Multi-AP Multi-Dimensional Resource Coordination for Next-Generation Wi-Fi Networks via Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning

Han W, Wang X, Schober R (2026)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2026

Journal

Book Volume: 25

Pages Range: 22354-22370

DOI: 10.1109/TWC.2026.3726415

Abstract

The ever-growing Wi-Fi data traffic and diverse quality-of-service (QoS) requirements of coexisting stations (STAs) exacerbate the challenges of coordinated resource sharing and spatial-temporal interference mitigation among neighboring access points (APs). This paper proposes a novel multi-AP multi-dimensional resource coordination mechanism to intelligently match the distributed resources with the STAs’ heterogeneous QoS demands under a standard-compliant protocol. Specifically, the proposed method allows collocated APs to dynamically orchestrate multi-dimensional resources by jointly enabling resource unit (RU)-level spatial reuse and spectral-temporal resource sharing through coordinated orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (Co-OFDMA). To achieve the coordination objective of maximizing collective network utility, a hierarchically structured two-stage solution is designed to tackle the NP-hardness and non-stationarity of the decision variables. Stage-I lets APs evaluate RU reusability for adaptive configuration of channel access sensitivity through finer-grained interference assessment. During Stage-II, APs leverage the agent-based learning capabilities to collaboratively exploit the varying network-wide interference patterns and QoS characteristics. Particularly, a multi-agent hybrid QMIX algorithm with parameterized actor networks (MA-HQPAN) is proposed to solve the RU assignment and transmit power allocation problem. Simulations verify that the proposed method can opportunistically coordinate multi-dimensional resources for diverse QoS provisioning, outperforming baselines by robust and effective interference mitigation with fairness guarantees.

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How to cite

APA:

Han, W., Wang, X., & Schober, R. (2026). Multi-AP Multi-Dimensional Resource Coordination for Next-Generation Wi-Fi Networks via Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 25, 22354-22370. https://doi.org/10.1109/TWC.2026.3726415

MLA:

Han, Wudan, Xi Wang, and Robert Schober. "Multi-AP Multi-Dimensional Resource Coordination for Next-Generation Wi-Fi Networks via Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning." IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 25 (2026): 22354-22370.

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