Hiaeml: A High-Throughput Adaptive Scheduler for EMLSR-Based Multi-Link Operation in Wi-Fi 7

Enhanced Multi-Link Single Radio (EMLSR) is one of the Multi-Link Operation (MLO) modes in the IEEE 802.11be standard (Wi-Fi 7). It has been widely supported due to its compatibility with single-radio designs, making it suitable for power-constrained or cost-sensitive Wi-Fi devices. However, our case study shows that enabling EMLSR may degrade throughput performance in many scenarios. The root cause is that, while EMLSR can leverage multiple links for transmission, it may miss opportunities on the fastest link by unnecessarily utilizing lower-quality ones. We thus propose Hiaeml, a COTS-deployable solution that dynamically switches between different modes from Single-Link Operation (SLO) and EMLSR based on runtime link performance. Hiaeml employs single-pass efficient link probing and a regression-guided decision module to identify the best-performing mode with minimal overhead. During EMLSR operation, it further improves efficiency through a fast-lead-slow-piggyback mechanism. We implement and evaluate Hiaeml on a COTS Wi-Fi 7 AP. Results demonstrate that Hiaeml outperforms standard EMLSR by 8.52–142.34% in most scenarios, with comparable performance in only a few cases.