# SDMAC: A Software-Defined MAC for Wi-Fi to Ease Implementation of Soft Real-time Applications

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.06074 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.06074/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 Nov 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Linear Combination of Exponential Moving Averages for Wireless Channel Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.07945/) (2023)
- [Predicting Wireless Channel Quality by means of Moving Averages and Regression Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.08634/) (2023)
- [Mixing Neural Networks and Exponential Moving Averages for Predicting Wireless Links Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.11185/) (2024)
- [On the Accuracy and Precision of Moving Averages to Estimate Wi-Fi Link Quality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.12265/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In distributed control systems where devices are connected through Wi-Fi, direct access to low-level MAC operations may help applications to meet their timing constraints. In particular, the ability to timely control single transmission attempts on air, by means of software programs running at the user space level, eases the implementation of mechanisms aimed at improving communication timeliness and reliability. Relevant examples are deterministic traffic scheduling, seamless channel redundancy, rate adaptation algorithms, and so on. In this paper, a novel architecture is defined, we call SDMAC, which in its current embodiment relies on conventional Linux PCs equipped with commercial Wi-Fi adapters. Preliminary SDMAC implementation on a real testbed and its experimental evaluation showed that integrating this paradigm in existing protocol stacks constitutes a viable option, whose performance suits a wide range of applications characterized by soft real-time requirements.