New CAPWAP architectures for IEEE 802.11ad based Wi-Fi/WiGig WLANs

Recently, the unlicensed 60 GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) band has drawn attention as a promising solution for enabling future multi-Gbps wireless local area networks (WLANs). IEEE 802.11 ad (WiGig) standard was developed for 60 GHz WLANs, where directional transmission is utilized to compensate severe propagation losses in mmWave bands. Due to mmWave signals propagation limitations and its high vulnerability to blocking, dense WiGig wireless terminal points (WTPs) deployment strategy is used to ensure continuous mmWave service in a typical target area. To effectively manage mmWave access while overcoming its shortcomings and limitations, interoperability with legacy bands (i.e. Wi-Fi band) via centralized control architectures are needed. Control and provisioning of wireless access points (CAPWAP) protocol, particularity IEEE 802.11 binding, is used to configure, monitor, control and manage a large-scale deployment of centralized IEEE 802.11 WLANs. However, this binding does not support the special and unique features of IEEE 802.11ad specification in addition to the new specifications come from Wi-Fi/WiGig interplay. In this paper, we propose new updates of CAPWAP 802.11 binding for enabling the use of CAPWAP capabilities in conjunction with IEEE 802.11ad-based Wi-Fi/ WiGig WLANs.