Distributed channel assignment algorithms for 802.11n WLANs with heterogeneous clients

As the latest IEEE 802.11 standard, 802.11n applies several new technologies, such as multiple input multiple output (MIMO), channel bonding, and frame aggregation to greatly improve the rate, range and reliability of wireless local area networks (WLANs). In 802.11n WLANs, access points (APs) are often densely deployed to provide satisfactory coverage. Thus nearby APs should operate at non-overlapping channels to avoid mutual interference. It is challenging to assign channels in legacy 802.11a/b/g WLANs due to the limited number of channels. Channel assignment becomes more complex in 802.11n WLANs, as the channel bonding in 802.11n allows WLAN stations (APs and clients) to combine two adjacent, non-overlapping 20MHz channels together for transmission. On the other hand, IEEE 802.11n is backward compatible, such that 802.11n clients will coexist with legacy clients in 802.11n WLANs. Legacy clients may affect the performance of nearby 802.11n clients, and reduce the effectiveness of channel bonding. Based on these observations, in this paper, we study channel assignment in 802.11n WLANs with heterogeneous clients. We first present the network model, interference model, and throughput estimation model to estimate the throughput of each client. We then formulate the channel assignment problem into an optimization problem, with the objective of maximizing overall network throughput. Since the problem is NP-hard, we give a distributed channel assignment algorithm based on the throughput estimation model. We then present another channel assignment algorithm with lower complexity, and aim at minimizing interference experienced by high-rate, 802.11n clients. We have carried out extensive simulations to evaluate the proposed algorithms. Simulation results show that our algorithms can significantly improve the network throughput of 802.11n WLANs, compared with other channel assignment algorithms.     

Evaluating transport protocol performance over a wireless mesh backbone

IEEE 802.11n wireless physical layer technology increases the deployment of high throughput wireless indoor mesh backbones for ubiquitous Internet connectivity at the urban and metropolitan areas. Most of the network traffic flows in today’s Internet use ‘Transmission Control Protocol’ (TCP) as the transport layer protocol. There has been extensive works that deal with TCP issues over wireless mesh networks as well as noisy wireless channels. Further, IEEE 802.11n is well known for its susceptibility to increased channel losses during high data rate communication. This paper investigates the dynamics of an end-to-end transport layer protocol like TCP in the presence of burst and correlated losses during IEEE 802.11n high data rate communication, while maintaining fairness among all the end-to-end flows. For this purpose, we evaluate four TCP variants-Loss Tolerant TCP (LT-TCP), Network Coded TCP (TCP/NC), TCP-Horizon and Wireless Control Protocol (WCP), where the first two protocols are known to perform very well in extreme lossy networks, and the last two are specifically designed for mesh networks. Our evaluation shows that WCP performs better in a IEEE 802.11n supported mesh networks compared to other three variants. However, WCP also results in negative impact at high data rates, where end-to-end goodput drops with the increase in physical data rate. The analysis of the results reveals that explicit loss notifications and flow balancing are not sufficient to improve transport protocol performance in an IEEE 802.11n supported mesh backbone, rather a specific mechanism is required to synchronize the transport queue management with lower layer scheduling that depends on IEEE 802.11n features, like channel bonding and frame aggregation. The findings of this paper give the direction to design a new transport protocol that can utilize the full capacity of IEEE 802.11n mesh backbone.     

Throughput analysis of IEEE 802.11 multirate WLANs with collision aware rate adaptation algorithm

This paper presents a mathematical model that analyzes the throughput of the IEEE 802.11b distributed coordination function (DCF) with the collision aware rate adaptation (CARA) algorithm. IEEE 802.11 WLANs provide multiple transmission rates to improve system throughput by adapting the transmission rate to the current channel conditions. The system throughput is determined by some stations using low transmission rates due to bad channel conditions. CARA algorithm does not disturb the existing IEEE 802.11b formats and it can be easily incorporated into the commercial wireless local area networks (WLAN) devices. Finally, we verify our findings with simulation.     

