the entire Wi-Fi network is
some attention in recent years. Most of the works implement considered. A NN is then used to propose configurations to all
RL techniques for learning the best configuration for each BSSs so spatial reuse is maximized. The NN takes into account
ML agent-empowered AP on-line. Q-learning is used in [123], the correlation function between the throughput achieved by
[130], and MABs are used in [124]–[128]. All these papers the different devices in the network and their associated link
share the concept of multiple agents that either do not share layer parameters.
information or only share partial information (i.e., the action Lastly, a completely different approach to achieve SR is taken
performed and the obtained reward) and learn by interacting in [124] by considering the use of directional transmissions. In
through the environment. As shown in the referred papers, in this paper, the selection of the antenna orientation is tackled
multi-agent scenarios where the agents compete with each other as a non-stationary MAB problem. The authors implement
without collaborating, convergence may be hard or impossible the system using software-defined radio (SDR) wireless open
to achieve. There are also papers using SL techniques, such access research platforms (WARPs) showing its correct oper-
as NNs [129], [155], to help with the selection of proper SR ation, as well as that their solution is resilient to co-channel
parameters (transmission power and sensitivity levels) given interference.
the characteristics of the scenario are known.
In the following, we overview some of these papers, as they
D. Channel Bonding
are illustrative to understand how ML can be used to improve
SR operation in WiFi. Timmers et al. [123] use a Q-learning The option to enable channels wider than 20 MHz was
algorithm to optimize power, transmission rate, and clear introduced in IEEE 802.11n, where up to 40 MHz channels
channel assessment (CCA). States are defined as a combination were supported. The IEEE 802.11ac and IEEE 802.11ax
of transmission power, interference, and the MCS used, and amendments further increased the maximum channel width to
actions consist of changing the transmission power and MCS. 80 and 160 MHz, respectively. Increasing the channel width will
Agents are placed at every device and act selfishly. Q-learning continue with IEEE 802.11be, where up to 320 MHz channels
is also used in [130] to improve the 802.11ax’s spatial reuse will be allowed. Using wider channels allows for higher
mechanism. In this case, the considered Q-learning solution transmission rates and therefore higher performance. However,
aims to learn the best decision (i.e., transmit concurrently or in dense scenarios, it may notably increase contention between
wait) given the agent knows the current interferers. Interestingly, neighbouring BSSs, which may cause the opposite result.
the authors also consider non-stationary scenarios and tackle Therefore, correctly deciding when to use a wider channel and
that situation by increasing the learning rate of the less-chosen what should be its size is necessary for successfully improving
actions, which results in a rapid adaptation to the environmental WLAN performance. Unfortunately, there is no single answer
changes. to the previous question. It depends on each specific scenario,
Using [125] as a starting point, where a stateless Q- including the number and position of contending devices, the
learning solution is introduced, in [127], different MABs action- load of each BSS, and the available channels.
selection strategies are considered (-greedy, EXP3 [156], upper ML techniques can help solve such a situation by learning
confidence bound (UCB) [157], and TS [158]) to deal with the best channel allocation and bonding configurations in a
channel selection and transmission power allocation. Two given scenario. Online learning seems a natural option in this
strategies to take actions are also examined: 1) concurrent – all case, especially if RL techniques and prediction models are
networks take actions simultaneously, and 2) sequential – only combined to foster a rapid convergence [132]. For example,
one network changes its configuration at a time. Results show Fig. 11 shows the case where an agent learns from experience
that optimal proportional fairness can be achieved even if the which actions to perform given that the environment is found
different networks operate selfishly (i.e., they aim to maximize in a particular state (i.e., the state may be defined by the
their throughput) without sharing information. Concerning the occupancy of the different 20 MHz channels) every time the
different MAB techniques, the use of sequential action taking primary channel becomes idle. In this case, the agent has learnt
between actors reduces the throughput variability at the different that the best action when all four 20 MHz channels are idle
BSSs. However, this comes at the expense of lower throughput is to transmit in the first 40 MHz primary channel, but not in
values. More details regarding the use of MABs for improving the secondary 40 MHz channel. Similarly, when the secondary
decentralized SR decisions are provided in [126] where it is 40 MHz channel is busy, the AP has learnt the best action is
considered that the different ML agents can communicate and to wait until the 40 MHz secondary channel becomes idle to
share the performance obtained when playing a certain action. perform a 80 MHz transmission.
In this case, it is possible to apply utility functions in the online Out of the box MABs are mainly used to decide which
optimization process that directly target network fairness, such are the best channel widths to be used when no further
as max-min, effectively reducing those cases where some BSSs information, neither from the network nor from the user
are starved due to the selfish operation of the others. requirements, is considered, and the goal is to maximize WLAN
Supervised learning techniques such as MLP and DTs are performance [133], [134], [138]. Then, when traffic loads
18
DRL is considered in [135], [136]. In [135], the channel

allocation problem (i.e., group of selected channels and position
of the primary channel) in a scenario with multiple BSSs is
addressed. The paper shows that the channel allocated to each
BSS should depend on its expected load and performance.
Then, considering the goal of minimizing latency, a on-demand
channel bonding (DCB) algorithm is proposed that usesDRL
along with a multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient
(MADDPG) for training to find suitable channel allocations.
Results show that by reducing the channel width in APs
with low traffic demands, the delay in the overall network
is improved as the channel access contention is reduced. A
Figure 11. An ML-enabled AP that aims to learn which is the best set of
actions that maximize its own performance. The primary channel is identified similar problem is considered in [136], where DRL is used
as P. Grey rectangles illustrate idle channels, red – busy channels, green – AP to tackle the channel assignment problem in WLANs with
transmissions. channel bonding. A key aspect of this paper is that the authors
consider spatio-temporal changes in traffic demands. Therefore,
the DRL solution (i.e., a DQN) has to learn how to adapt to
are also a parameter to be taken into account, as well as them to offer satisfactory service. To do that, the agent in each
other performance metrics such as delay and throughput, DRL AP learns from historical traffic loads when more or fewer
techniques are considered [135], [136]. Lastly, SL techniques channels should be bonded together, trying to minimize the
are also used to predict future states [137], [139] and so be interactions with other BSSs when not required.
able to react in advance in case when predicted values are The problem of throughput prediction in dense WLANs
below the expectations. supporting channel bonding is considered in [139], where
Karmakar et al. [133] show that the default dynamic several predictors are built using SL techniques that include
channel bonding operation can be improved by considering ANNs, graph neural networkss (GNNs), RF regression, and
the individual needs of each station, as well as the access gradient boosting. Both training and validation are performed
category (AC) they are using, selecting the most appropriate on an open dataset generated using the IEEE 802.11ax-oriented
channel widths to use. With that goal in mind, a MAB Komondor network simulator [159]. While the accuracy
algorithm, UCB, is used to learn when the use of secondary achieved by the proposed methods demonstrates the suitability
channels is required. Testbed results show that the proposed of ML for predicting the throughput performance of complex
solution can provide gains higher than 100% in some cases. WLANs, more importantly, this work can be easily extended
Similarly, in [134], the authors aim to learn from a trial and by considering other approaches. The same dataset is used in
error perspective (i.e., exploring) which are the best channels [140] to predict Wi-Fi performance using a GNNs model that
and bonding strategies to use, including both contiguous and incorporates the deployment’s topology information. Finally,
non-contiguous 20 MHz channels. The proposed mechanism, the problem of collisions with hidden nodes when channel
called iterative trial and error (ITE), includes different states bonding is used is described in [137], which, as indicated,
depending on both the actions taken and the reward obtained. may cause a reduction in throughput up to 60%. Therefore, a
Exploration is implemented in ITE using an ε-greedy strategy. solution to avoid channels with hidden interference issues by
The proposed mechanism is implemented in WARP nodes. predicting its activity in advance is proposed. To do that, APs
Results show the ITE mechanism outperforms the default ε- use a recursive neural network, namely a Metropolis-Hastings
greedy mechanism, and improves the performance of static generative adversarial network (MH-GAN) technique, that can
bandwidth channel access (SBCA) and dynamic bandwidth predict the activity of the neighbouring BSSs. Results confirm
channel access (DBCA) thanks to its availability to select the that the presented solution, called Smart Bond, can reduce
channel width properly. Lastly, in [131] hybrid adaptive DBCA the probability of suffering transmission errors due to hidden
(HA-DBCA) is introduced to solve the starvation problem nodes, as could be expected.
that affects some DBCA devices. HA-DBCA introduces a
polling-based adaptive mechanism for contention-free access
and uses UCB to identify the stations that are starving, and E. Multi-band, Network MIMO, and Full-duplex
so allow them to transmit their data during the contention-free ML techniques are also applied to improve the operation
access. The channel bonding problem is also modelled as a of a wide variety of advanced mechanisms that include multi-
MAB in [138]. However, in this work, the authors rely on band WLAN operation [141], multi-AP coordination [142],
chaotically oscillating waveforms generated by semiconductor and in-band full-duplex [143]. In these papers, we find that
lasers to guide exploring the different available actions. Then, both RL and SL techniques are used. For example, DRL is
dynamically adapting the different thresholds used to select used in [142] to jointly perform channel allocation and AP
one or another action based on the amplitude of the generated clustering to maximize the performance of Distributed MIMO
waveform at sampling instants shows that such a technique transmissions. Similarly, NNs are used in [141] to predict future
can outperform default MABs such as UCB and ε-greedy in channel states and so improve the performance of multi-band
terms of throughput. WLANs, and in [143] to find groups of stations that enable
19
to transmit and receive simultaneously, thus ‘doubling’ the

