Once a channel is determined to be free, normally, a wireless device can transmit data on the free channel. This kind of mechanism may work for a general application, but can fail to find a channel that is a good fit to transmit data for a low-latency application. The channel can be free at the moment being measured or monitored, but may become occupied afterwards. The mechanism of transmitting data once a free channel is available can fail to consider the future congestion pattern of the channel.

According to some aspects, a wireless device can perform a measurement to determine a channel occupancy for a channel. During a measurement period, a channel can be determined to be idle and available for transmission. However, the wireless device does not transmit data during the measurement period. Instead, various measurements can be performed when the channel is determined to be available, while no data is transmitted. Data is transmitted at a transmission period after the measurement period. The measurement period and the transmission period can occur one after another in a periodic manner. By having a measure period, the wireless device can gather a more complete picture of the congestion pattern of the channel, and select a better option for a low-latency application that generates and transmits data periodically.