Nonsaturation throughput enhancement of IEEE 802.11b distributed coordination function for heterogeneous traffic under noisy environment

In this paper, we propose a mechanism named modified backoff (MB) mechanism to decrease the channel idle time in IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF). In the noisy channel, when signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is low, applying this mechanism in DCF greatly improves the throughput and lowers the channel idle time. This paper presents an analytical model for the performance study of IEEE 802.11 MB-DCF for nonsaturated heterogeneous traffic in the presence of transmission errors. First, we introduce the MB-DCF and compare its performance to IEEE 802.11 DCF with binary exponential backoff (BEB). The IEEE 802.11 DCF with BEB mechanism suffers from more channel idle time under low SNR. The MB-DCF ensures high throughput and low packet delay by reducing the channel idle time under the low traffic in the network. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there are no previous works that enhance the performance of the DCF under imperfect wireless channel. We show through analysis that the proposed mechanism greatly outperforms the original IEEE 802.11 DCF in the imperfect channel condition. The effectiveness of physical and link layer parameters on throughput performance is explored. We also present a throughput investigation of the heterogeneous traffic for different radio conditions.     

Delay-Constrained Optimized Packet Aggregation in High-Speed Wireless Networks

High-speed wireless networks such as IEEE 802.11n have been introduced based on IEEE 802.11 to meet the growing demand for high-throughput and multimedia applications. It is known that the medium access control (MAC) efficiency of IEEE 802.11 decreases with increasing the physical rate. To improve efficiency, few solutions have been proposed such as Aggregation to concatenate a number of packets into a larger frame and send it at once to reduce the protocol overhead. Since transmitting larger frames eventuates to dramatic delay and jitter increase in other nodes, bounding the maximum aggregated frame size is important to satisfy delay requirements of especially multimedia applications. In this paper, we propose a scheme called Optimized Packet Aggregation (OPA) which models the network by constrained convex optimization to obtain the optimal aggregation size of each node regarding to delay constraints of other nodes. OPA attains proportionally fair sharing of the channel while satisfying delay constrains. Furthermore, reaching the optimal point is guaranteed in OPA with low complexity. Simulation results show that OPA can successfully bound delay and meet the requirements of nodes with only an insignificant throughput penalty due to limiting the aggregation size even in dynamic conditions.     

基于IEEE802.11n的长距离无线链路性能分析

IEEE802.11n-2009在传统802.11协议上添加了帧聚合和块回复功能,实现了MAC层增强,显著提高了网络吞吐量,使其更加适用于长距离无线网络。通过长距离(45km)无线链路信道利用率的理论计算和网络仿真,论证了节点采用帧聚合与块回复功能时的信道利用率明显优于不采用的情况。仿真结果进一步表明,速率越高、聚合帧越大在长距离传输时的吞吐量越高,且距离越远时帧聚合的优势越明显。     

IEEE802．11n聚合机制的研究与性能分析

分析了IEEE802．11n无线局域网提高网络吞吐量的瓶颈,介绍帧聚合机制的原理,其中着重对A-MSDU和A-MPDU两种聚会机制的性能进行仿真,仿真结果表明采用聚合机制降低了网络额外开销,与未采聚会机制相比在网络利用率上有较大地提高,同时降低了网络时延,有效地提高了网络性能。     

Throughput and PER estimates harnessing link-layer measurements for indoor 802.11n WLAN

The research work reported in this paper investigates if a Markov chain can model the throughput and packet error rate (PER) performance of off-the-shelf IEEE 802.11n wireless LAN network interface cards (NICs). We draw together uplink -downlink information from the NIC with a Markov chain to examine the performance of 802.11n within an indoor environment. Site measurements and point-estimates are taken and compared with the model predictions. Errors of less than 4% were recorded for the Markov model estimates while point-estimates recorded average errors of 9% both compared to site-measured throughput.     