channel capacity. In WLANs, a key challenge to solve is the
user pairing problem: finding groups of different stations that
allow the AP to transmit to one while receiving from another. To
solve this combinatorial problem, which becomes impractical
when the number of stations is high, in [143] a DL approach
is considered through a ‘pointer network’. The main benefit of
this solution is that the NN does not need to be re-trained when
the length of input (e.g., the number of users) changes within
an expected range. The authors compare their solution with
two other low-complexity methods called greedy assignment
Figure 12. An ML-enabled multi-band AP that aims to determine the best and random assignment algorithms, showing how the DL-based
traffic balancing policy based on predicting future channel occupancy values. solution outperforms them.
In the figure, α represents the fraction of the traffic directed to the 5 GHz
interface.
F. Open Challenges
full-duplex communication at the APs. In the following, we This section has covered recent and advanced WiFi features
overview them in more detail. such as beamforming, multi-user communications, channel
Fig. 12 shows the case where an ML-enabled multi-band AP bonding, spatial reuse, and multi-band. Although quite different,
has to decide how to distribute the traffic (to a given station) in all of them ML techniques are used mainly either (1) to adapt
between the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands. To do that, the agent to the environment through selecting the most proper actions at
aims to predict future channel occupancy values at both bands the right moment, (2) for system-level performance predictions,
to decide how to use the two interfaces better. For instance, or (3) to improve the operation of specific mechanisms by
if the occupancy predicted at the 5 GHz band is high, it may completing unavailable data.
choose to turn off such an interface, and use only the one Since most of these features are recent, complex, and
working at the 6 GHz band, thus saving some energy. in development, many aspects are still not considered or
How to improve the operation of a multi-band WLAN, i.e., a considered only superficially. Therefore, there is room for
WLAN equipped with multiple interfaces operating at different future work in this area either by addressing the problems
bands, is considered in [141]. The description of how their listed in previous subsections with different ML techniques
proposal works fits well with the multi-link operation currently or by simply picking some of the still uncovered aspects. In
under development in the IEEE 802.11be task group and with the following, we detail some open aspects in the different
the synchronous mechanism in particular. In such a scheme, categories.
when any of the active backoff instances reach zero, the other First, the success of using beamforming in indoor WiFi
interfaces’ state is checked, and those idle are bonded together scenarios will be based on the ability to properly perform beam
to support the subsequent transmission. However, in many sector alignment (Fig. 8). Research has shown that ML methods
cases, the different interfaces will be busy at that moment. can have a positive impact, but robust solutions available for
Suppose some of them will become idle soon. In that case, COTS devices are required, e.g., to minimize latency [148].
it may be more efficient to wait until that happens and then For outdoor scenarios, beamforming-aware resource allocation
aggregate these links instead of immediately transmitting using (intra-AP) and resource coordination (inter-AP) methods based
only a single interface. The authors solve this uncertainty by on ML need to be updated to the recently released 802.11ay
learning and predicting when a given interface will become idle amendment, where FWA is an important use case, which has
using a probabilistic neural network (PNN), and so supporting so far not been researched in depth.
the decision of waiting or not. In the area of multi-user communication, more works
In [142], the authors consider the joint problem of channel focusing on the use of ML solutions for allocating spatial
allocation and AP clustering in distributed MU-MIMO for Wi- streams and RUs to active stations are required, especially
Fi networks. DRL is considered to solve these two problems when mixed with realistic traffic patterns and QoS requirements.
aiming to maximize user throughput performance. As pointed Developing techniques that can plan several resource scheduling
out by the authors, both issues are NP-hard, and therefore, rounds in advance is required. By considering future traffic
only heuristic solutions exist in the literature. The proposed estimates, contending devices, and environmental conditions,
DRL framework consists of an agent, implemented using a may help improve the WiFi response to sensitive traffic,
DNN, and a distributed MIMO Wi-Fi simulator. Although not improving criteria such as worse-case latency by pre-reserving
explicitly specified, their solution is implemented in a central resources. Moreover, future predictions using ML techniques
controller. Results show that using the DRL framework, a can improve how channel sounding is implemented, as only
20% improvement in user throughput performance is achieved. stations that will likely be scheduled, will be requested to
Also, it is shown that the DRL framework can attain multi- provide such information.
ple objectives, such as maximizing throughput and fairness Many works in the area of spatial reuse have considered
simultaneously. BSSs operating in a completely decentralized way, so using
Finally, full-duplex (in-band) communication allows a device a spatial reuse opportunity depends only on each individual’s
20
observed inputs. This situation justifies that many papers have Network status:
Signal strength, Interference,
considered the use of ML techniques such as MABs or Q- Cell Load, Mobility Information
learning to infer which is the best action in a particular situation. Controller
However, with IEEE 802.11be, TXOP sharing and cooperative Wi-Fi System Machine
schemes may be enforced, thus requiring a different approach, Learning
and so the use of new and different ML techniques, to optimize

its operation. Channel Allocation,
STA Association, Handovers
The case of channel bonding has been addressed using RL,
SL, and DL techniques. All these ML techniques have been
Ch:11
able to capture the interactions between BSSs that appear when
channel widths change dynamically. Further work is required to
test and compare these results with other techniques. However, Ch:1
a more exciting aspect is to couple channel aggregation
Ch:6
techniques with OFDMA RU allocation, for which complex Ch:6
DL techniques may be well suited.

Ch:1
Finally, a disruptive new feature introduced by IEEE
802.11be is multi-link operation. This will open several exciting
challenges, such as which channels to use and how to distribute Figure 13. An ML-based network controller determines channel allocation,
the different flows between links. ML techniques can also station association, and handovers. Dashed arrows represent observations, solid
be applied to learn, for example, when is the best moment lines represent actions.
to perform a channel switch, which link occupancy patterns
favour more or less a particular traffic pattern, and how to
allocate or distribute flows to links. is represented by means of contention graphs (i.e., channel
adjacency matrices). To extract the features of carrier sensing
V. W I F I M ANAGEMENT relationships, the authors use graph convolutional networkss
(GCNs). Then, a DDQN is considered as a DRL method, with
WiFi management (including channel and band selection, AP ε-greedy and spatial adaptive play (SAP) policies to train the
selection and association, management architectures, protection neural network. DDQN aims to maximize the throughput of
of the health of WiFi connections) are important and complex the APs with lowest throughput. The proposed method shows
tasks. Table IV presents a summary of works augmenting Wi-Fi that in a 10 BSS WLAN, the use of a solution which combines
with ML in this area, which we present next. DDQN and GCN outperforms random channel allocation.
Jeunen et al. [160] introduce a framework able to passively
A. Channel and Band Selection monitor dense WiFi environments, compute overlapping airtime
Channel allocation is an important problem in dense WiFi periods, and detect so-called bad networks (i.e., networks that
networks, where a limited set of available channels has to are the main cause of performance degradation in a WLAN).
be shared by a large number of co-located WiFi BSSs. Poor A centralized (SDN-based) network architecture is assumed.
channel allocation causes substantial contention among the To implement the framework, the authors resort to different
APs and stations, hence reduces the throughput of each node. ML techniques (e.g., least absolute shrinkage and selection
Typically, in the proposed solutions, the research goal is to operator (LASSO) regression and ordinary least squares (OLS))
try to assign channels in a way that the APs using the same as well as other algorithms to extract and rank relevant features
channel do not interfere with each other (e.g., they are out from the gathered data, e.g., label propagation algorithm (LPA),
of each others’ interference range) and/or avoid allocating the Girvan-Newman algorithm (GNA). Results show the presented
same channel for highly loaded BSSs (i.e., load balancing). framework is able to find a new channel allocation that solves
Note that in the of variable traffic load, channel allocation has the interference problems.
to be performed periodically. Another DRL-based channel allocation scheme for densely
As depicted in Fig. 13, ML-based algorithms can help in deployed WLANs was proposed in [161]. The learning algo-
solving this problem, as they provide models that may consider rithm is based on DDQN employing a dueling network and
changing interference relations (e.g., due to node mobility) prioritized experience replay. Further, two additional features
and variable traffic loads (e.g., as a result of nodes becoming are introduced to improve performance. First, the authors
active/passive). adopt graph convolutional layers in the model to extract
Nakashima et al. [161] addressed the channel allocation essential features of the carrier sensing relationships among
problem in multi-BSS WLANs by assuming the existence of the APs (i.e., topology information). Second, they propose
a central controller that is aware of the global system state, selective observation data buffering to prevent over-fitting
and able to control all APs. To solve the problem of finding by reducing the duplication of the sampling data specific to
a channel allocation that reduces inter-AP overlapping and WLAN channel allocation problems. Specifically, they filter
maximizes the throughput of each BSS, a DRL approach is experiences to reduce the duplication of data for learning, which
applied to learn satisfactory channel configurations. First, the can often adversely influence the generalization performance.
interactions between APs, under a certain channel allocation, The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method
21
Table IV
S UMMARY OF WORKS ON IMPROVING W I F I MANAGEMENT WITH ML.

