A First Look at 160 MHz WiFi 6/6E in Action: Performance and Interference Characterization

This paper presents the first experimental evaluation of WiFi 6 (in the 5 GHz band) and WiFi 6e (in the 6 GHz band) with 160 MHz channels using commercial hardware. Our results show that 160 MHz channels offer significant throughput gains compared to 80 MHz channels. However, the gains are limited to short ranges and line of sight (LOS) conditions, while the performance degrades sharply in longer ranges or NLOS environments, especially in the 6 GHz band. We also perform the first extensive interference characterization of WiFi 6/6e. Our experiments with links using homogeneous channel widths show the existence of strong interference due to power leakage in adjacent channels and even non-adjacent channels, in both frequency bands. Our experiments with links in overlapping channels using heterogeneous channel widths and different primary channels reveal a variety of interference patterns, which have not been observed in previous studies with 802.11n or 802.11ac links.