Channel Access Mechanism Research Articles

Partially overlapped channels not considered harmful

Many wireless channels in different technologies are known to have partial overlap. However, due to the interference effects among such partially overlapped channels, their simultaneous use has typically been avoided. In this paper, we present a first attempt to model partial overlap between channels in a systematic manner. Through the model, we illustrate that the use of partially overlapped channels is not always harmful. In fact, a careful use of some partially overlapped channels can often lead to significant improvements in spectrum utilization and application performance. We demonstrate this through analysis as well as through detailed application-level and MAC-level measurements. Additionally, we illustrate the benefits of our developed model by using it to directly enhance the performance of two previously proposed channel assignment algorithms --- one in the context of wireless LANs and the other in the context of multi-hop wireless mesh networks. Through detailed simulations, we show that use of partially overlapped channels in both these cases can improve end-to-end application throughput by factors between 1.6 and 2.7 in different scenarios, depending on wireless node density. We conclude by observing that the notion of partial overlap can be the right model of flexibility to design efficient channel access mechanisms in the emerging software radio platforms.

A call admission and rate control scheme for multimedia support over IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs

Quality of service (QoS) support for multimedia services in the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN is an important issue for such WLANs to become a viable wireless access to the Internet. In this paper, we endeavor to propose a practical scheme to achieve this goal without changing the channel access mechanism. To this end, a novel call admission and rate control (CARC) scheme is proposed. The key idea of this scheme is to regulate the arriving traffic of the WLAN such that the network can work at an optimal point. We first s how that the channel busyness ratio is a good indicator of the network status in the sense that it is easy to obtain and can accurately and timely represent channel utilization. Then we propose two algorithms based on the channel busyness ratio. The call admission control algorithm is used to regulate the admission of real-time or streaming traffic and the rate control algorithm to control the transmission rate of best effort traffic. As a result, the real-time or streaming traffic is supported with statistical QoS guarantees and the best effort traffic can fully utilize the residual channel capacity left by the real-time and streaming traffic. In addition, the rate control algorithm itself provides a solution that could be used above the media access mechanism to approach the maximal theoretical channel utilization. A comprehensive simulation study in ns-2 has verified the performance of our proposed CARC scheme, showing that the original 802.11 DCF protocol can statically support strict QoS requirements, such as those required by voice over IP or streaming video, and at the same time, achieve a high channel utilization.

Comparison of modified dual queue and EDCA for VoIP over IEEE 802.11 WLAN

AbstractThe popular IEEE 802.11 WLAN today does not provide any quality of service (QoS) because of its contention‐based channel access nature of the medium access control (MAC). A simple software upgrade‐based solution, called a dual queue scheme, can be used to provide QoS to real‐time services such as Voice‐over‐IP (VoIP). The dual queue scheme operates on top of the legacy MAC. In this paper, we present a modified dual queue (MDQ) scheme by considering a practical implementation limitation. On the other hand, the emerging 802.11e MAC includes a contention‐based channel access mechanism, called enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA). Prioritized channel accesses are provided to different traffic classes under EDCA.In this paper, we comparatively evaluate the performances of MDQ and EDCA via simulations in terms of delay, jitter and throughput for various scenarios. We also compare the two access schemes when multiple transmission rates are used via rate adaptation mechanism for reliable transmission over erroneous wireless channel. The simulation results show that EDCA apparently provides a better performance in most situations. However, MDQ provides an acceptable performance close to that of EDCA so that it can be used when the EDCA is not available and/or the hardware upgrade to 802.11e is not desirable for the cost reason. Copyright © 2006 AEIT

Performance Evaluation of IEEE 802.11 Distributed Coordination Function with Virtual Group

The IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) provides a contention-based distribution channel access mechanism for stations to share the wireless medium. However, performance of the DCF drops dramatically in terms of throughput, delay and jitter as the number of active stations becomes large. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective scheme, called distributed coordination function with virtual group (DCF/VG), for improving the performance of the IEEE 802.11 DCF mechanism. In this scheme, each station independently decides a virtual group cycle taking into account the current contention level. The virtual group cycle consists of one or more virtual groups and a virtual group includes an idle and a busy period. Each station chooses one virtual group and operates only in the chosen group of the cycle. In other words, each station decreases its backoff counter and tries to transmit its packet during the period of the chosen virtual group like in the IEEE 802.11 DCF. Performance of the proposed scheme is investigated by numerical analysis and simulation. Our results show that the proposed scheme is very effective and has high throughput and low delay and jitter behaviors under a wide range of contention levels.