Channel and band selection [160] SL LASSO, OLS 2018 Experimental
(Section V-A) [161] RL GCN 2020 Simulation
[162] SL MFNN 2010 Experimental
[163] SL RF 2011 Experimental
[164] RL DRL, DQL 2021 Simulation
[166] SL LR, DT 2017 Experimental
[167] SL NN 2018 Simulation
AP selection and association
(Section V-B) [168] RL MAB 2019 Simulation
[170] DL DRL 2019 Simulation
[171] SL LSTM 2019 Experimental
Management architectures [174] DL DQL 2019 Simulation
(Section V-C) [175] SL RF 2019 Experimental
[176] SL DT 2018 Simulation, experimental
Predicting the health of Wi-Fi connections [177] SL, USL DT, RF, SVM, kNN 2019 Experimental
(Section V-D) [178] SL kNN, NB 2020 Experimental
[179] USL SOHMMM 2021 Simulation
enables the allocation of channels in densely deployed WLANs they empower APs and stations with agents that, by means of
such that the system throughput increases. implementing a Thompson sampling algorithm, explore and
learn which is the best channel to use, and which is the best AP
B. AP Selection and Association to associate with, respectively. Using a custom built simulator,
called Neko,2 the authors show that the proposed learning-based
The proliferation and densification of WiFi networks often approach outperforms the static one, regardless of the network
leads to the existence of multiple spatially overlapping WiFi density and traffic requirements. Moreover, it was shown that
cells. Hence, a station has to choose which of the discovered the proposed approach can achieve better performance than
APs to connect with. The simple association method envisioned static strategies with less APs for the same number of stations.
in the WiFi standard makes the stations select the AP that Bojovic et al. [163] proposed a cognitive AP selection
provides the strongest signal. Unfortunately, in many cases, scheme, where a station selects an AP that is expected
this simple approach leads to under-utilization of some APs to yield the best throughput according to past experienced
while overcrowding others. Consequently, AP selection and load performance. The scheme belongs to the family of supervised
balancing approaches have been extensively studied as a way learning techniques and uses an multi-layer feed-forward neural
to improve network throughput. For example, a decentralized network (MFNN) to learn the correlation between the observed
AP selection procedure was presented in [168], [173], where environmental condition (e.g., SNR, probability of failure,
stations employ an MAB-based approach to dynamically beacon delay) and the obtained performance (i.e., throughput).
learn the optimal mapping between APs and stations, and The authors performed an experimental performance evaluation
hence distribute the stations among the available APs evenly. in an 802.11 testbed and showed that the proposed approach
Specifically, each station independently explores the different effectively outperforms legacy AP selection strategies in a
APs inside its coverage range, and selects the one that better variety of scenarios. A similar approach of predicting future
satisfies its needs. To this end, the authors propose a novel performance for the sake of AP selection is followed also
opportunistic -greedy approach with stickiness that halts the in [162], [180].
exploration when a suitable AP is found, then, the station An interesting scheme of user-to-multiple AP association
remains associated to that same AP while it is satisfied, only was presented in [164]. The authors proposed two distributed
resuming the exploration after several unsatisfactory association association methods based on Deep Q-Learning (DQL), where
periods. The authors show that their approach allows increasing a station learns its best set of APs to be connected i) solely
the number of satisfied stations and the aggregated network using local knowledge of the wireless environment and ii)
throughput by up to 80% in the case of dense AP deployments with limited feedback from AP. Note that each device is
(e.g., 16 co-located APs). equipped with multiple wireless interfaces. The objective is to
Similarly, López-Raventós and Bellalta [172] study MAB- maximize the long-term sum-rate subject to multiple constraints
based solutions for the decentralized channel allocation and AP
selection problems in enterprise WLAN scenarios. To this end, 2 https://github.com/wn-upf/Neko
22
(i.e., AP load or application QoS constraints). The numerical location of stations, the future predicted AP load, and, using
evaluation revealed that the proposed algorithms improve LSTM, predicts future RSSI values. These predictions are used
targeted objectives and enhance fairness among applications. to optimize the load on the APs by handing over stations to
A centralized approach was proposed by Kafi et al. [169]. APs to preserve QoS and QoE metrics. The authors use an
Specifically, they proposed an RL-based client-AP association long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network (a variation
algorithm to enhance the aggregated throughput in dense WiFi of the RNN) as they learn and recognize temporal patterns
networks and hence satisfaction of users. The Q-learning- (e.g., evolution of RSSI). ABRAHAM achieves 139% higher
based algorithm is deployed centrally in an SDN-controller overall throughput compared to the legacy 802.11 handover
and controls the actual associations of new users as well as algorithm.
performs re-associations of connected stations. As the authors Han et al. [170] describe a handover management scheme for
demonstrated through simulations, their approach outperforms dense WLAN networks, which is based on DRL, specifically
the standard 802.11 association procedure when the distribution deep Q-network. It enables the NN to learn from user behavior
of users is not uniform and performs similarly when it is and network status, adapting its learning in time-varying dense
uniform. WLANs. The handoff decision is modeled as an Markov
Pei et al. [165] performed large scale measurements trying decision process (MDP) leveraging the temporal correlation
to find out which factors affect the WiFi connection set-up property, while the proposed scheme depends on real-time
process. Specifically, the authors analyzed 0.4 billion WiFi network statistics to make decisions. Using simulation analysis,
sessions collected using the WiFi Manager mobile app from the authors show that their solution can effectively improve
5 million mobile devices. Their results show that 45% of WiFi the data rate during the handover process and outperform the
connection attempts fail and about 5% of attempts consume traditional 802.11 handover scheme.
more than 10 seconds. Based on the analysis, they developed an
ML-based AP selection algorithm that significantly improves
C. Management Architectures
WiFi connection set-up performance. The algorithm is based
on RF and classifies candidate APs into slow or fast sets by Bast et al. [174] used DRL to dynamically optimize network
taking the following features as an input: hour of the day, slice configuration in WiFi networks. A slice configuration con-
received signal strength indicator (RSSI), mobile device model, sists of multiple parameters, e.g., CCA sensitivity level, MCS,
AP model, encryption enabled. Based on the classification, a and transmit power. Therefore, the action search space grows
station avoids connecting to those AP classified into the slow with the number of active slices in the network. Interestingly,
set. The evaluation results show that the described approach can in the proposed approach a selected action does not consist of
reduce connection failure to 3.6% and improves the connection absolute configuration values, but increasing or decreasing the
set-up time over 10 times. current parameters. The authors start with a simple DQN agent
As shown by Song and Striegel [166], frame aggregation and further enhance it with DDQN, experience replay, as well
can offer a compact and efficient representation of expected as fitted Q-learning to improve convergence speed and stability.
throughput for improving AP selection. Specifically, they Using the ns-3 network simulator, they show that the proposed
demonstrated that the characteristics of sub-frames during frame solution can achieve the same optimal performance found as
aggregation can uniquely embody the utilization, interference, with an exhaustive search. Finally, DDQN can optimize at
and backlog traffic pressure for an AP. Then, using an SL run-time, without the need for AP deployment information or
approach, they built simple regression models (based on linear knowledge about coexisting networks.
regression and DT regression) to predict the AP expected aiOS [62] is an AI-based operating system for SD-WLANs
throughput for better access point selection. According to the (i.e., the control plane). It embeds state-of-the-art ML toolboxes
presented results, the prediction accuracy is above 80%. to provide a global intelligence platform, which is at the
In mobile scenarios, it frequently happens that a station same time driven by AI and designed to drive future AI-
leaves the coverage area with good connectivity of one AP and powered applications and services. The authors presented
enters an area covered by another AP. In such a case, the station a proof-of-concept implementation of aiOS and validated
has to perform a handover from the old AP towards the new it by implementing several low-complexity ML models for
AP. A decision about a potential handover operation should adaptive frame length selection in 802.11-based SD-WLANs.
be made early enough to avoid low data rate periods or even The proposed approaches improve the aggregated network
connectivity outage. ML methods help predict future network throughput by up to 55% as evaluated with a real-world testbed.
conditions, and hence to make correct handover decisions. For Lyu et al. [175] collected large-scale AP usage data in a
example, Feltrin and Tomasin [167] employ ML to predict university campus WiFi system, which contains over 8000 APs
upcoming handover by making an AP monitor the RSSI of and serves more than 40,000 active users. The data collection
connected stations and use a neural network for specific pattern was performed over a period of more than two months. With
recognition in the RSSI evolution. The technique provides good the collected data, the authors conducted extensive spatio-
prediction accuracy and is resilient to noise, speed, and fading temporal analytics on the data set including AP load (i.e., the
phenomena. number of associated users) and AP traffic throughput (i.e.,
ABRAHAM (mAchine learning Backed multi-metRic Han- the amount of traffic consumption within a time period). The
dover AlgorithM) [171] is an ML-based proactive handover authors observed a so-called idle phenomenon that prevails
algorithm that uses multiple metrics to predict the future throughout the whole trace. Specifically, a large portion of APs
23
remain unused, without any user association regardless of day hidden terminal, or capture effect). To this end, they deploy a
or night. Second, the AP load follows a long tail distribution centralized WiFi network controller which collects performance
(i.e., most APs serve only a few users, while a small number metrics from connected APs (i.e., those exposed by the ath9k
of APs serve hundreds of users), hence, the AP utilizations are driver). The authors select two metrics: normalized channel
imbalanced. The authors propose a new management system, access (NCA), i.e., the ratio between channel access attempts
named LAM (large-scale AP management), where the unused per second and the maximal channel access attempts per
APs are switched-off intelligently according to the underlying second as calculated with analytical 802.11 models); and
user association conditions. LAM leverages a machine-learning frame delivery ratio (FDR), i.e., the ratio between successful
algorithm to predict the AP load over time based on historical transmissions per second and channel access attempts per
AP association records. Using diverse algorithms (including RF, second. The classification is preceded by data modeling and
SVM, kNN, and DT), the authors show that the load prediction feature extraction and performed with four diverse algorithms:
accuracy can reach as high as 90%. In addition, more than 70% DT, RF, SVM, and kNN. After fine-tuning the algorithms’
of power energy can be markedly saved, with over 92% of parameters, the authors manage to achieve a remarkable
WiFi coverage guaranteed. These savings translate to $59,000 detection accuracy of 99.2% with the kNN algorithm.
per year in their university WiFi system. Trivedi et al. [178] propose WiNetSense, a centralized sens-
An SDN-based WiFi control system is considered to manage ing framework, which collects the WiFi link quality statistics
a group of APs in [181]. The central controller is able to (e.g., RSSI) from network devices and use this information to
configure channels and transmission power for the APs in build the global network topology and instantaneous network
the network. Decisions on how to configure the network are health information. Furthermore, the collected data is analyzed
taken after learning from the collected data. A set of ML-based using ML algorithms such as kNN and naive Bayes (NB).
techniques are used, for example, reduced error pruning trees Specifically, the authors try to predict the health of wireless
(REPTs) – to make predictions of future WiFi and non-WiFi links and show that this knowledge can be used to trigger
activity (such as microwave ovens) so better configurations specific decisions regarding load balancing, smooth handovers,
can be deployed. The use of the framework reduces channel or dynamic power control.
congestion by up to 47%. An anomaly detection approach that uses self-organizing
hidden Markov model map (SOHMMM) is considered in [179].
The self-organizing map is an artificial neural network that is
D. Predicting the Health of WiFi Connections
trained through a USL process. The authors report, SOHMMM
The unlicensed bands are becoming crowded with dense and shows improved anomaly detection accuracy and sensitivity,
uncontrolled deployments of WiFi networks, generally managed compared to other HMM-based approaches, as tested in a
by different users. These environments have exacerbated simulated environment.
the effects of well-known pathological conditions such as Morshedi and Noll [182] propose a novel ML-based approach
hidden terminals, flow starvation, and performance anomaly. for estimating the perceived QoS of video streaming using only
Unfortunately, these problems become increasingly difficult 802.11-specific network performance parameters collected from
to detect in a real complex scenarios. Specifically, while AP. The study produced datasets comprising 802.11n/ac/ax
performance degradation is a common symptom of these specific network performance parameters in the form of mean
pathological conditions, they have different causes and would opinion scores. Then, the datasets were used to train multiple
require different solutions. ML seems to be a right toolset to be ML algorithms and achieved a 93-99% accuracy estimating
applied towards the detection of individual impairments, as it the perceived QoS classes. The authors selected the logistic
can handle a large amount of raw measurement data and learn model tree (LMT) as the most suitable algorithm to estimate
to deduce the current operation regime (e.g., using classification the perceived QoS of video streaming in terms of accuracy,
methods). Therefore, Gallo and Garlisi [176] provide an interpretability and computational cost criteria. Note that the
automatic diagnostic tool, Wi-Dia, for detecting causes of generated ML model can be transferred to the WiFi AP as a
performance impairments by recognizing the wireless operating lightweight script to continuously monitor the such QoS.
context. Wi-Dia follows a data-driven approach and exploits
machine learning methods for classifying WiFi pathological
conditions (e.g., hidden nodes and flow starvation). It uses E. Open Challenges
features related to network topology and measures channel While most of the presented ML-based solutions for cross-
utilization without impacting regular network operations. The network optimization (e.g., channel allocation) feature cen-
classifier was jointly trained using simulated and experimental tralized operation, we believe that distributed approaches are
data. Specifically, the authors took the advantage of the better suited for the unplanned and chaotic nature of WiFi
flexibility of network simulators as well as the realistic details deployments. Moreover, we cannot assume the existence of a
of wireless testbeds. As results show, Wi-Dia achieves high centralized controller that manages co-located but separately
detection accuracy of pathological WiFi conditions in real- owned WiFi networks (e.g., in typical residential WiFi deploy-
world scenarios. ments). Note that the potential operation of such a central
Similarly, Syrigos et al. [177] try to detect the causes controller might pose a significant privacy threat, as it might
of WiFi under-performance (e.g., high contention with other require the collection of sensitive user data (e.g., the traffic
WiFi and non-WiFi devices, operation in low SNR region, volume of individual stations). Therefore, we argue that there
24
is an increasing need for research in the scope of a distributed Central controller managing LTE-WiFi coexistence
ML-based optimization scheme. Particularly, multi-agent RL-
based schemes seem to be a fit, where a set of agents (e.g., one Controller
at each AP) interact and share limited information with each LTE
Machine
Wi-Fi
other to collaboratively optimize the use of wireless resources Learning
while also preserving privacy.
Central controller for LTE LTE BSs serve as agents

VI. C OEXISTENCE S CENARIOS
LTE LTE
A number of research papers address the problem of the
coexistence of multiple radio access technologiess (RATs) in Controller
unlicensed bands by proposing ML-based solutions (Table V).

Both centralized and decentralized approaches are considered,
together with both offline and online training. The proposed Wi-Fi Wi-Fi
mechanisms appear in the following main areas:

• fair channel sharing,
• network monitoring, Separate LTE/Wi-Fi controllers LTE BSs and Wi-Fi APs serve as agents
• signal classification, and
LTE
• cooperative networking. LTE
In most cases, the proposed mechanisms are based on reinforce-

