Systems and methods for uplink power control and rate adaptation within a wireless local area network (WLAN)

1. A method for communicating in a wireless local area network (WLAN) comprising:

setting, at the AP, an uplink target received signal strength information (RSSI) for each of the plurality of STAs, wherein the uplink target RSSI for each STA is set to be within a predetermined range relative to the uplink target RSSIs for the other STAs;

transmitting, from the AP to each of the plurality of STAs, a respective trigger frame containing an assigned modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the uplink target RSSI for the assigned MCS; and

receiving, at the AP, a respective uplink frame transmitted to the AP by each respective STA at a respective one of the determined uplink target RSSIs included in the respective trigger frame.

2. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 1 , wherein determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs comprises:

determining, at the AP, a maximum tolerable uplink RSSI based on the selected MCS;

calculating, at the AP, a sum of the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs;

determining whether the sum of the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs is greater than the maximum tolerable uplink RSSI; and

in response to determining that the sum of the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs is greater than the maximum tolerable uplink RSSI, reducing the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs.

3. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 1 , wherein determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs comprises:

calculating, by the AP, a per tone uplink target RSSI for each of the STAs such that a difference between a maximum per tone uplink target RSSI and a minimum per tone uplink target RSSI is less than a predetermined value.

4. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 1 , wherein determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs comprises:

for each uplink frame received by the AP from a STA transmitting for a first time:

measuring an RSSI from a previous single-user (SU) transmission to the AP;

reducing a predetermined STA headroom from the measured RSSI; and

setting the uplink target RSSI for the STA to be equal to the reduced RSSI.

5. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 1 , wherein determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs comprises:

for each an uplink frame received by the AP from a STA transmitting after previously transmitting another uplink frame:

determining whether a packet error rate (PER) for the previous transmission by the STA is higher than a target PER for the rate of transmission; and

in response to determining that the PER for the previous transmission by the STA is higher than a target PER for the rate of transmission:

increasing the uplink target RSSI value from the previous transmission based on the assigned MCS for the STA.

6. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 1 , wherein determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs comprises:

for each uplink frame received by the AP from a STA transmitting after previously transmitting another uplink frame:

determining whether a packet error rate (PER) for the previous transmission by the STA is lower than a target PER for the rate of transmission; and

in response to determining that the PER for the previous transmission by the STA is lower than a target PER for the rate of transmission:

reducing the uplink target RSSI value from the previous transmission based on a difference between the target PER and the PER for the previous transmission.

7. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 3 , wherein calculating, by the AP, the per tone uplink target RSSI for each of the STAs such that a difference between a maximum per tone uplink target RSSI and a minimum per tone uplink target RSSI is less than a predetermined value, further comprises:

setting an initial per tone uplink target RSSI for each of the STAs;

calculating a difference between each STA per tone uplink target RSSI and a minimum per tone uplink target RSSI; and

adjusting each scheduled per tone uplink target RSSI to be within a predetermined range from the minimum per tone uplink target RSSI.

8. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 2 , wherein reducing the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs further comprises:

calculating a difference between the total sum of the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs and the maximum tolerable uplink RSSI; and

adjusting the uplink target RSSI for each of the STAs based on the calculated difference.

9. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 1 , further comprising:

including an uplink rate selection based on an effective signal to noise ratio (SNR) of an assigned resource unit (RU) or an effective SNR of an assigned spatial stream in the respective trigger frames transmitted by the AP.

10. The method for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 9 , further comprising:

determining the effective SNR based on STA packet error rate (PER) statistics, STA single user (SU) transmission rates, and a difference between the uplink target RSSI and an uplink RSSI for a previous transmission.

11. A system for communicating in a wireless local area network (WLAN) comprising:

an access point (AP) comprising control circuitry configured to:

set an uplink target received signal strength information (RSSI) for each of the plurality of STAs, wherein the uplink target RSSI for each STA is set to be within a predetermined range relative to the uplink target RSSIs for the other STAs;

transmit, via a transmitter to each of the plurality of STAs, a respective trigger frame containing an assigned modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the uplink target RSSI for the assigned MCS; and

receiving, by a receiver, a respective uplink frame from each of the STAs at the assigned uplink target RSSI included in the received trigger frame.

12. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs, is further configured to:

determine a maximum tolerable uplink RSSI based on the selected MCS;

calculate a sum of the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs;

determine whether the sum of the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs is greater than the maximum tolerable uplink RSSI; and

in response to determining that the sum of the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs is greater than the maximum tolerable uplink RSSI, reduce the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs.

13. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs, is further configured to:

calculate a per tone uplink target RSSI for each of the STAs such that a difference between a maximum per tone uplink target RSSI and a minimum per tone uplink target RSSI is less than a predetermined value.

14. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs, is further configured to:

for each uplink frame received by the AP from a STA transmitting for a first time:

measure an RSSI from a previous single-user (SU) transmission to the AP;

reduce a predetermined STA headroom from the measured RSSI; and

set the uplink target RSSI for the STA to be equal to the reduced RSSI.

15. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs, is further configured to:

for uplink frame received by the AP from a STA transmitting after previously transmitting another uplink frame:

determine whether a packet error rate (PER) for the previous transmission by the STA is higher than a target PER for the rate of transmission; and

in response to determining that the PER for the previous transmission by the STA is higher than a target PER for the rate of transmission:

increase the uplink target RSSI value from the previous transmission based on the assigned MCS for the STA.

16. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry, when determining the uplink target RSSI for each of the plurality of STAs, is further configured to:

for each uplink frame received by the AP from a STA transmitting after previously transmitting another uplink frame:

determine whether a packet error rate (PER) for the previous transmission by the STA is lower than a target PER for the rate of transmission; and

in response to determining that the PER for the previous transmission by the STA is lower than a target PER for the rate of transmission:

reduce the uplink target RSSI value from the previous transmission based on a difference between the target PER and the PER for the previous transmission.

17. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry, when calculating, by the AP, the per tone uplink target RSSI for each of the STAs such that a difference between a maximum per tone uplink target RSSI and a minimum per tone uplink target RSSI is less than a predetermined value, is further configured to:

set an initial per tone uplink target RSSI for each of the STAs;

calculate a difference between each STA per tone uplink target RSSI and a minimum per tone uplink target RSSI; and

adjust each scheduled per tone uplink target RSSI to be within a predetermined range from the minimum per tone uplink target RSSI.

18. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 12 , wherein the control circuitry, when reducing the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs, is further configured to:

calculate a difference between the total sum of the uplink target RSSIs for each of the STAs and the maximum tolerable uplink RSSI; and

adjust the uplink target RSSI for each of the STAs based on the calculated difference.

19. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 11 , wherein control circuitry, when generating the trigger frame, is further configured to:

include an uplink rate selection based on an effective signal to noise ratio (SNR) of an assigned resource unit (RU) or an effective SNR of an assigned spatial stream in the trigger frame transmitted by the AP.

20. The system for communicating in a WLAN according to claim 19 , wherein the effective SNR is determined based on STA packet error rate (PER) statistics, STA single user (SU) transmission rates, and a difference between the uplink target RSSI and an uplink RSSI for a previous transmission.