A distributed collision resolution scheme for improving the performance in wireless LANs

The IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) provides a contention-based distribution channel access mechanism for stations to share the wireless medium. However, performance of the DCF drops dramatically due to high collision probability as the number of active stations becomes larger. In this paper, we propose a simple and effective collision resolution scheme for improving the performance of the DCF mechanism. Our idea is based on the estimation of the channel’s contention level, by measuring duration of busy and idle periods observed on the channel at each station. In order to reduce collision probability, the proposed scheme limits the number of contending stations at the same time according to the channel contention level. Performance of the proposed scheme is investigated by numerical analysis and simulation. Our results show that the proposed scheme is very effective and improves the performance under a wide range of contention levels.

Applications and challenges of the 802.11e EDCA mechanism: an experimental study

In this article we conduct an experimental study of the enhanced distributed channel access mechanism of the upcoming 802.11e standard. The main focus of the study is on two applications of EDCA: traffic engineering and service guarantees. With traffic engineering we aim at distributing the bandwidth in the WLAN according to a given throughput allocation criterion. With service guarantees the objective is to ensure that the performance metrics (throughput and delay) experienced by a station meet a given quality criterion. We build a testbed with wireless cards that support a substantial subset of the EDCA functionality and analyze performance against different sets of requirements. Experimental results show that EDCA can effectively be used for traffic engineering purposes. The goal of providing service guarantees with EDCA is shown to be more challenging; we identify future research directions that need to be addressed in order to achieve this goal.

Improving QoS and throughput in single- and multihop WLANs through dynamic traffic prioritization

Nowadays, research efforts are being put into the design of effective mechanisms to provide service quality differentiation in IEEE 802.11-based wireless LANs. In this article we analyze the effects of augmenting the contention-based channel access mechanism of IEEE 802.11e through the assignment of dynamic traffic priorities, that adapt to either the application's quality requirements or the network congestion status. The aim is to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed dynamic mechanism in a wireless ad hoc network, in both single-hop and multihop scenarios, under variable traffic and network load conditions.

A delay model for IEEE 802.11e EDCA

In this paper, we present a model to analyze the delay behavior of the enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) mechanism of IEEE 802.11e. Simulation results validate the accuracy of the analysis.

Evaluation of Contention-Based EDCA for IEEE 802.11e Wireless LAN

The legacy IEEE 801.11 doesn’t support QoS streams with priorities. It since causes some QoS demanding applications such as VoIP, Video streaming to be limited in its usefulness. Enhancements have been made to the MAC layer by the new 802.11e standard to support prioritized and parameterized QoS. The work of this paper is to simulate the new scheme and modify the existing OPNET WLAN MAC model to satisfy the 802.1le standard. The modification includes adding four access category queues, AP beacon with EDCA parameters, AC queue switcher and an internal collision handler to evaluate the contention-based channel access mechanism, called enhanced distributed coordination access (EDCA) in the current 802.1le. The performance of those new schemes has been compared with DCF of the 802.11 standard via simulation results. It clearly indicates the IEEE 802.11 EDCA function can effectively provide QoS differentiation.

IEEE 802.11e: QoS provisioning at the MAC layer

This article introduces the emerging IEEE 802.11e standard to support quality of service at the medium access control layer. Both the contention-based and contention-free centrally controlled channel access mechanisms are introduced by describing not only the MAC protocol operations and parameters, but also the call admission techniques and scheduling algorithm that have been designed for IEEE 802.11e. Finally, we provide simulation results aimed to highlight the capability of the EDCF to differentiate the traffic classes.

