To overlap or not to overlap: Enabling Channel Bonding in High Density WLANs

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are the most popular kind of wireless Internet connection. However, the number of devices accessing the Internet through WLANs such as laptops, smartphones, or wearables, is increasing drastically at the same time that applications’ throughput requirements do. To cope with the later challenge, channel bonding (CB) techniques are used for enabling higher data rates by transmitting in wider channels. Nonetheless, some important issues such as higher potential co-channel interference arise when bonding channels. In this paper we address this point at issue: is it convenient for high density WLANs to use wider channels and potentially overlap in spectrum? We show that, while the performance of static CB is really poor, spectrum overlapping is highly convenient when adapting to the medium through dynamic channel bonding (DCB); specially for low to moderate traffic loads. Contradicting most of current thoughts, the presented results suggest that future wireless networks should be allowed to use all available spectrum, and locally adapt to desirable configurations.