Control mode PHY for WLAN

An apparatus for generating a PHY data unit for transmission via a communication channel, the apparatus comprising:

• a network interface device including:
• a forward error correction (FEC) encoder to encode a plurality of information bits to be included in the PHY data unit;
• and
• a constellation mapper to map the plurality of information bits to a plurality of constellation symbols;
• wherein the network interface device is configured to:
• encode the plurality of information bits according to a block coding scheme, comprising including m copies of each bit in the plurality of information bits, wherein one or more bits in the m copies of each bit are flipped,
• after encoding the plurality of information bits according to the block coding scheme, interleave the plurality of information bits,
• generate a plurality of OFDM symbols to include the plurality of constellation symbols, and
• generate the PHY data unit to include the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

A method for generating a physical layer (PHY) data unit for transmission via a communication channel, the method comprising:

• encoding a plurality of information bits using a forward error correction (FEC) encoder;
• mapping the plurality of information bits to a plurality of constellation symbols;
• encoding the plurality of constellation symbols according to a block coding scheme, comprising
• including in the plurality of constellation symbols m copies of each constellation symbol in the plurality of constellation symbols, wherein one or more constellation symbol in the m copies of each constellation symbol are phase shifted;
• generating a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols to include the plurality of constellation symbols;
• and
• generating the PHY data unit to include the plurality of OFDM symbols.

An apparatus for generating a PHY data unit for transmission via a communication channel, the apparatus comprising:

• a network interface device including:
• a forward error correction (FEC) encoder to encode a plurality of information bits to be included in the PHY data unit;
• and
• a constellation mapper to map the plurality of information bits to a plurality of constellation symbols;
• wherein the network interface device is configured to:
• encode the plurality of constellation symbols according to a block coding scheme, at least by including in the plurality of constellation symbols m copies of each constellation symbol in the plurality of constellation symbols, wherein one or more constellation symbol in the m copies of each constellation symbol are phase shifted,
• generate a plurality of OFDM symbols to include the plurality of constellation symbols, and
• generate the PHY data unit to include the plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.