HIPERSIM: A Sense Range Distinctive Simulation Environment for HiperLAN Systems

This paper presents the simulator “HIPERSIM” which was developed and used to examine the behavior of HIPERLAN (Type 1). HIPERSIM simulates the HIPERLAN network under various conditions, assuming that the communication range and the sense range (signal detection range) of a node are different. In a wireless LAN, like HIPERLAN, the medium access protocol, the hidden nodes, the packet forwarding and the power saving mechanism are important issues that significantly affect the overall performance. The intention is to provide a HIPERLAN specialized tool (HIPERSIM) which can simulate most of the features of this WLAN protocol, in order to examine the performance of HIPER-LAN. The main focus is to simulate the channel access mechanism accurately, so as to examine the effectiveness of the EY-NPMA protocol, and underline its advantages and the elements that need improvement. Also, in HIPERSIM, there is emphasis on the “hidden nodes” issue. More specifically, we distinguish between the communication range and the signal detection range of a node, since this is a characteristic of the wireless nature and it affects the network operation. The simulation results show that EY-NPMA is effective and suitable for WLANs. Probably there could be some improvement in order to avert the collisions close to the receiver.

Analysis and optimisation of the HIPERLAN Channel Access Contention Scheme

This paper analyses the HIPERLAN channel access mechanism. Both a purely mathematical and a simulation model are built in order to evaluate the two successive phases of the contention scheme. Several optimisations, based on the choice of parametric values, are proposed, evaluated and compared.

Priority and Collision Detection with Active Signaling - The Channel Access Mechanism of HIPERLAN

HIPERLAN will provide a 23.5 Mbps data rate transmission to radio channel user. The medium access control is based on carrier sense (CSMA) and on active signaling. Active signaling is an original f...

A report on HIPERLAN standardization

HIPERLAN is the new European standard for radio LANs currently being formulated by ETSI RES10 for operation at 5 GHz and 17 GHz. It will be suitable for radio replacement of wired LANs and for ad hoc networking providing a user data rate of 10–20 Mbit/s. This paper is a review of the work of ETSI RES10 on the formulation of the HIPERLAN standard. The origins of ETSI RES10 are documented. The targets set for HIPERLAN and the problems in achieving these targets are discussed. The paper reviews the technical arguments for and against the proposed solutions to these problems, concentrating on the design of the transmission scheme and the channel access mechanism. The discussions leading to significant decisions about the standard are summarized. If the FCC in the United States of America allocate the equivalent 5 GHz band to unlicensed wireless LAN systems, many of these discussions will be revisited for future standards in this band. The paper will be of interest to anyone in academia or industry wishing to be brought quickly up to date with the state of the standard in order to focus their research or development activities. The paper also gives a general insight into the technical side of the standards formulation process in ETSI.

Stationary distributions in a queueing system with vacation times and limited service

This paper deals with a modified M/G/1 queueing system with finite capacity and a walking server. Units waiting are served up to a limited number before the server takes a vacation time and later returns to the queue again. A computational method for the stationary queue length distribution is developed and illustrated with a numerical example. The model was motivated by similar channel access mechanisms in token-ring local area networks.

Oceanographics

We consider a two-dimensional mesh network comprising several source-destination pairs, each communicating wirelessly in a multihop fashion. First, we introduce a novel transmission policy for multihop networks according to which all the buffering in the network is performed at source nodes while relays just have unit-sized buffers. We demonstrate that incorporating this buffering scheme in conjunction with minor amendments to the medium access control (MAC) layer yields several benefits such as keeping packet delays small and helping regulate the traffic flow in a completely distributed fashion. Second, we employ a novel combination of tools from stochastic geometry and statistical mechanics to characterize the throughput and end-to-end delay performances of multihop wireless networks for two different channel access mechanisms, Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) and ALOHA. Our study also offers valuable insights from a system design stand-point such as determining the optimum density of transmitters or the optimal number of hops along a flow that maximizes the system’s throughput performance. We corroborate our theoretical analyses via simulations.