Channel measurement-based access point selection in IEEE 802.11 WLANs

With the wide deployment of IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks, it has become common for mobile nodes (MNs) to have multiple access points (APs) to associate with. With the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)-based AP selection algorithm, which is implemented in most commercial IEEE 802.11 clients, the AP with the best signal strength is selected regardless of the candidate AP’s available throughput, resulting in unbalanced distribution of clients among the APs in the network. Several studies have shown performance improvement in not just the new MN (nMN), but also the network as a whole when the selection process considers the current load status of candidate APs. However, the proposed algorithms in these studies assume that there are no hidden terminal problems that severely affect the performance of the network. Hidden terminal problems frequently occur in wireless networks with unlicensed frequencies, like IEEE 802.11 in the 2.4 GHz band. Moreover, none of the previous studies have considered frame aggregation, a major improvement in transmission efficiency introduced and widely deployed with the IEEE 802.11n standard. In this paper, we propose a new AP selection algorithm based on the estimation of available throughput calculated with a model based on the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function in consideration of hidden terminal problems and frame aggregation. The proposed algorithm is evaluated through extensive simulation, and the results show that the nMN with the proposed AP selection algorithm can achieve up to 55.84% and 22.31% higher throughput compared to the traditional RSSI-based approach and the selection algorithm solely based on the network load, respectively.     

A performance analysis of block ACK scheme for IEEE 802.11e networks

The demand for the IEEE 802.11 wireless local-area networks (WLANs) has been drastically increasing along with many emerging applications and services over WLAN. However, the IEEE 802.11 medium access control (MAC) is known to be limited in terms of its throughput performance due to the high MAC overhead, such as interframe spaces (IFS) or per-frame based acknowledgement (ACK) frame transmissions. The IEEE 802.11e MAC introduces the block ACK scheme for improving the system efficiency of the WLAN. Using the block ACK scheme can reduce the ACK transmission overhead by integrating multiple ACKs for a number of data frames into a bitmap that is contained in a block ACK frame, thus increasing the MAC efficiency.In this paper, we mathematically analyze the throughput and delay performance of the IEEE 802.11e block ACK scheme in an erroneous channel environment. Our extensive ns-2 simulation results validate the accuracy of our analytical model and they further demonstrate that the block ACK scheme enhances the MAC throughput performance at the cost of the resequencing delay at the receiving buffer.     

IEEE 802.11e EDCA机制的一种参数调节策略

研究了IEEE 802.11e EDCA机制的原理和无线信道利用模型,阐明了EDCA参数设置对其性能的重要性。在此基础上,提出了一种简单有效的参数调节策略。仿真结果表明,该参数调节机制在保证实时业务要求的同时,可以显著提高数据流的吞吐率,优化了EDCA机制的运行性能。     

A backward-compatible multiple-round collision avoidance scheme for contention based medium access control

Random-access mechanisms play an important role in wireless networks, and have been extensively studied in recent years. Although many previous studies have proposed enhanced algorithms, each one has only considered either throughput or fairness. In this paper, we propose an efficient random-access mechanism called Multi-round Collision Avoidance (MrCA) that considers throughput and fairness together. The key idea in MrCA is to avoid collisions through multiple contentions, each with a smaller sized contention window. With this simple modification, we can significantly reduce the collision probability as well as the access delay, in addition to increasing fairness index. We find the collision probability and throughput analytically. Through simulation, we validate our analytical model and find appropriate parameters for achieving good performance. We also demonstrate that, compared to the IEEE 802.11 DCF, MrCA makes the collision probability extremely low, so that it increases throughput by 25% as well as short-term fairness by 50% with 50 contending nodes. When MrCA and 802.11 DCF schemes are combined with the auto rate fallback scheme, the performance gain of MrCA over 802.11 DCF increases because MrCA lowers the collision probability significantly, which makes channel error estimation more accurate. We also discuss the issues of implementation and backward compatibility.     