Controller
ment learning (mostly Q-learning) and deep learning (mostly
CNNs). Often, ε-greedy policy is used for Q-learning since it
Controller
allows a balance between exploration and exploitation.
The coexistence of WiFi and cellular technologies is currently
a popular and attractive research area.3 These technologies Wi-Fi Wi-Fi
are already advanced and their newest generations provide

peak data rates in the order of Gbit/s. However, under
coexistence scenarios in unlicensed bands (e.g., LTE-LAA),
they still rely on rather primitive coexistence schemes based on Figure 14. Types of ML implementations in LTE/WiFi coexistence scenarios.
Dashed arrows represent observation, solid lines represent actions, and blue
energy-sensing and hence suffer from frequent collisions and rectangles represent interference domains.
significant throughput degradation of up to 90% [227], [228].
This is because these technologies are heterogeneous: they
implement different MAC and PHY, they are usually managed A. Fair Channel Sharing with Cellular Networks
by separate operators, and they do not natively support inter-
technology communication for spectrum sharing. Therefore, fair Several papers propose to adjust LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U)
sharing of unlicensed radio resources is a challenge [33]. Most behaviour, by either a central controller or by distributed
papers propose to optimize LTE behaviour (i.e., the newcomer learning. Their main goal is to intelligently avoid interference
to the unlicensed bands) so that WiFi performance is not with incumbent technologies, like WiFi, as a solution to the
degraded [229]. In some cases, however, it is proposed that problem of the negative impact of periodic LTE transmissions
both technologies implement some sort of ML to improve their on channel utilization efficiency and channel access fairness
coexistence. Fig. 14 presents different approaches considered [230].
by researchers: from a central controller implemented for both Most of the papers implement Q-learning and propose
technologies up to separate ML agents installed in LTE base modifications to the duty cycle management (DCM), being a
stations (BSs) and WiFi APs, which independently observe the part of the carrier sense adaptive transmission (CSAT) algorithm
environment (i.e., perform local observation) and take actions. (cf. Fig. 15), or to the almost blank sub-frame (ABS) allocation
Note that the state of the environment depends on the joint mechanism [193], [231], which is traditionally used to avoid
action of all agents, which may not be aware of individual co-channel cross-tier interference in case of heterogeneous
decisions. Additionally, in the reviewed papers, typically only cellular scenarios, e.g., in scenarios composed of macro and
downlink LTE transmissions are considered to interfere with small cells (Fig. 16). The main goal is to improve coexistence
either uplink or downlink WiFi transmissions, while LTE uplink and channel sharing efficiency by intelligently disabling LTE
traffic is considered to be scheduled in the licensed band. transmissions in certain sub-frames to allow WiFi transmissions
and outperform the legacy DCM.
3 Channel sharing with other technologies is described in Section VII where, Centralized LTE-U/WiFi channel access management is
among others, we address sensor and vehicular networks. Additionally, we proposed in the following papers. In [205], the traffic load
refer the readers to [225], in which different learning paradigms for IoT
communication and computing technologies are surveyed, and to [226], in of each system is modeled as an M/M/1 queue and Q-learning
which ML-supported detection and identification of IoT devices is surveyed. is used by a central controller to adjust the allocation of
25
Table V
S UMMARY OF WORKS ON IMPROVING WIRELESS NETWORK COEXISTENCE WITH ML. PAPERS INDICATED WITH AN ASTERISK (*) IMPLEMENT W I -F I
AGENTS ; OTHER PAPERS DEPLOY AGENTS ONLY ON THE COMPETING TECHNOLOGY SIDE .

[184]* RL QL 2016 Simulation
[185] AL. Markov game 2017 Simulation
[191] RL LSTM 2018 Simulation
[193] DL DRL, QL 2019 Simulation
Fair channel sharing
with cellular networks [194] RL QL 2019 Simulation
(Section VI-A) [195]* RL QL 2019 Simulation
[197]* RL MAB 2020 Simulation
[198] DL DRL, MDP, DQN 2020 Simulation
[202] DL DRL, TRPO 2020 Simulation
[203]* RL clustering-based MAB 2021 Simulation
[206] RL QL, double QL 2016 Simulation
[209] RL fuzzy QL 2018 Simulation
Network monitoring [210]* SL DNN, CNN, LSTM 2019 Simulation, experimental
(Section VI-B)
[211] DL CNN, NNMR 2020 Experimental
[213] DL CNN, TL 2021 Simulation, experimental
[214] USL NN 2021 Simulation
[215] USL K-means clustering 2017 Experimental
[216] USL, SL NN, DCNN 2020 Simulation
Signal classification
[217] DL CNN/RNN 2020 Simulation
(Section VI-C)
[218] SL NN, logistic regression 2020 Simulation
[219] DL CNN 2020 Simulation
[220] DL CNN 2021 Simulation
[221] RL TRPO 2020 Simulation
Cooperative coexistence [222] RL TRPO 2020 Simulation
(Section VI-D) [223] RL NN, backpropagation 2020 Simulation
[224] RL NN with fuzzy logic 2020 Simulation
LTE sub-frames in the CSAT duty cycles. In [195], an inter- protecting WiFi transmissions, based on observing WiFi traffic
RAT controller implementing Q-learning is proposed, which demands and using DRL; in [199], where a centralized RL-
mandates dynamic frame selection (DFS) to improve WiFi/LTE- based DCM learns from measured interference; and in [186],
U coexistence fairness by considering the WiFi load. In where a centralized Q-learning-based mechanism of blank sub-
particular, it selects the optimum sub-frame configurations out frame allocations is proposed to improve the overall utility
of the ones defined by 3GPP. Additionally, it is used to reduce function (i.e., considering target WiFi throughput as well as
LTE-U sub-frame transmission power to limit interference to satisfactory LTE throughput and delay).
co-channel users and increase the overall channel utilization.
Similar approaches are used elsewhere: in [198], where an Decentralized channel access management for LTE-U/WiFi
agent controls DCM to maximize the LTE-U throughput while coexistence is proposed in the following papers. In [183], Q-
learning is used for distributed control of duty cycle periods
26
CSAT duty‐cycle mechanism augmented with ML Possible observations:
Possible observations: What is the collission probability?
Is Wi‐Fi/LTE throughput satisfactory?
What are Wi‐Fi traffic demands?
LTE Operation Wi‐Fi Operation Is fairness satisfactory?
Duty cycle Duty cycle What is the level of interference? What is the numer of Wi‐Fi/LTE stations?
Is QoE of LTE users satisfied? Machine
Is fairness satisfactory? Busy Learning
LBT RS LTE DATA LBT Wi‐Fi DATA
medium
Machine
Wi‐Fi T
… … Wi‐Fi transmission Learning
Wi‐Fi
transmission LTE LTE Wi‐Fi Possible actions:
Backoff TXOP limit Backoff TXOP limit Adjust CW parameters for LTE/Wi‐Fi
Adjust TXOP duration for LTE/Wi‐Fi
T Possible actions: Select channel/sub‐channel for LTE/Wi‐Fi
LTE ON LTE OFF LTE ON LTE OFF Select duty cycle length
Select LTE ON/OFF periods
Figure 17. LTE-LAA LBT-based coexistence mechanism. RS denotes the

reservation signal, which is typically used by the LTE-LAA nodes to reserve
Figure 15. LTE-U CSAT coexistence mechanism. Blue rectangles represent the channel until the beginning of the next frame synchronization slot.
LTE-U sub-frames of a length of 1 ms and green rectangles represent LTE-U
OFF periods, during which WiFi transmissions can occur.
processes are combined to form a Markov game. Each LTE-U
Almost blank sub‐frame allocation augmented with ML BS serves as an agent and WiFi networks are considered the
Possible observations:
What is Wi‐Fi load?
environment to which the agents adapt. Furthermore, Q-learning
Is target Wi‐Fi throughput satisfied?
ABS pattern ABS pattern
Is LTE throughput satisfactory?
based multi-channel operation is proposed in [192], in which
Is fairness satisfactory?
A A A A A A A A Machine LTE-U SBSs serve as agents to allow either independent or joint
B B B B B B B B Learning
S S S S S S S S optimization of duty cycles for each channel. It is shown that the

