The Initiating Device (Frame Based Equipment) should implement a Channel Access Mechanism that complies with the following requirements:
- The Fixed Frame Periods supported by the equipment should be declared by the manufacturer. This should be within the range of 1 ms to 10 ms. Transmissions can start only at the beginning of a Fixed Frame Period. An equipment may change its Fixed Frame Period but it should not do more than once every 200 ms.
- Immediately before starting transmissions on an Operating Channel at the start of a Fixed Frame Period, the Initiating Device should perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) check during a single Observation Slot. The Operating Channel should be considered occupied if the energy level in the channel exceeds the ED Threshold Level (TL) given in point 6) below. If the Initiating Device finds the Operating Channel(s) to be clear, it may transmit immediately. See Figure 3-1.
If the Initiating Device finds an Operating Channel occupied, then there should be no transmissions on that channel during the next Fixed Frame Period. The Frame Based Equipment is allowed to continue Short Control Signalling Transmissions on this channel providing it complies with the requirements given in Section 6.2.8.3.
For equipment having simultaneous transmissions on multiple (adjacent or non-adjacent) Operating Channels, the equipment is allowed to continue transmissions on other Operating Channels providing the CCA check did not detect any signals on those channels.
The total time during which Frame Based Equipment can have transmissions on a given channel without re-evaluating the availability of that channel, is defined as the Channel Occupancy Time (COT).
The equipment can have multiple transmissions within a Channel Occupancy Time without performing an additional CCA on this Operating Channel providing the gap between such transmissions does not exceed 16 μs.
If the gap exceeds 16 μs, the equipment may continue transmissions provided that an additional CCA detects no RLAN transmissions with a level above the threshold defined in point 6. The additional CCA should be performed within the gap and within the observation slot immediately before transmission. All gaps are counted as part of the Channel Occupancy Time. - An Initiating Device is allowed to grant an authorization to one or more associated Responding Devices to transmit on the current Operating Channel within the current Channel Occupancy Time. A Responding Device that receives such a grant should follow the procedure described in Section 6.2.8.1.2.
- The Channel Occupancy Time should not be greater than 95% of the Fixed Frame Period defined in point 1 and should be followed by an Idle Period until the start of the next Fixed Frame Period such that the Idle Period is at least 5% of the Channel Occupancy Time, with a minimum of 100 μs.
- The equipment, upon correct reception of a packet which was intended for this equipment, can skip CCA and immediately proceed with the transmission of management and control frames (for example, ACK and Block ACK frames). A consecutive sequence of such transmissions by the equipment, without it performing a new CCA, should not exceed the Maximum Channel Occupancy Time as defined in point 4 above.
For the purpose of multi-cast, the ACK transmissions (associated with the same data packet) of the individual devices are allowed to take place in a sequence. - The ED Threshold Level (TL), at the input of the receiver, should be proportional to the maximum transmit power (PH) according to the formula which assumes a 0 dBi receive antenna and PH to be specified in dBm e.i.r.p. The levels are shown in Table 6-16.
Table 6-16 Limits on ED Threshol Level - FBEMaximum Tx Power (e.i.r.p.), dBm (PH) | ED Threshold Level (TL) (1) | Notes |
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For PH ≤ 13 dBm | -75 dBm/MHz | Assumes a 0 dBi receive antenna gain |
For 13 dBm < PH < 23 dBm | -85 dBm/MHz + (23 dBm - PH) |
For PH ≥ 23 dBm | -85 dBm/MHz |
(1) Equipment should consider a channel to be occupied as long as other RLAN transmissions are detected at a level greater than the TL.