改进的非理想信道IEEE802.11DCF性能分析模型

为了提高分析的精确性,考虑发送成功的站点可能连续发送和重传次数限制的影响,给出了分析非理想信道下IEEE 802.11 DCF性能的改进二维马尔可夫链模型,用该模型对IEEE 802.11 DCF访问机制进行分析,求出饱和吞吐量和平均帧时延表达式。并通过仿真加以验证。     

Performance Analysis and Throughput Enhancement of the STET Technique for WLAN IEEE 802.11ad

The IEEE 802.11ad innovation has enabled the impact of remote devices in unauthorized 60 GHz unlicensed frequency band at Giga bits per second information transfer rate in speed concentrated 5G applications. We have presented an innovative work that deals with the upgradation of the ability of IEEE 802.11ad wireless LAN to make it suitable for wireless applications. An exact examination on the IEEE 802.11ad analysis has been carried out in this work to achieve the greatest throughput. This has pulled attraction in broad consideration for accomplishing the pinnacle transmission rate of 8 Gbit/s. IEEE 802.11ad is a convention utilized for extremely high information rates (around 8 Gbit/s) and for short range remote correspondence of around 1 to 10 meters. The Multi-layer with Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple-Output (MLMU-MIMO) innovation has enabled transmission of multiple information packets all the while from the WLAN IEEE 802.11 ad Access Point (AP) to various receivers by means of different wireless applications. To help the MLMU-MIMO innovation at Medium Access Control (MAC), a new method called Simultaneous Transmission for Enhanced Throughput (STET) has been presented for enhancement of the transmission rate of the wireless standard. A mathematical model has been used for the evaluation of the performance of an IEEE 802.11ad AP empowering the STET allocation technique. This STET model can help determination of the throughput improvement of a STET technique, for example, audio information, images, good quality and foundation impact. The main goal of this work is to analyze the improvement of the STET allocation technique in regard to the usage of rare frequency band, when obtaining spectrum access between the various access points. The theoretical and simulation outcomes are also confirmed by Riverbed modeler 17.5 simulation tool.     

Throughput analysis of the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function considering erroneous channel and capture effects

This paper presents a performance study of the distributed coordination function (DCF) of 802.11 networks considering erroneous channel and capture effects under non-saturated traffic conditions employing a basic access method. The aggregate throughput of a practical wireless local area network (WLAN) strongly depends on the channel conditions. In a real radio environment, the received signal power at the access point from a station is subjected to deterministic path loss, shadowing, and fast multipath fading. The binary exponential backoff (BEB) mechanism of IEEE 802.11 DCF severely suffers from more channel idle time under high bit error rate (BER). To alleviate the low performance of IEEE 802.11 DCF, a new mechanism is introduced, which greatly outperforms the existing methods under a high BER. A multidimensional Markov chain model is used to characterize the behavior of DCF in order to account both non-ideal channel conditions and capture effects.     

一种IEEE 802.11接入机制的新退避算法

无线传感器网络采用类似开放式系统互联模型的协议栈,作为第一个完全针对无线传感网络设计的MAC协议,S-MAC采用了IEEE802.11DCF的接入机制。本文在分析了IEEE802.11协议的二进制指数退避算法(BEB),以及倍数增线性减退避算法(MILD)后,提出了一种基于网络性能指标的新退避算法。新算法将无线信道中的时隙利用率映射网络性能指标传输概率,对网络中连续两次发送的时隙利用率进行平均滤波处理,改变重传节点的发送优先级,来调整节点在竞争使用窗口的退避值,以达到有效减少网络的碰撞、提高无线信道的使用效率和网络吞吐率的目的。仿真结果表明,新退避算法能更准确地估计网络当前的竞争状态,有效地提高了网络吞吐率,获得较好的网络性能。     