T Possible actions: proposed mechanism ensures fairness and improves throughput
Select ABS pattern
LTE frame #n LTE frame #n+1
Select LTE‐U sub‐frame tx power for multi-channel WiFi/LTE-U coexistence. Finally, in [234]
LTE-U and WiFi are managed by separate SDN controllers
which build decision trees. Per-technology controllers do not
Figure 16. LTE-U ABS coexistence mechanism. Blue rectangles represent
communicate with each other but only negotiate network
LTE-U sub-frames of a length of 1 ms and green rectangles represent ABSs, sharing by playing a repeated game based on rank-order
during which WiFi transmissions can occur. tournaments. The authors propose to use an incentive-based
approach to negotiate the channel resources, i.e., there are prizes
for allowing spectrum sharing and for asking the other operator
by LTE-U BSs, which considers the beaconing mechanism of
for a favor. The simulation results show that it is possible to
802.11n. Additionally, in [189] a Q-learning based listen before
achieve harmonized coexistence of the two technologies.
talk (LBT) is proposed for LTE-U downlink transmissions
Another group of papers address LTE-Licensed Assisted
which may interfere with WiFi traffic4 . In this work, LTE-U
Access (LTE-LAA)/WiFi coexistence, which in most cases
devices are treated as secondary users that need to protect
involves the adjustment of parameters of the LBT-based channel
WiFi transmissions. The authors propose rewarding LTE-U
access mechanism shown in Fig. 17. Similarly to the LTE-U
users for which defer periods increase in case of increasing
case, most papers are based on Q-learning.
WiFi backoff timers (i.e., when WiFi defer periods increase).
We have found a single paper that proposes centralized
They perform simulations to show improved throughput and
channel access management for LTE-LAA/WiFi coexistence
decreased delay of WiFi nodes in comparison to legacy LBT.
[194], in which Q-learning is used by mobile management
WiFi system protection is also considered in [187]. The authors
entitiess (MMEs) implemented in the LTE core to adjust
introduce a virtual coalition formation game (VCFG) and define
the LTE-LAA transmission duration to WiFi traffic intensity.
the optimization problem within each virtual coalition which
Centralized collection of data regarding LTE-LAA and WiFi
is composed of WiFi APs and LTE-U small base stations
systems by the LTE cloud wireless access network (C-RAN) is
(SBSs) operating in the same unlicensed band. Then, (i) Kalai-
proposed to support MMEs. Other papers implement distributed
Smorodinsky bargaining is used for fair time-sharing between
Q-learning to: (i) optimize spectral efficiency of WiFi/LTE-
LTE-U and WiFi and (ii) Q-learning is used for resource
LAA coexistence [196], (ii) scale CW parameters depending
allocation for LTE-U. It is proposed that each SBS maximizes
on the collision probability observed in each backoff stage
the sum of QoE for its users under the constraint of protecting
by LTE user entitys (UEs), as opposed to the legacy hybrid
WiFi APs. QoE is measured in terms of the mean opinion score
automatic repeat request (HARQ) mechanism implemented in
(MOS) which is mapped to the transmission characteristics of
cellular networks [200], (iii) select optimal TXOP and muting
the following applications: web browsing, file downloading,
periods (i.e., giving opportunities for WiFi transmissions) which
and video streaming. The authors show that this approach
outperform random and round-robin mechanisms [190], (iv)
provides higher throughput for WiFi than standard LBT.
adjust the TXOP duration of coexisting WiFi and LTE-LAA
Lin and Yu [185] implement AL to improve coexistence
systems based on buffered downlink data in APs and evolved
fairness for LTE-U BSs. Bianchi’s Markov model [233] is
Node Bs (eNBs) [184], and (v) select optimal channel and
embedded in a sequential game to describe the contention nature
subframe numbers [204]. In [184], both WiFi and LTE-LAA
of WiFi networks. Additionally, the time-slotted behaviour of
nodes serve as agents, which take actions (select TXOPs from
LTE-U nodes is also modeled as a sequential game. These two
4, 6, 8 and 10 ms) and calculate rewards based on the target
4 LBT is commonly used in case of LTE-LAA, however, it was proposed in occupancy ratio.
the literature also for LTE-U [232]. A different approach is considered in [197], where a MAB is
27
used to improve LTE-LAA/WiFi coexistence fairness, under the Yang et al. [210] propose centralized monitoring. An offline
assumption of both cooperative and non-cooperative networks. DNN-based learning from real samples is used to predict the
In both cases, the CW sizes are optimized for the two networks number of competing WiFi and IoT devices in a given area.
by using an online training technique and either throughput or Using the inference results, the gateway (which is connected
the information on LTE’s ON period of the other network as with an IEEE 802.11 AP using an Ethernet link and with IoT
rewards. Furthermore, in [188], two-level distributed learning IEEE 802.14.5 nodes using wireless links) predicts the number
is used. At the master level, Q-learning is used to determine the of transmitting devices for each technology using a dedicated
optimal LTE transmission time in the unlicensed bands using three-way handshake-based rendezvous phase on a primary
either WiFi or LTE-LAA. At the slave level, stochastic learning channel. After that, it mandates the optimal WiFi and IoT
is used for LTE-LAA channel access with the protection of parameters to minimize inter-technology interference, e.g., the
WiFi traffic. Meanwhile Challita et al. [191] propose a new CW for WiFi nodes, the length of the contention access phase
type of deep learning to improve LTE-LAA coexistence with for the IoT nodes, the assignment of the secondary channels
other LTE-LAA/WiFi networks. The authors combine a non- for both technologies. Additionally, Ahmed et al. [212] install
cooperative game with RL supported by the LSTM concept. It a cognitive monitoring module in each eNB to optimize LTE
is used for modeling the self allocation of resources by LTE- operation in unlicensed bands. The monitoring module is aware
LAA SBSs. In particular, dynamic channel selection, carrier of the number of coexisting eNBs and APs. It uses a RF-
aggregation, and fractional spectrum access are considered for based classifier to identify the environment state and select an
SBSs. It is assumed that exponential backoff is used for WiFi appropriate scheduling and resource allocation scheme which
and non-exponential backoff is used for LTE-LAA (i.e., in optimizes LTE throughput without deteriorating the perfor-
each epoch a static CW is assumed, adopted from one epoch mance of WiFi networks. Similarly, Galanopoulos et al. [206]
to another). It is shown that this approach not only improves use centralized Q-learning and double Q-learning to improve
performance in terms of LTE rate but also in terms of reducing the unlicensed spectrum utilization for carrier aggregation of
disturbances in WiFi’s performance and achieving coexistence LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), while providing fair coexistence with
fairness with WiFi networks and other LTE-LAA operators. WiFi nodes. eNBs learn the channel occupation time by WiFi
Finally, in [204], Q-learning is used for joint channel/sub-frame users and select least occupied channels. This procedure is
selection. In this work, only LTE-LAA BSs perform learning further optimized with double Q-learning, in which LTE-A
with zero knowledge of concurrent WiFi systems. transmission power is additionally adjusted to lower the impact
We expect that WiFi/New Radio-Unlicensed (NR-U) coexis- of LTE-A transmissions on with WiFi users.
tence will gain a growing interest of the research community Distributed network monitoring is proposed in [214], where
in the nearest future [33], [35], [235], [236]. One of the first the unsupervised NN-based estimation of the number of
ML-based works is [201], where Q-learning is used to adjust coexisting WiFi nodes is implemented in NR-U nodes. The
the timing of NR-U’s ABSs to WiFi’s data transmissions to learning process builds upon the detected transmission collision
achieve higher throughput and better channel utilization in probability in the unlicensed channel. It is shown that this solu-
comparison to static ABSs allocation. In particular, an NR-U tion outperforms the often used Kalman filter-based solutions.
BS serves as an agent which listens to WiFi network parameters Furthermore, Yang et al. [209] use fuzzy Q-learning to either
and learns the data transmission rules of WiFi stations. Another centrally (central unit in C-RAN) or distributively (each eNB)
interesting work is reported by Hirzallah and Krunz [203], who learn the WiFi performance to improve the scheduling decisions
propose a clustering-based MAB real-time algorithm that runs on the LTE-LAA side.
on NR-U/WiFi nodes to adapt sensing thresholds depending on There are also papers which take advantage of a dedicated
network dynamics. The authors show that sensing threshold- interface between WiFi and LTE. In [207], [208], each LTE
adaptive devices employing ML do not harm neighboring legacy user obtains information from the 802.11k amendment on the
devices (with fixed sensing thresholds) and that both WiFi and load of the coexisting APs. Then, supported by Q-learning,
NR-U throughput can be improved in comparison to standard LTE offloading decisions are made. This is interesting from
and random sensing threshold settings. the WiFi perspective, since overloaded APs are not selected
For a more a more generic coexistence setting, Yu et al. by this mechanism, and therefore WiFi networks performance
[202] address a DARPA challenge on “autonomous radios to is not worsened by the offloading decisions.
manage the wireless spectrum.” They propose a modification of
DQN to adapt to wireless network behaviour. The authors show
that by centralized learning (at the gateway) and distributed C. Signal Classification
execution (at the nodes) it is possible to provide fairness in Machine learning is also used for signal classification and
channel access, when coexisting with other network types (like recognition without the need for implementing a dedicated
WiFi). interface between technologies or knowing the per-technology
operation patterns. Wu et al. [31] survey wireless modulation
B. Network Monitoring recognition and wireless technology recognition supported by
Efficient network monitoring is a feature which can greatly DL techniques.
support inter-technology coexistence by predicting the number Yang et al. [219] use CNNs to classify LTE-U and WiFi
of contending nodes/technologies, which then can serve as a signals and in [220] they are used by LTE eNBs to classify
guidance for RAT behaviour adjustment. WiFi conditions (saturation, non-saturation) without the need
28
of decoding WiFi frames, based on inter-frame space (IFS) and user mobility, e.g., WiFi-only APs are preferred for mobile
histograms. Furthermore, in [213], CNNs are used to classify users while WiFi-LiFi APs are selected for static users based on
LTE and WiFi signals using an SDR-based RAT classifier. received signal strength and user satisfaction levels. Finally, in
Interestingly, the authors used a well-known object detection [224], fuzzy logic is combined with NN to support WiFi-LiFi
you only look once (YOLO) model use transfer learning handovers.
and speed up the training process of their classifier. The
only change required was the adaption of the last (Softmax) E. Open Challenges
layer to appropriately classify LTE and WiFi signals. The
developed solution provides 96% accuracy of RAT recognition. We have identified several open challenges in the area of
Gu et al. [217] use 80,000 LTE-U/WiFi signal samples to network coexistence. The performance of the proposed ML-
train CNN and RNN to recognize LTE-U/WiFi signals. The based mechanisms is mostly verified by simulations. Therefore,
RNN-based approach appeared unsatisfactory, while the CNN- real testbed validation can be considered as an important open
based approach provided satisfactory results. Additionally, challenge since it would validate the ML-based operation
in [218], a NN with linear regression is used to track key with real radio signals. This will help identify crucial factors
performance indicators (KPIs) and estimate the probability of which have not been implemented yet (or are impossible to be
LTE-LAA/WiFi coexistence, without using knowledge of the included) in the simulators and may have been overlooked
MAC/PHY protocols and parameters of the two technologies. by researchers. Additionally, only a few papers consider
Furthermore, Sathya et al. [216] use ML to distinguish between adjusting the behaviour of both WiFi and LTE nodes. In most
the presence of one or two WiFi APs interfering with an LTE-U cases only the LTE operation was supported by ML while
BS, based on detected energy levels during the OFF periods of the WiFi operation was left unchanged. With the opening
the DCM instead of decoding WiFi frames. Finally, Pulkkinen of the new 6 GHz unlicensed spectrum band, which paves
et al. [211] analyze deep learning-based interference detection. the way to redefine channel access rules defined for other
The authors formulate, among other, the following practical unlicensed bands [147], [239], [240], we believe that changes
recommendations to be used in future ML-based interference in the operation of both technologies could be considered
detection schemes: (i) deep learning-based approaches require in the future. Furthermore, only several papers concentrate
similar levels of noise in testing and training data sets or on the new features introduced by NR-U and none of them
a large number of samples with different noise levels from addresses the configuration possibilities introduced by the
different environments, (ii) training should include multi-label newest 802.11 amendments (like 802.11ax). We believe that,
classification. WiPlus [215] uses ML (i.e., k-means clustering) e.g., the coexistence of NR-U with 802.11 OFDMA/MU-MIMO
on the WiFi side to detect the LTE-U interference by using the channel access gives novel options to be considered by future
spectral scan capabilities of COTS WiFi hardware. This allows ML-based mechanisms. Finally, following [33], [241], we
WiFi to quantify the effective available channel airtime of each strongly agree that high attention should be paid to the security
WiFi link (downlink/uplink) at runtime. Moreover, the obtained of inter-technology operation, e.g., in case of augmenting
timing information about LTE-U’s ON and OFF phases allow coexisting networks with federated learning.
WiFi to schedule its transmissions only during the OFF phases
to avoid collisions with LTE-U. VII. M ULTIHOP W I -F I N ETWORKS
The primary design goal for IEEE 802.11 networks is to be
D. Cooperative Coexistence a single-hop access network. However, it can also be used in a
variety of multihop settings (e.g., ad hoc, mesh, sensor, vehicu-
Inter-network coexistence can also take on a cooperative lar) either using the mainline standard (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax) or
form. A prominent example are WiFi-LiFi networks, where a dedicated amendment (such as 802.11ah for IoT). Research
the light fidelity (LiFi) component is responsible for data papers dealing with multihop settings often either do not specify
transmission using light waves (the THz band). Visible light the underlying technology, assume a generic CR technology,
communication (VLC) has many advantages such as high assume heterogeneous networks (e.g., 802.11 and LTE), or
bandwidth, license-free operation, and electromagnetic safety. use an alternative technology (which could theoretically be
However, it has a short range and is vulnerable to link outage replaced by WiFi). One of the reasons for this is that the key
caused by obstructions. Therefore, it is often paired with WiFi multihop problem (routing) is beyond the scope of 802.11.
in the form of a hybrid network. Therefore, in the following, we provide only a brief overview
Wu et al. [237] provide a recent survey of research on this of how ML can be applied in such settings with an emphasis
topic. They mention one ML-based solution related to load- on pointing the reader towards relevant surveys and tutorials.
balancing, done by Ahmad et al. [221], [222], where RL is Indeed, an overview of using ML in multihop wireless settings
used to provide centralized AP selection, to avoid servicing could be a topic for a whole, separate survey.
users by overloaded APs. In another work, Alenezi and Hamdi
[238] consider the optimization of a hybrid WiFi-VLC network
with centralized control and Q-learning to improve network A. Ad Hoc Networks
throughput. In [223], an NN-based approach is used to select The research popularity of (generic) ad hoc networks and
WiFi-LiFi APs to avoid frequent handovers. The handover MANETs reached its peak over a dozen years ago. They
decision is made based on channel quality, resource availability have mostly been replaced by their more application-oriented
29
variants (mesh, sensor, vehicular, etc.) which we will discuss [257]. In this approach, each node performs observations as
further on5 . An overview of applying ML techniques to ad hoc follows: LTE link quality is based on network load (measured
networks can be found in a 2007 paper by Forster [29]. The through buffer occupancy), WiFi link quality – according to
state of the art reported in this paper is obviously outdated, but the current PHY transmission rate. Through appropriate RAT
the list of applicable ML techniques (RL, swarm intelligence, selection, nodes can observe up to 200% throughput increase
mobile agents, etc.) and use cases (mainly improving routing) compared to the single-technology case.
remains current. Al-Rawi et al. [243] provide an overview Finally, we comment on the dedicated 802.11s amendment
of applying RL to improve routing in distributed wireless for mesh networks. Among its features, it introduced MAC-
networks. For more WiFi-related examples, we refer readers to layer routing called path selection in the form of the hybrid
[244]–[246] for applying Q-learning to the optimized link state wireless mesh protocol (HWMP). However, our literature
routing (OLSR) routing protocol and to [247] for applying RL review did not identify any papers directly related to applying
to 802.11-based delay tolerant networks (DTNs). ML for improving the performance of either HWMP or
ML can also be used to optimize ad hoc network config- other 802.11s functionalities. A paper on network topology
uration [248], but this example is for a cognitive radio ad inference uses external sensors and an ML approach to infer the
hoc network (CRAHN) (i.e., without 802.11). Another active topology of a simulated 802.11s network, but no specific mesh
area of research for MANETs is mobility prediction [249], functionalities are considered [258]. The lack of dedicated
but again the ML-based solutions do not explicitly consider 802.11s research is most likely the result of the limited
WiFi [250], [251]. Similarly, research on applying Q-learning deployment of 802.11s by the industry.
to interference cancellation in ad hoc networks also does not
consider WiFi [252].
C. Sensor Networks
Applying ML to sensor networks (i.e., the communication
B. Mesh Networks
part of IoT) is an active research topic. Some relevant
Karunaratne and Gacanin [253] provide a recent tutorial surveys in this area include [25], [259]–[263]. Among the
on ML approaches in WMNs. Important problems which can most important network performance research problems for
be solved with ML include: routing, channel assignment, and sensor networks, which can be solved with ML methods,
network deployment. The authors map ML techniques (such are: sensor grouping (clustering, data aggregation), energy-
as SVM, k-means clustering, and Q-learning) to the identified efficient operation (scheduling, duty cycling), resource alloca-
WMN problems and point out future research directions tion (cell/channel selection, channel access), traffic classifica-
(including the potential of DL). tion, routing, mobility prediction, power allocation, interference
An example of using Q-learning to help clients perform management, and resource discovery [261]. However, WiFi
channel selection (or rather, AP selection) in an IEEE 802.11 is only one of many IoT-enabling technologies and 802.11-
mesh network can be found in [254]. Decisions are based on related solutions are rarely mentioned in these surveys with
estimated collision probability and received signal strength. the only directly performance-related work being classifying
The authors show that the learning approach can outperform 802.11 interference using a deep convolutional neural network
a best signal strength heuristic, especially under non-uniform (DCNN) [264], [265], SVM [266], or various types of SL
node distribution. classifiers: classification trees (CTs) and SVM [267].
Another example is training a NN to predict link bandwidth There are two 802.11 amendments related to IoT: 802.11af
in an 802.11 mesh network [255]. As inputs the authors propose and 802.11ah. The former is a CR-based approach to use WiFi
using the averages of important PHY and MAC metrics: SNR, in TV white space spectrum. It has not enjoyed commercial
transmission time, MCS, and re-transmission rate. The approach success and there are also few research papers related to
is able to accurately predict link bandwidth, which can then improving 802.11af performance with ML. A singular example
be used as a routing metric. is the work by Xu et al. [268], [269] on 802.11af rate adaptation
Link quality prediction is also the topic of a paper by Bote- schemes, which use DL models, although their work is in the
Lorenzo et al. [256]. Based on an extensive dataset from context of vehicular networks.
an existing 802.11-based community WMN, they evaluated Meanwhile, the 802.11ah amendment has had more commer-
four ML algorithms for regression (online perception, on-line cial success (as HaLow) and has received more attention from
regression trees with options, fast incremental model trees with the research community. However, while 802.11ah permits tree-
drift detection, and adaptive model rules). Only the first of based multihop communication, it is a predominantly single-
these was able to outperform a simple baseline and only under hop technology. This is reflected in a recent survey on 802.11ah
certain circumstances. This lead to the design of a hybrid research [270] where, out of about 200 cited references, only
algorithm, which supports the thesis that applying ML is not three consider multi-hop scenarios. Also, surprisingly, only two
a straightforward approach. papers by Tian et al. [271], [272] deal with applying ML: both
For heterogeneous (WiFi and LTE) mesh networks, the rout- use a form of supervised learning to optimize the parameters
ing protocol can be enhanced by Q-learning for RAT selection of 802.11ah’s grouping functionality, restricted access window
5 Ad hoc networks consisting of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are a
(RAW). A similar problem is also addressed in [273], where
dedicated use case, for which RL-based solutions are also being developed an MLP NN configures these parameters considering, i.a.,
[242]. network size and the MCS values used. Other applications of
30
ML to 802.11ah include: improving coexistence with 802.15.4g location of surrounding vehicles, called situational awareness,
devices, a type of low-rate wireless personal area network (LR- can improve performance of ML-based algorithms. Beam
WPAN), by avoiding interference with their transmissions using alignment can be determined using classifiers [302], [303]
a Q-learning-based backoff mechanism [274], grouping sensors or regression models [304], [305]. The authors note that
based on their traffic demands and channel conditions using a throughput can be satisfactory even if the best beam pair is
regression-based model [275], grouping sensors based on their not selected, providing an accuracy-overhead trade-off.
data rates by classifying them with NNs [276], and improving
carrier frequency offset estimation using various types of DNNs E. Relay Networks
[277].
The typical single-hop 802.11 deployment scenario can be
Finally, research is also being done for generic WiFi
extended to a two-hop case with cooperative communications,
(mainline amendments). Zhao et al. [278] propose a deep
where stations are allowed to relay the transmissions of others
Q-learning (DQL)-based method of optimizing CW for energy-
[306]. Such functionality requires appropriate coordination
constrained IoT networks. Chen et al. [279] also optimize CW
between the AP and stations, which can be enhanced by
but using a deep NN for IoT networks using 802.11ax. Shin
designing a mechanism to support concurrent transmissions
et al. [280] provide a method for RAT selection, between WiFi
from different devices in a WLAN setting [307]. Since the AP
and narrow-band IoT (NB-IoT), using RL to optimize for per-
may not have full information of the whole network, the authors
node latency. This has been further extended for mobile sensor
model the problem as a partially observable Markov decision
networks incorporating UAVs. Li et al. [281] and Kurunathan
process (POMDP), and use an RL algorithm that is able to
et al. [282] presented a learning-based approach using DQN
find which senders can transmit simultaneously. Results show
and DDPG, respectively, for trajectory planning.
that low-rate links, usually corresponding to distant stations,
significantly improve their throughput. Despite this singular
D. Vehicular Networks example, the relay network concept, for WLANs, has received
limited interest from ML researchers. If relay networks become
There has been much research in the area of applying
an important feature of future WiFi networks, solutions can
ML to vehicular networks, with WiFi being only one of the
be borrowed from 5G networks such as the ML-based relay
many considered wireless access technologies. Some recent
selection of [308].
surveys and tutorials include [283]–[289]. They point to the
application of ML in vehicular networks in the following areas
of performance improvement: channel estimation, traffic flow F. Open Challenges
prediction, location prediction-based scheduling and routing, While a multitude of ML-related open research challenges
network congestion control, load balancing and handovers, and can be listed for multihop networks in general, much fewer
resource management. Other, non-performance areas where can be named if we restrict our focus to WiFi-based multihop
