Batch-based Power-controlled Channel Assignment for Improved Throughput in Software-defined Networks

Abstract

Software-defined networking (SDN) along with transmission power control (TPC) have a great potential in enabling efficient wireless networking. Power control aims at increasing network throughput, while SDN provides cognition and intelligent capabilities to network devices. The key challenge in enabling efficient operation of such networks is how to perform efficient power-controlled MAC protocols that includes channel assignment and power allocation such that network throughput is enhanced while using the least number of channels. Traditional MAC protocols for SDNs employ an exclusive channel-occupancy between neighboring secondary users (SUs), which significantly limits network performance. In this paper, we develop a novel power-controlled spectrum access protocol for SDNs based on the interference-channel occupancy model with the objective of increasing network throughput. It allows several concurrent interference-limited transmissions to simultaneously proceed over the same channel in the same neighborhood. Unlike most of previous power-control MAC protocols that perform the channel assignment and power allocation sequentially, our protocol simultaneously makes distributed channel and power assignment decisions for multiple SU transmissions (batch-based method). Batching can be achieved by using an admission control window for SUs to exchange their collision-avoidance control information. Simulation results reveal that compared with CSMA/CA variants, our protocol greatly improve spectrum efficiency, which improves network throughput while reducing energy consumption.