System and method for high efficiency wireless local area network communications

1. A method in a network component for transmitting a frame of two different fast Fourier transform (FFT) sizes, comprising:

generating a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different FFT sizes, wherein the frame comprises a preamble portion and a data portion, wherein the preamble portion comprises a first FFT size and the data portion comprises a second FFT size, wherein the first FFT size and the second FFT size are different, wherein the first FFT size is 64 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is at least 512 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is a high efficiency wireless local area network (HEW) FFT size, wherein at least a first part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulation scheme and at least a second part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a second modulation scheme, wherein the first modulation scheme is binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation and the second modulation scheme is a higher order modulation than BPSK modulation, wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal (L-SIG) field, and a frame control field, wherein the frame control field comprises a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) MAP configuration, and wherein the frame control field is modulated with the second modulation scheme; and

transmitting the frame during a single transmission opportunity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second modulation scheme is quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy format.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frame comprises a first field and a second field, and wherein the first field provides automatic gain control (AGC) and synchronization and the second field provides synchronization and channel estimation.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preamble portion comprises a first field and a second field that provide information enabling a receiver to estimate two stream channels for two stream space-time block code (STBC).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frame control field causes a non-HEW device to stop decoding the frame when encountered by an auto-detection mechanism.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frame comprises common reference sequences (CRS) for channel estimation.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein a number of symbols in which the CRS is inserted is determined according to a number of physical antennas.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frame comprises a data demodulation reference sequences (DMRS).

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein a number of symbols in which the DMRS is inserted is determined according to a number of transmission streams.

11. A wirelessly enabled network component, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:

generate a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different fast Fourier transform (FFT) sizes, wherein the frame comprises a preamble portion and a data portion, wherein the preamble portion comprises a first FFT size and the data portion comprises a second FFT size, wherein the first FFT size and the second FFT size are different, wherein the first FFT size is 64 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is at least 512 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is a high efficiency wireless local area network (HEW) FFT size, wherein at least a first part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulation scheme and at least a second part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a second modulation scheme, wherein the first modulation scheme is binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation and the second modulation scheme is a higher order modulation than BPSK modulation, wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal (L-SIG) field, and a frame control field, wherein the frame control field comprises a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) MAP configuration, and wherein the frame control field is modulated with the second modulation scheme; and

transmit the frame during a single transmission opportunity.

12. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 11 , wherein the second modulation scheme is quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK).

13. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 11 , wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy format.

14. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 11 , wherein the frame comprises a first field and a second field, and wherein the first field provides automatic gain control (AGC) and synchronization and the second field provides synchronization and channel estimation.

15. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 11 , wherein the preamble portion comprises a first field and a second field that provide information enabling a receiver to estimate two stream channels for two stream space-time block code (STBC).

16. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 11 , wherein the frame control field causes a non-HEW device to stop decoding the frame when encountered by an auto-detection mechanism.

17. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 11 , wherein the frame comprises common reference sequences (CRS) for channel estimation.

18. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 17 , wherein a number of symbols in which the CRS is inserted is determined according to a number of physical antennas.

19. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 11 , wherein the frame comprises a data demodulation reference sequences (DMRS).

20. The wirelessly enabled network component of claim 19 , wherein a number of symbols in which the DMRS is inserted is determined according to a number of transmission streams.

21. A method in a wireless network device, comprising:

receiving a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different FFT sizes, wherein the frame comprises a preamble portion and a data portion, wherein the preamble portion comprises a first FFT size and the data portion comprises a second FFT size, wherein the first FFT size and the second FFT size are different, wherein the first FFT size is 64 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is at least 512 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is a high efficiency wireless local area network (HEW) FFT size, wherein at least a first part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulation scheme and at least a second part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a second modulation scheme, wherein the first modulation scheme is binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation and the second modulation scheme is a higher order modulation than BPSK modulation, wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal (L-SIG) field, and a frame control field, wherein the frame control field comprises a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) MAP configuration, and wherein the frame control field is modulated with the second modulation scheme;

decoding the preamble portion according to the first FFT size; and

decoding the data portion according to the second FFT size.

22. A wireless system, comprising:

a transmitter; and

a processor coupled to the transmitter, wherein the processor is configured to generate a frame, wherein the frame comprises orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in two different fast Fourier transform (FFT) sizes, wherein the frame comprises a preamble portion and a data portion, wherein the preamble portion comprises a first FFT size and the data portion comprises a second FFT size, wherein the first FFT size and the second FFT size are different, wherein the first FFT size is 64 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is at least 512 tones per 20 MHz symbol, wherein the second FFT size is a high efficiency wireless local area network (HEW) FFT size, wherein at least a first part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulation scheme and at least a second part of the preamble portion is modulated according to a second modulation scheme, wherein the first modulation scheme is binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation and the second modulation scheme is a higher order modulation than BPSK modulation, wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF), a legacy signal (L-SIG) field, and a frame control field, wherein the frame control field comprises a downlink/uplink (DL/UL) MAP configuration, wherein the frame control field is modulated with the second modulation scheme, and wherein the processor is further configured to cause the transmitter to transmit the frame during a single transmission opportunity.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the preamble portion comprises a legacy format.

24. The system of claim 22 , wherein the frame comprises a first field and a second field, and wherein the first field provides automatic gain control (AGC) and synchronization and the second field provides synchronization and channel estimation.

25. The system of claim 22 , wherein the preamble portion comprises a first field and a second field that provide information enabling a receiver to estimate two stream channels for two stream space-time block code (STBC).

26. The system of claim 22 , wherein the frame control field causes a non-HEW device to stop decoding the frame when encountered by an auto-detection mechanism.

27. The system of claim 22 , wherein the frame comprises common reference sequences (CRS) for channel estimation.

28. The system of claim 27 , wherein a number of symbols in which the CRS is inserted is determined according to a number of physical antennas.

29. The system of claim 22 , wherein the frame comprises a data demodulation reference sequences (DMRS).

30. The system of claim 29 , wherein a number of symbols in which the DMRS is inserted is determined according to a number of transmission streams.