ML can be applied include vehicle trajectory prediction (for networks. This is on account of WiFi being predominantly used
ensuring road safety), network security, and in-car infotainment in single-hop deployments, as mentioned in the introduction to
[290]. this section. Even the latest amendments dedicated to sensor
From the WiFi perspective, 802.11p is the amendment (802.11ah) and vehicular (802.11bd) networks mainly operate
dedicated to vehicular networks and is included in larger in single-hop.
vehicle-to-everything (V2X) frameworks such as dedicated One particular area where WiFi can be used for wireless
short-range communications (DSRC) and the ETSI ITS-G5 multihop transmissions is providing FWA over mmWave links
standard [291]. A review of ML-based resource allocation (cf. Section IV-A). This is an important use case for 802.11ay,
approaches in DSRC networks can be found in [287]. Examples where coverage can be extended with a mesh-like distribu-
of using ML for improving 802.11p performance include: using tion network [148]. Research is required in developing new
DRL for per-link band and transmission power allocation (or adopting existing) ML-based solutions to this particular
[292], RL for tuning the CW size [293]–[295], Q-learning scenario in the areas of resource allocation and resource
for improving handoff decisions [296], improving transmission coordination. An example solution is provided by Lahsen-
control protocol (TCP) performance with federated learning Cherif et al. [309] – they develop a QL-based routing protocol
[297], DNNs for channel estimation [298], and using RL for which optimizes energy usage and throughput in a backhaul
selecting the data transmission rate in a high-mobility scenario WMN scenario with directional links, but without explicitely
[286], [299]. stating whether WiFi is used as the wireless technology.
An emerging future research direction is applying ML to Another area with open challenges is relay selection for
802.11bd, the successor to 802.11p scheduled for release vehicular networks. The authors of [310] suggest a cross-
in 2022 [300]. Beam alignment is one important problem layer approach combining routing with the 802.11 stack. ML
of mmWave bands (cf. Section IV-A). However, contrary to could be used to more accurately assess per-link routing cost.
WLAN scenarios, the knowledge of a vehicle’s position can Alternatively, auxiliary sources of information could be used to
be used to support beam sector selection [301], where learning support vehicular relay selection. A first example comes from
to rank (LTR), also referred to as machine-learned ranking Morocho-Cayamcela et a. [311], where an ML algorithm was
(MLR), can rank antenna pointing directions. Extending the trained to select relays based on satellite imagery. Using such
input information from just the location of the receiver to the imagery and other types of auxiliary information, combined
31
with the power of ML, can potentially improve vehicular is similar but it builds on the GNU Radio9 signal processing
network performance. platform, which allows integrating any GNU Radio program as
an environment in the Gym framework by exposing its state and
VIII. AVAILABLE T OOLS AND DATASETS control parameters for the agent’s learning purposes. In contrast
The reviews of research papers in the previous sections to ns3-gym, GrGym allows the WiFi network to be a real
confirm that ML-based control solutions often overtake tradi- testbed consisting of SDR nodes performing real transmissions
tionally designed ones in terms of performance and efficiency. over the air. This enables studying the performance of an ML-
However, to reach such high performance levels, long training based solution under real channel and interference conditions.
is required. For example, an RL agent needs many interactions The downside is the higher effort required to setup a network
with an environment to learn the best policies, while in SL, as well as the lack of reproducibility. Finally, Komondor [159]
the tuning of an ML model requires access to large labelled is another network simulator which already supports a subset of
datasets. In this section, we describe the available research the 802.11ax standard. It was designed for simulating complex
tools and datasets that were used in the reviewed papers and environments in next-generation WiFi networks with direct
are available for other researchers in the field. ML support. The authors identify several use-cases and present
ML-based solutions.
A. Tool Chains
From our keyword analysis of more than 200 papers combin- B. Datasets
ing ML with WiFi, regarding the evaluation methodology, we The existence of open-source and standardized datasets is
found that most researchers run network simulations (≈ 80%) essential for training and comparing ML-based algorithms.
to validate their solutions. Only around a quarter of them Moreover, the existence of such datasets accelerates develop-
performed analytical investigations or experiments in real ment and fosters reproducible research. For example, the recent
testbeds. The lack of real-life experiments is understandable as advances in image classification and recognition were enabled
they are often complex, risky, and expensive to execute. From by the emergence of such large labelled image datasets (e.g.,
those using simulations, most often the ns-3 network simulator6 , ImageNet [317]).
known from traditional networking research, was used with a We have found that researchers usually rely on their own
share of 10%. Meanwhile, experimental studies were mostly datasets. Specifically, in 49 papers, they created labelled
based on SDR platforms like Ettus USRPs7 whereas COTS datasets by running experiments in testbeds and/or simulators,
WiFi hardware, mostly with Atheros and Intel chipsets, was while only in 6 articles they used publicly available datasets.
rarely used. The most commonly used ML libraries were Moreover, while being a good practice, releasing the created
Tensorflow (10%) and Keras (5%). dataset along with the published paper is still not the case for
Based on the results of our analysis it becomes evident that most of the publications (i.e., only 6 datasets were released).
the seamless support of network simulators (like ns-3) and Here, we describe datasets available online that the community
SDR platforms for research of ML-based solutions for WiFi can immediately use for further ML-based Wi-Fi performance
is of great importance. We have observed the first research optimization.
frameworks which aim to simplify the integration of ML and CRAWDAD10 is a repository with a vast set of WiFi
WiFi. The general role of network simulators for bridging the measurements. The datasets include traces from smartphones
gap between ML and communications systems like WiFi is performing WiFi scans, multipath TCP traces collected from
discussed by Wilhelmi et al. [312]. Specifically, the authors a WiFi campus network, as well as traces collected for other
present possible workflows for ML in networking and how to wireless technologies like Bluetooth and ZigBee. Challita et al.
use existing tools. Among these is ns3-gym [82] – a software [191] used a subset of the CRAWDAD dataset which included
framework enabling the design of RL-driven solutions for records (e.g., information about the amount of transfered data,
communication networks. It is based on the OpenAI Gym error rates, signal strength) collected by polling WiFi APs every
toolkit8 and provides an extension to the ns-3 network simulator. 5 minutes in a corporate research center over several weeks.
With ns3-gym it is possible to use any simulated communication Similarly, a dataset called sigcomm2008 contains traces of
network (e.g., mixed WiFi and LTE) as a Gym environment so wireless network measurement collected during the SIGCOMM
that RL agents can control the behavior of network protocols. 2008 conference.
OpenAI Gym has also been integrated with Veins [313], a IEEE DataPort11 is another large repository of datasets cre-
popular open source vehicular networking simulator based on ated to encourage reproducible research. Within this repository,
OMNeT++. The resulting VeinsGym [314] supports the use Karmakar et al. [56] made available the IEEE 802.11ac perfor-
of ML both at the protocol as well as at the application level. mance dataset12 that contains information regarding normalized
Recently, Yin et al. [315] proposed ns3-ai, which offers the throughput achieved under five link configuration parameters
same functionality as ns3-gym bu butter performance by using (i.e., channel bandwidth, MCS, guard interval, MIMO and
shared memory for interprocess communication when running frame aggregation) and the channel quality measured as SNR.
both the simulation and the Gym agent locally. GrGym [316]
9 https://www.gnuradio.org
6 https://www.nsnam.org 10 http://www.crawdad.org
7 https://www.ettus.com 11 https://ieee-dataport.org/
8 https://gym.openai.com 12 https://ieee-dataport.org/documents/ieee-80211ac-performance-dataset
32
Kaggle13 is an online platform for data scientists and machine them among the wireless research community. To this end,
learning practitioners. It allows users to find and publish it would be beneficial to create standardized procedures for
datasets. Moreover, it is frequently used by companies to data collection to allow researchers to cooperatively build new
organize competitions to solve data science challenges. At and extend existing datasets. The potential use of different
the time of writing, the Kaggle platform offers only a limited wireless platforms/testbeds for measurements might positively
number of WiFi-related datasets, e.g., the WiFi Study14 dataset impact learning performance (e.g., avoid model over-fitting).
contains a study of the quality of the WiFi and user perceptions Due to diverse hardware characteristics (such as TX power),
of WiFi conducted by students in a dormitory. however, the created datasets have to be precisely described (i.e.,
Next, we briefly describe the datasets from the reviewed provided with complete metadata) to avoid misunderstanding
papers that were made available by the researchers on their and unnecessary debugging of the ML models.
individual webpages. Herzen et al. [68] provided a dataset
used to predict throughput based on basic performance metrics IX. F UTURE R ESEARCH D IRECTIONS
(e.g., received power, channel width) collected in a small
Through all of the previous sections, we have overviewed,
testbed15 . Cell vs. WiFi16 is a publicly available dataset
discussed, and systematically classified many research works
based on an Android application that collects packet-level
aiming to improve WiFi through machine learning. All these
traces of TCP downlink and uplink traffic between a mobile
works have a similar motivation: the use of ML to find
device and a server for both WiFi and cellular networks. The
what are the best decisions that a WiFi network, or its
dataset was used in [318] to find hidden dependencies in
different functionalities, can make to offer better performance
low level WiFi performance data. Polese et al. [112] released
in constantly changing and heterogeneous scenarios. Although
an experimental waveform dataset17 generated using the NI
we covered over 200 papers, they represent only the first step
mmWave transceiver system with 60 GHz radio heads, as well
of a long path towards fully adopting ML in future WiFi and
as the source code using Keras API for training and testing ML
wireless networks in general. In the following, we describe
models18 . Similar measurement data for indoor mmWave using
several general open challenges and suggest potential future
802.11ad from the papers by Aggarwal et al. [107], [108] is
research directions.
also available19 . Rice University’s LiveLab dataset20 contains
long-term measurements from real-world smartphones about
their usage (e.g., CPU time) as well as data collected over a A. Dealing with New and Flexible but Complex WiFi Features
WiFi interface (e.g., periodic readings of available WiFi access In recent years, the catalogue of available WiFi function-
points). The dataset was used in [319]. alities has been rapidly expanding to include more complex
The available datasets provide mostly raw measurements features to cope with current and expected user needs. For
(e.g., RSSI, CSI) or traces of sniffed WiFi traffic which can be example, IEEE 802.11be will incorporate multi-link operation
used to find anomalies with ML techniques. For example, Fulara and, possibly, multi-AP coordination in addition to already
et al. [320] tried to detect causes of unnecessary active scanning existing features such as OFDMA, downlink and uplink MU-
performed by WiFi stations. Moreover, there exist datasets MIMO, spatial reuse, and channel aggregation. A common
meant for WiFi-based applications (e.g., human detection, aspect of most of these functionalities is that they offer a
activity recognition, people tracing, traffic classification) which high degree of flexibility to schedule traffic in time, space,
rely on ML. We believe that those datasets can be also used to and frequency, which, if properly used, may enable high-
improve the performance of WiFi networks. For example, if an performance gains.
AP knows that a traffic flow is a long-lived flow (e.g., a video To achieve this goal, ML techniques may play an important
transmission) it might perform some long-term optimizations to role, enabling self-adaptation to different situations and sce-
improve the flow quality that would not make sense in the case narios, as well as improving decision making by leveraging
of a short-lived flow. Also, the location tracking of WiFi stations past information to predict which actions will perform the best.
can help a WiFi network prepare for a handover operation in For example, multi-band WiFi devices can use ML methods
advance, which would result in faster handover execution and a to predict link quality and select links accordingly [5].
smaller number of outage events. Example datasets containing
location information and WiFi signal strength are available on
B. Joint Optimization of WiFi Features
the Kaggle platform21 .
Finally, we believe that significant efforts have to be taken Most of the discussed papers focus on the optimization of
to create large and high-quality datasets and encourage sharing a single WiFi feature like the CW of WiFi’s channel access
function. However, it becomes clear that separate WiFi features
13 https://www.kaggle.com/ cannot be optimized in isolation. Instead they must be jointly
14 https://www.kaggle.com/mlomuscio/wifi-study optimized with others to achieve the best possible performance.
15 http://www.hrzn.ch/data/lw-data.zip As an example consider the tuning of transmit power and
16 http://web.mit.edu/cell-vs-wifi/
carrier sensing threshold. Hence, the research on ML schemes
17 http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20409451
18 https://github.com/wineslab/deepbeam
suitable for joint optimization of multiple WiFi features is a
19 http://bit.ly/60ghz-link-adaptation promising future research direction. Especially developing ML
20 http://livelab.recg.rice.edu/traces.html solutions with a fast learning speed are of great importance
21 https://www.kaggle.com/c/indoor-location-navigation/ due to the high complexity involved.
33
C. ML-enhanced WiFi Features by Design Additionally, the use of a set of common scenarios will foster
Most of the discussed works build ML functionalities another open challenge: to perform reproducible research. This
on top of current WiFi features, interacting with them by is an important aspect, and also a significant open challenge,
tuning their parameters. An open challenge and a disruptive due to the amount of information required to reproduce exactly,
future approach would be to re-design these functionalities step by step, the same environmental conditions and ML process
by explicitly embedding ML capabilities in them. Heuristic responses in different places. The use of detailed and accurate
algorithms or hard-coded rules could be replaced by ML agents datasets may contribute to making this possible.
able to self-configure based on gathered experience [80], [321].
For example, in spatial reuse, the transmission power is adjusted F. ML-enhanced Network Simulation Tools
following a set of predefined rules and this may unnecessarily The development and maintenance of reference scenarios is
limit the achievable throughput in some scenarios. Providing much easier with a set of standardized and commonly accepted
guaranteed QoS is another challenge for future WiFi networks by the research community simulation frameworks. However,
which could benefit from being designed with built-in ML there is still a lack of such tools, which would allow seamless
capabilities [5]. integration of ML solutions. Although there have been some
attempts to solve the situation (e.g., the OpenAI module for ns-
D. ML-based Architectures and Standardized Interfaces 3 [82] and Komondor [159]), we are still far from a point where
Another open challenge to solve is where to perform and general networking simulators will allow including ML routines
execute certain ML-related actions, which in the case of WiFi by default. To reach this point will be challenging, as we need
networks may include the device, the AP, a controller in the to (i) define standard interfaces between WiFi components and
network edge, and a controller in the cloud. In any case, the ML functions and (ii) model the execution times required by
answer to this question requires knowing aspects such as the ML instances in terms of the virtual simulation time.
tolerable latency required to obtain the output of an ML process,
the available information to perform it, and the computational G. Testbeds and Real Pilots
resources. The design and orchestration of distributed ML
solutions that adapt to the pros and cons of each case is still The previous discussion regarding the need for scenarios
an open challenge, requiring the definition of new interfaces and suitable simulators can be directly extended to the need for
as well as how and when to exchange data and ML models testing the correct operation of ML-enhanced functionalities
between components. in real networks, not only to validate their correct operation,
A pioneering work dealing with these aspects for WLANs but also to run experiments in conditions that simulators may
is [322], where the International Telecommunications Union not able to reproduce accurately. Therefore, the development
(ITU) unified architecture for 5G and beyond is extended to of platforms and testbeds that support experimental research
support ML techniques at multiple levels, from the end device of WiFi-enhanced ML networks is a crucial aspect before
to the cloud. The work in [322] is complemented with [312], deploying these solutions in real networks. An important aspect
where the ‘sandbox’ element of the ITU-T architecture to to consider, and which should be included in the design of
execute off-line training and validation of ML techniques and ML-aware solutions, is that they will have to coexist with non-
models is further analyzed and discussed. ML enabled solutions, and so potentially negative interactions
should be considered in advance.
E. Set of Reference Evaluation Scenarios and Performance
Metrics H. Risks of ML Uncertainty
Almost all published papers considering ML techniques Following the previous points, it is important to explicitly
conclude they can significantly improve system performance. tackle situations in which the use of ML techniques causes
While we do not question these results, we simply point unpredictable performance, and may compromise the correct
out the lack of a set of common scenarios, which prevents operation of a certain feature or even the whole WiFi network.
the comparison of the results between different papers, and An open challenge is to design robust ML solutions that
therefore makes it challenging to extract solid conclusions may sacrifice performance in general to prevent unexpected
and to track the progress in the area of using ML for WiFi. behaviours in particular scenarios.
Designing these scenarios in a way so they are useful to test ML ML-based models are highly successful and provide superb
solutions is challenging. Specifically, the evaluation scenarios performance in many complex tasks, however, so far they are
should cover a wide range of difficulty levels. For example, applied in a black-box manner, i.e., no information is provided
in the beginning, training phases, small stationary scenarios about what exactly makes them arrive at their decisions. This
can be helpful to illustrate and debug how ML solutions work. lack of transparency can be a major drawback and might remain
However, later on, the environment dynamics should be also a limiting factor for the broad adoption of ML-based algorithms
taken into account, as they must be complex enough to include in the area of wireless network control. Specifically, giving up
non-straightforward situations. Specifically, successful ML- human control to an intelligent black-box brings the risk of
based proposals should be tested in large, heterogeneous and improper behaviour or unsafe decisions that might be dangerous
dynamic scenarios to show that they properly adapt and scale for the operation of wireless networks, which in many cases
to different conditions. may be considered critical infrastructure. In recent years,
34
research on explaining and interpreting deep learning models WiFi networks and to provide a detailed analysis of different
attracted increasing attention: the work of Samek and Müller WiFi aspects that can be supported through ML.
[323] targets validation of agent behaviour and establishing Revisiting Fig. 2, our analysis shows that supervised learning
guarantees that they will continue to perform as expected when is often used for data classification while reinforcement learning
deployed in a real-world environment. Furthermore, due to and deep learning – for parameter optimization; unsupervised
explaining the internal structures, researchers hope to learn learning is less frequently used in general. Meanwhile, the most
from ML-based agents capable of learning patterns that are not often used ML mechanisms are: Q-learning, multi-armed bandit,
tractable by humans. To conclude, the explainability of ML as well as different kinds of neural networks (ANN, DNN,
agents will be of significant importance for the verification and CNN). In most cases they were implemented to optimize
and certification (i.e., checking compliance with regulations) only a constrained set of 802.11 parameters. Additionally, from
of ML-based wireless network control systems. reviewing the comparative Tables II to V, we observe that with
the increase in computing power, DL methods are gaining in
popularity.
I. New ML Models and Distributed Learning We believe that, as a next step, researchers will try to identify
Finally, the last but obvious open challenge is the need ML schemes for the joint optimization of a wider ranges
to consider recent advances in ML techniques, which will of WiFi features. Additionally, they should investigate the
certainly go together with the definition of new ML-based coexistence of ML-controlled and legacy networks, since it
architectures and WiFi features. For instance, due to its recent poses a possible source of unfairness in channel access. We
introduction, there are still few papers considering federated also expect that the attractiveness of this area of research will
learning (FL) models for WiFi. FL is a distributed machine continue to grow. To support this statement, we have identified
learning paradigm where a set of nodes cooperatively train a a number of open research directions which could serve as a
ML learning model with the help of a centralized server and guide for researchers in their future work.
without the need to share their local data [324]. Specifically,
nodes train their own local model based on local (on-device) A PPENDIX A
data, and then send the model parameters to the server, which L IST OF ACRONYMS
in turn merges parameters from different nodes and sends the
combined (global) parameters back to the distributed nodes.
We expect that FL will be of paramount importance for the 5G fifth-generation mobile networks
optimization of WiFi networks, as it allows training models 6G sixth-generation mobile networks
with individual data (e.g., available at stations or at the AP) A-MPDU aggregated MAC protocol data unit
while also preserving user privacy. A-MSDU aggregated MAC service data unit
Transfer learning (TL) is another concept that might be ABP adaptation-based programming
helpful for wireless networks in general. It is an ML method ABS almost blank sub-frame
where a model trained on one task is re-purposed on a second, AC access category
related task. Usually, some re-training is required to fine-tune ACK acknowledgment
the model towards the second task. However, TL often allows AI artificial intelligence
saving time or obtain better performance in comparison to the AIFS arbitration inter-frame space
development of a model from scratch [325]. This technique AL adaptive learning
works only if the model features learned from the first task ANN artificial neural network
are general. In the context of wireless networks, TL might AP access point
be applicable when reusing models trained in networks of a ARF auto rate fallback
different technology (e.g., interference recognition in LTE) to ARMA autoregressive moving average
boost the performance of WiFi networks. BS base station
BSS basic service set
CARA collision-aware rate adaptation
X. C ONCLUSION
CCA clear channel assessment
ML is playing an increasing role in the field of improving CDF cumulative density function
WiFi performance. This survey has presented a comprehensive CFO carrier frequency offset
overview of over 200 recent ML-based solutions for a variety CNN convolutional neural network
of performance areas. We started with basic WiFi features COSB channel observation-based scaled backoff
(such as channel access and rate adaptation), then we moved COTS commercial off-the-shelf
to more complex aspects (such as channel bonding, multi- CR cognitive radio
band operation, and network management) and the problem of CRAHN cognitive radio ad hoc network
coexistence with other network technologies in shared bands. CRN cognitive radio network
Next, we gave a brief overview of the application of ML to CSAT carrier sense adaptive transmission
multi-hop WiFi settings. Finally, we summarized the tools and CSI channel state information
data sets available for researchers in this field. To the best of CT classification tree
our knowledge, this is the first such survey to focus solely on CW contention window
35
DBCA dynamic bandwidth channel access LTR learning to rank

