Station (STA), access point (AP) and method for rate adaptation

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors to perform operations for communication by a station (STA), the operations to configure the one or more processors to:

• decode a trigger frame (TF) that indicates time resources and channel resources to be used during a transmission opportunity (TXOP) by the STA to receive a first medium access control protocol data unit (MPDU) and to transmit a block acknowledgement (BA) frame;
• decode the first MPDU, wherein the first MPDU is encoded in accordance with a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS);
• determine an acknowledgement bit that indicates whether the first MPDU is successfully decoded and determine an MCS reception margin parameter based at least partly on the acknowledgement bit;
• encode, the BA frame for transmission, wherein the BA frame includes the MCS reception margin parameter and the acknowledgement bit;
• and
• decode a second MPDU that is received during the TXOP and is encoded in accordance with a second MCS that is based at least partly on the MCS reception margin parameter.

A method of communication at a station (STA), the method comprising:

• decoding a first medium access control protocol data unit (MPDU), the first MPDU encoded in accordance with a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS);
• detecting bit errors of the first MPDU based on a comparison between the received first MPDU and the decoded first MPDU;
• determining an MCS reception margin parameter based at least partly on a comparison between a number of detected bit errors of the first MPDU and a predetermined threshold of bit errors;
• encoding, for transmission, a block acknowledgement (BA) frame that includes the MCS reception margin parameter and further includes an acknowledgement bit that indicates whether the first MPDU is successfully decoded;
• and
• decoding a second MPDU that is encoded in accordance with a second, updated MCS that is based at least partly on the MCS reception margin parameter.

An apparatus of an access point (AP), the apparatus comprising:

• memory;
• and processing circuitry, configured to:
• generate, in accordance with a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a candidate group of MCSs, a first medium access control protocol data unit (MPDU) for transmission to a station (STA);
• decode a block acknowledgement (BA) frame received from the STA, wherein the BA frame includes an MCS reception margin parameter that is based at least partly on a comparison between a predetermined threshold of bit errors and a number of bit errors detected, by the STA, in the first MPDU received at the STA;
• and
• determine, based at least partly on the MCS reception margin parameter, whether to switch from the first MCS to a second MCS of the candidate group to generate a second, subsequent MPDU for the STA.