基于加权丢帧率的可调门限速率自适应算法

为了在IEEE 802．11无线网络中根据信道的动态变化恰当地选择传输速率,提出基于加权丢帧率的可调门限速率自适应算法。该机制加权计算丢帧率,自适应调整门限,能克服随机丢帧造成的误判,避免速率频繁波动,使速率选择更准确。仿真结果表明,该机制在Rayleigh信道和Ricean信道中均表现稳定,与其他速率自适应算法相比,吞吐量较优。     

面向工业无线汇聚网络的高吞吐率MAC协议

汇聚网络是工业传感器网络的常用拓扑形式。汇聚网络的隐藏终端是影响网络吞吐率的重要因素,目前常用信道预留机制来加以解决。此外,随着物理层数据传输速率的不断提高,相对短报文的现象日渐突出,使得用于信道预留的控制报文的开销相对增加。现有的IEEE802.11 DCF不能同时有效应对这两个现象。提出了取消信道预留方式来克服相对短报文问题,而对于由于信道预约取消所导致的隐藏终端问题,则以随机发送机制解决。为了获得最优的发送概率,设计了APCSMA协议,该协议以最大化节点吞吐率为目标,提出吞吐率最大化的必要条件,基于该必要条件,在主干扰模型下推导出节点均匀分布情况下的最优报文发送概率。从理论上分析了协议的网络吞吐率、延迟和能量效率。仿真结果和分析表明,APCSMA协议对于工业无线汇聚网络具有广泛的适用性。     

无线网络中实时业务的信道预留

随着无线数据服务的流行和多媒体应用需求的增长,需要无线网络能够为不同种类的业务提供有区别的服务质量(QoS),因此如何在无线网络中提供有区分和有保证的服务质量,成为一个非常重要的问题。论文提出了一种在IEEE802.11无线网络中为实时业务提供服务质量保证的有效方法,即通过修改介质访问控制(MAC)层的分布式协调功能(DCF),为实时数据预留信道。当一个节点竞争到信道后,可以连续向同一个目标节点发送多个实时数据帧,称作传送突发(TB,TransmissionBurst),即在一个TB中第一个数据帧将为实时业务预留信道,直到这个TB结束,这样实时业务将比其他业务占有更多的信道资源。仿真结果表明,该方法能够明显改进实时业务的吞吐率和延迟性能,提高无线网络的信道利用率,而且,对DCF的修改没有增加任何控制开销。     

Improved modeling of IEEE 802.11a PHY through fine-grained measurements

In wireless networks, modeling of the physical layer behavior is an important yet difficult task. Modeling and estimating wireless interference is receiving great attention, and is crucial in a wireless network performance study. The physical layer capture, preamble detection, and carrier sense threshold are three key components that play important roles in successful frame reception in the presence of interference. Using our IEEE 802.11a wireless network testbed, we carry out a measurement study that reveals the detailed operation of each component and in particular we show the terms and conditions (interference timing, signal power difference, bitrate) under which a frame survives interference according to the preamble detection and capture logic. Based on the measurement study, we show that the operations of the three components in real IEEE 802.11a systems differ from those of popular simulators and present our modifications of the IEEE 802.11a PHY models to the NS-2 and QualNet network simulators. The modifications can be summarized as follows. (i) The current simulators’ frame reception is based only on the received signal strength. However, real 802.11 systems can start frame reception only when the Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR) is high enough to detect the preamble. (ii) Different chipset vendors implement the frame reception and capture algorithms differently, resulting in different operations for the same event. We provide different simulation models for several popular chipset vendors and show the performance differences between the models. (iii) Based on the 802.11a standard setting and our testbed observation, we revise the simulator to set the carrier sense threshold higher than the receiver sensitivity rather than equal to the receiver sensitivity. We implement our modifications to the QualNet simulator and evaluate the impact of PHY model implementations on the wireless network performance; these result in an up to six times increase of net throughput.