DCB on-demand channel bonding M2M machine to machine
DCF distributed coordination function MAB multi-armed bandit
DCM duty cycle management MAC medium access control
DCNN deep convolutional neural network MADDPG multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient
DDPG deep deterministic policy gradient MANET mobile ad hoc network
DDQN double deep Q-network MCS modulation and coding scheme
DFS dynamic frame selection MDP Markov decision process
DL deep learning MEC multi-access edge computing
DNN deep neural network MFNN multi-layer feed-forward neural network
DPP determinantal point process MH-GAN Metropolis-Hastings generative adversarial net-
DQL deep Q-learning work
DQN deep Q-network MHCP Matérn hard-core processes
DRL deep reinforcement learning MIMO multiple-input multiple-output
DSRC dedicated short-range communications ML machine learning
DT decision tree MLP multilayer perceptrons
DTN delay tolerant network MLR machine-learned ranking
EDCA enhanced distributed channel access MME mobile management entities
EIED exponential-increase exponential-decrease mmWave millimeter wave
EM expectation maximization MOS mean opinion score
EMA expectation modification algorithm MRL multi-resolution learning
eNB evolved Node B MSE mean square error
FCS frame check sequence MTL multi-task learning
FDR frame delivery ratio MU-MIMO multi-user MIMO
FER frame error rate MUSE MU-MIMO user selection
FFNN feed forward neural network NACK negative acknowledgment
FL federated learning NB naive Bayes
FWA fixed wireless access NB-IoT narrow-band IoT
GBRT gradient boosted regression tree NCA normalized channel access
GCN graph convolutional networks NFV network functions virtualization
GNA Girvan-Newman algorithm NLoS non-line of sight
GNN graph neural networks NN neural network
HA-DBCA hybrid adaptive DBCA NR-U New Radio-Unlicensed
HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request OFDMA orthogonal frequency-division multiple access
HetNet heterogeneous network OLS ordinary least squares
HMM hidden Markov model OLSR optimized link state routing
HWMP hybrid wireless mesh protocol PDS post-decision state-based
IDS intrusion detection system PHY physical
IoT Internet of things PNN probabilistic neural network
iQRA intelligent Q-learning based resource allocation POMDP partially observable Markov decision process
ITE iterative trial and error QL Q-learning
ITU International Telecommunications Union QNN Q neural network
kNN k-nearest neighbor QoE quality of experience
KPI key performance indicator QoS quality of service
LASSO least absolute shrinkage and selection operator RAT radio access technologies
LBT listen before talk RAW restricted access window
LiBRA learning-based beam and rate adaptation REPT reduced error pruning tree
LiFi light fidelity RF random forest
LMT logistic model tree RFR random forest regressor
LoS line of sight RL reinforcement learning
LPA label propagation algorithm RNN recurrent neural network
LPWAN low-power wide area network RSSI received signal strength indicator
LR-WPAN low-rate wireless personal area network RTS request to send
LSTM long short-term memory RU resource unit
LTE Long Term Evolution SAP spatial adaptive play
LTE-A LTE-Advanced SARA stochastic automata rate adaptation
LTE-LAA LTE-Licensed Assisted Access SARSA state action reward state action
LTE-U LTE-unlicensed SBCA static bandwidth channel access
36
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45
C ONTENTS IX Future Research Directions 32

