Enhanced long range communication schemes in wireless communications

1 . A method, comprising:

performing, by a processor of an apparatus, an enhanced long range (ELR) communication by either:

transmitting an ELR physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU); or

receiving the ELR PPDU,

wherein the ELR PPDU comprises a spoofing preamble, an ELR preamble and an ELR data portion,

wherein the spoofing preamble comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and a legacy signaling (L-SIG) field,

wherein the ELR preamble comprises an ELR signature sequence, an ELR short training field (ELR-STF), an ELR long training field (ELR-LTF) and an ELR signaling (ELR-SIG) field,

wherein the ELR data portion carries data to be transmitted to one or more users, and

wherein the ELR signature sequence is a physical-layer sequence associated with training and indicates whether the ELR preamble and the ELR data portion are in a one-spatial-stream format or in a two-spatial-stream format.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ELR PPDU is transmitted using an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation or an orthogonal frequency-divisional multiple access (OFDMA) modulation on preamble signal fields and the ELR data portion of the ELR PPDU.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spoofing preamble further comprises a first orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol with binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation, and a second OFDM symbol with BPSK modulation.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spoofing preamble further comprises a repeated legacy signaling (RL-SIG) field, a universal signaling (U-SIG) field, and another U-SIG field.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the spoofing preamble is similar to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11be multi-user (MU) PPDU preamble except that a field in at least one of the U-SIG fields is set to indicate that the spoofing preamble is part of the ELR PPDU.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ELR preamble supports one spatial stream, and wherein the ELR-LTF and the ELR-SIG field are duplicated across a plurality of subchannels.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ELR preamble supports one spatial stream and further comprises a second ELR-STF and a second ELR-LTF, and wherein the ELR-STF, the ELR-LTF, the ELR-SIG field, the second ELR-STF and the second ELR-LTF are duplicated across a plurality of subchannels.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ELR preamble supports up to two spatial streams and comprises a respective ELR signature sequence for each user up to two users, and wherein the ELR-STF, the ELR-LTF and the ELR-SIG field are duplicated across a plurality of subchannels.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ELR preamble supports up to two spatial streams and comprises a respective ELR signature plus short training field (STF) sequence for each user up to two users, and wherein the ELR-LTF and the ELR-SIG field are duplicated across a plurality of subchannels.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ELR data portion is transmitted to a single user using an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation or to multiple users using an orthogonal frequency-divisional multiple access (OFDMA) modulation.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein a maximum number of users of the multiple users is 4, 8 or 9.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein, in an event that the ELR data portion is transmitted to the single user, the ELR data portion is duplicated across a plurality of subchannels.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein, in an event that the ELR data portion is transmitted to two users, a first subchannel carrying first data for a first user is duplicated at least once and a second subchannel carry second data for a second user is duplicated at least once.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein, in an event that the ELR data portion is transmitted to four users, each subchannel of four subchannels carries respective data for a respective user of the four users.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ELR data portion is duplicated in either or both of a frequency domain and a time domain.

16 . An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform, via the transceiver, an enhanced long range (ELR) communication by either:

transmitting an ELR physical-layer protocol data unit (PPDU); or

receiving the ELR PPDU,

wherein the ELR PPDU comprises a spoofing preamble, an ELR preamble and an ELR data portion,

wherein the spoofing preamble comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and a legacy signaling (L-SIG) field,

wherein the ELR preamble comprises an ELR signature sequence, an ELR short training field (ELR-STF), an ELR long training field (ELR-LTF) and an ELR signaling (ELR-SIG) field,

wherein the ELR data portion carries data to be transmitted to one or more users, and

wherein the ELR signature sequence is a physical-layer sequence associated with training and indicates whether the ELR preamble and the ELR data portion are in a one-spatial-stream format or in a two-spatial-stream format.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the spoofing preamble further comprises a repeated legacy signaling (RL-SIG) field, a universal signaling (U-SIG) field, and another U-SIG field, and wherein the spoofing preamble is similar to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11be multi-user (MU) PPDU preamble except that a field in at least one of the U-SIG fields is set to indicate that the spoofing preamble is part of the ELR PPDU.

18 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the ELR preamble supports up to two spatial streams and comprises a respective ELR signature plus short training field (STF) sequence for each user up to two users, and wherein the ELR-LTF and the ELR-SIG field are duplicated across a plurality of subchannels.

19 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the ELR data portion is duplicated in either or both of a frequency domain and a time domain.