As Wi-Fi networks become more dense, mobile, and power-sensitive, it's time to rethink how devices interact — not just with access points, but with each other. What if client devices could form an intelligent, power-efficient mesh network on their own? What if we could cut unnecessary overhead, improve coverage, and save battery — all without breaking the standards?
Here’s a set of ideas that could help shape the future of Wi-Fi (8 and beyond) — particularly in mesh and client-to-client communication.
In a next-gen Wi-Fi network, stations (clients) should be able to:
- Act as lightweight mesh relays for each other
- Enable traffic to hop across 1–2 neighboring devices to reach the router or AP
- Improve coverage and resiliency without needing extra hardware
Client mesh nodes should:
- Use a max bandwidth of 1 Mbps for mesh forwarding
- Operate on narrow 5 MHz channels
- Beacon infrequently (2 Hz) to stay low power
This approach balances usability with energy constraints — ideal for mobile phones, IoT, and wearables.
End-to-end encryption should be handled between the endpoint and the router. Intermediate mesh nodes:
- Relay traffic without decrypting it
- Have no access to encryption keys
- Function as "dumb pipes" to preserve privacy
To keep the mesh predictable and efficient:
- Limit relaying to 2 hops maximum
- Avoid excessive routing complexity
- Reduce delay and battery use
This model favors localized micro-meshes rather than sprawling, multi-hop topologies.
Not all traffic needs MAC-layer ACKs. For example:
- TCP traffic already handles reliability and retransmissions
- UDP-based real-time traffic (e.g. VoIP, video) prefers low latency over reliability
By disabling Wi-Fi MAC ACKs for certain traffic types, we can:
- Reduce latency
- Save airtime
- Cut power use
A single transport-layer flag could tell Wi-Fi whether MAC ACKs are needed:
- One bit in TCP or UDP headers
- If set: "Skip MAC-layer ACKs, let me handle it"
- Survives NAT and is visible end-to-end, unlike DSCP/TOS which is often not preserved end to end
This would give applications and protocols explicit control over how their traffic is handled at lower layers.
Why stop at static configuration? TCP can:
- Dynamically monitor RTT
- If RTT < 5ms, disable MAC ACKs (likely on a LAN)
- If RTT ≥ 5ms, re-enable MAC ACKs to avoid costly retransmissions
This creates an adaptive reliability model that adjusts to network conditions in real-time.
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