IX-A Dealing with New and Flexible but
I Introduction 1 Complex WiFi Features . . . . . . . . . 32
IX-B Joint Optimization of WiFi Features . . 32
II Related surveys 3 IX-C ML-enhanced WiFi Features by Design 33
II-A WiFi-related Surveys . . . . . . . . . . 4 IX-D ML-based Architectures and Standard-
II-B Wireless Communications-related Surveys 4 ized Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
II-C WiFi and 5G/6G-related Surveys . . . . 4 IX-E Set of Reference Evaluation Scenarios
II-D Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 and Performance Metrics . . . . . . . . 33
IX-F ML-enhanced Network Simulation Tools 33
III Core WiFi Features 5 IX-G Testbeds and Real Pilots . . . . . . . . 33
III-A Channel Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 IX-H Risks of ML Uncertainty . . . . . . . . 33
III-B Link Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . 8 IX-I New ML Models and Distributed Learning 34
III-B1 Rate Adaptation . . . . . . . 8
X Conclusion 34
III-B2 SGI Adaptation . . . . . . . 9
III-B3 PHY Layer Trade-offs . . . . 9 Appendix A: List of Acronyms 34
III-C Frame Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . 10
III-D Traffic Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
III-E PHY Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
III-F Open Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
IV Recent WiFi Features 13

IV-A Beamforming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
IV-B Multi-user Communication . . . . . . . 15
IV-C Spatial Reuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
IV-D Channel Bonding . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
IV-E Multi-band, Network MIMO, and Full-
duplex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
IV-F Open Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
V WiFi Management 20
V-A Channel and Band Selection . . . . . . 20
V-B AP Selection and Association . . . . . . 21
V-C Management Architectures . . . . . . . 22
V-D Predicting the Health of WiFi Connections 23
V-E Open Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
VI Coexistence Scenarios 24
VI-A Fair Channel Sharing with Cellular Net-
works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
VI-B Network Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . 27
VI-C Signal Classification . . . . . . . . . . . 27
VI-D Cooperative Coexistence . . . . . . . . 28
VI-E Open Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
VII Multihop Wi-Fi Networks 28

VII-A Ad Hoc Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
VII-B Mesh Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
VII-C Sensor Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
VII-D Vehicular Networks . . . . . . . . . . . 30
VII-E Relay Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
VII-F Open Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
VIII Available Tools and Datasets 31

VIII-A Tool Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
VIII-B Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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What are some core WiFi features discussed in the survey?

What are some core WiFi features discussed in the survey?

What are some recent WiFi features discussed in the survey?

What are some recent WiFi features discussed in the survey?

1

WiFi Meets ML: A Survey on Improving IEEE

• energy efficiency (e.g., power saving protocols), and

Deep learning USL: k-means

DL: DRL RL: QL,

DL: DQN bonding Traffic

Channel and Management

USL: SL: RF,

Network Ref. Main scope Addressed WiFi feature Year

[17] Large-scale network monitoring WiFi analytics 2020

[22] Human activity detection 2017

[9] Performance improvement in a variety of wireless 2020

[24] Performance improvement in the PHY/MAC/Network 2020

(MEC, SDN, NFV)

Area Ref. ML category ML mechanisms Year Evaluation method

Network status: probability of collisions) is minimized by optimally adjusting a

CTS ACK programming paradigm called adaptation-based programming

… NAV-RTS … with 20 stations showed a reduction of the total number of

and uses a MAB-based adaptive learning (AL) methodology Link status:

this approach, the network performance is improved thanks

which maximize throughput. Experimental results are obtained

with low computational complexity. The solution is imple-

Frame aggregation settings can also be consider the asso-

Area Ref. ML category ML mechanisms Year Evaluation method

Figure 9. The ML agent is in charge of finding groups of compatible stations

Figure 10. An AP empowered with ML is able to learn from experience which

DRL is considered in [135], [136]. In [135], the channel

to transmit and receive simultaneously, thus ‘doubling’ the

and so the use of new and different ML techniques, to optimize

DL techniques may be well suited.

Area Ref. ML category ML mechanisms Year Evaluation method

while also preserving privacy.

Central controller for LTE LTE BSs serve as agents

unlicensed bands by proposing ML-based solutions (Table V).

mechanisms appear in the following main areas:

In most cases, the proposed mechanisms are based on reinforce-

are already advanced and their newest generations provide

Area Ref. ML category ML mechanisms Year Evaluation method

Figure 17. LTE-LAA LBT-based coexistence mechanism. RS denotes the

S S S S S S S S optimization of duty cycles for each channel. It is shown that the

DBCA dynamic bandwidth channel access LTR learning to rank

[310] T. Zugno, M. Drago, M. Giordani, M. Polese, and M. Zorzi, “Toward

C ONTENTS IX Future Research Directions 32

IV Recent WiFi Features 13

VII Multihop Wi-Fi Networks 28

VIII Available Tools and Datasets 31

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