Dynamic TXOP Research Articles

An enhanced dynamic transmission opportunity scheme to support varying traffic load over wireless campus networks.

Transmission opportunity (TXOP) is a key factor to enable efficient channel bandwidth utilization over wireless campus networks (WCN) for interactive multimedia (IMM) applications. It facilitates in resource allocation for the similar categories of multiple packets transmission until the allocated time is expired. The static TXOP limits are defined for various categories of IMM traffics in the IEEE802.11e standard. Due to the variation of traffic load in WCN, the static TXOP limits are not sufficient enough to guarantee the quality of service (QoS) for IMM traffic flows. In order to address this issue, several existing works allocate the TXOP limits dynamically to ensure QoS for IMM traffics based on the current associated queue size and pre-setting threshold values. However, existing works do not take into account all the medium access control (MAC) overheads while estimating the current queue size which in turn is required for dynamic TXOP limits allocation. Hence, not considering MAC overhead appropriately results in inaccurate queue size estimation, thereby leading to inappropriate allocation of dynamic TXOP limits. In this article, an enhanced dynamic TXOP (EDTXOP) scheme is proposed that takes into account all the MAC overheads while estimating current queue size, thereby allocating appropriate dynamic TXOP limits within the pre-setting threshold values. In addition, the article presents an analytical estimation of the EDTXOP scheme to compute the dynamic TXOP limits for the current high priority traffic queues. Simulation results were carried out by varying traffic load in terms of packet size and packet arrival rate. The results show that the proposed EDTXOP scheme achieves the overall performance gains in the range of 4.41%—8.16%, 8.72%—11.15%, 14.43%—32% and 26.21%—50.85% for throughput, PDR, average ETE delay and average jitter, respectively when compared to the existing work. Hence, offering a better TXOP limit allocation solution than the rest.

Novel LAA Waiting and Transmission Time Configuration Methods for Improved LTE-LAA/Wi-Fi Coexistence Over Unlicensed Bands

Long Term Evolution-Licensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) has been pointed out as a key solution to cope with the increasing amounts of data traffic and the scarcity of the licensed spectrum. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has standardised LAA to operate over the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum which is mainly occupied by Wi-Fi. It is a challenging problem to ensure a fair coexistence between these technologies. Several studies have been proposed in the literature to allow a fair LAA/Wi-Fi coexistence. In this work, various methods are proposed to adapt/select the waiting times for LAA based on the activity statistics of the existing Wi-Fi network. The main novelty is that the knowledge of the existing Wi-Fi activities is exploited to tune the boundaries of the Contention Window (CW) for LAA and to select fixed waiting times for LAA. Moreover, a dynamic method is proposed to adapt the Transmission Opportunity (TxOP) times for LAA based on the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedbacks. The methods are evaluated using ns-3 network simulator based on the 3GPP fairness definition. We show that selecting fixed waiting times for LAA based on the existing Wi-Fi activities is more friendly to the existing Wi-Fi and provides better total aggregated throughputs for both coexisting networks compared to the 3GPP Category 4 Listen Before Talk (Cat 4 LBT) algorithm. Moreover, the proposed dynamic TxOP method is more friendly to the existing Wi-Fi and provides better total aggregated throughputs compared to the fixed TxOP period approach of the 3GPP Cat 4 LBT scheme.

Elastic QoS Scheduling with Step-by-Step Propagation in IEEE 802.11e Networks with Multimedia Traffic

The spreading diffusion of wireless devices and the crowded coexistence of multimedia applications greedy of bandwidth and with strict requirements stress the service provisioning offered by wireless technologies. WiFi is a reference for wireless connectivity and it requires a continuous evolution of its mechanism in order to follow increasingly demanding service needs. In particular, despite the evolution of physical layer, some critical contexts, such as industrial networks, telemedicine, telerehabilitation, and virtual training, require further refined improvements in order to ensure the respect of strict real-time service requirements. In this paper an in-depth analysis of Dynamic TXOP HCCA (DTH) MAC enhanced centralized scheduler is illustrated and it is further refined introducing a new improvement, DTH with threshold. DTH and DTH with threshold can be integrated with preexisting centralized schedulers in order to improve their performances, without any overprovisioning that can negatively impact on the admission control feasibility test. Indeed, without modifying the centralized scheduler policy, they combine together the concepts of reclaiming transmission time and statistical estimation of the traffic profile in order to provide, at each polling, an instantaneous transmission time tailored to the variable traffic requirements, increasing, when necessary, the service data rate. These mechanisms can coexist with advanced physical layer-based solutions, providing the required service differentiation. Experimental results and theoretical analysis, based on elastic scheduler theory, show that they are effective especially in the case of Variable Bit Rate traffic streams in terms of transmission queues length, packets loss, delay, and throughput.

Dynamic TXOP Assignment in IEEE802.11e Multi-hop Wireless Networks Based on an Admission Control Method

There is no network traffic classification in intermediate nodes in IEEE802.11e multi-hop wireless network, which results in delays for the traffic with higher levels of service. Also, there is no mechanism to support fairness in a shared environment with different classes of service, which leads to inappropriate quality of service. Previous studies were focused on improving network throughput and also the fairness among the traffic that belongs to one class of service and there is no solution for providing fairness among different classes of service in each individual node. In this paper, a new method is proposed for scheduling the traffic in each intermediate node which is based on Transmission Opportunity (TXOP). The new method ensures differentiated quality of service for service classes as well as improvement of throughput and end to end delay. Using dynamic TXOP along with the proposed method can provide desired quality of service as well as fairness in the bandwidth shared between different classes of services. Simulation results illustrate network throughput and end to end delay improvement for each class of service, in the case of using the proposed method, as well as fairness in using the shared bandwidth which leads to more efficient use of network resources.

Enhancements of the Dynamic TXOP Limit in EDCA Through a High-Speed Wireless Campus Network

IEEE802.11e is a concrete challenge to providing quality of service (QoS) aimed at interactive multimedia (IMM) applications due to the resource allocation parameter for heterogeneous traffic flows. This parameter is fixed for different specific IMM traffic flows in the IEEE802.11e standard. However, due to the variation in traffic load on wireless campus networks (WCNs), the fixed allocation of the channel resource parameter is not sufficient to guarantee QoS for IMM traffic flows. Thus, many researchers have investigated dynamic regulation of this resource allocation parameter to ensure QoS. However, there are still some unresolved problems with this parameter. This paper introduces an enhanced EDCA resource allocation parameter named dynamic transmission opportunity (TXOP) limit that regulates according to the variation in traffic load over WCN. This work also employs a mathematical modelling approach for the proposed parameter and numerical analysis of the existing and proposed parameters. The evaluation of the proposed model is simulated using Qualnet 5.1. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme allows improving the QoS performance of IMM traffic by reducing end-to-end delay. Additionally, the results show that the proposed scheme significantly improves global throughput.

Providing Dynamic TXOP for QoS Support of Video Transmission in IEEE 802.11e WLANs

The IEEE 802.11e standard introduced by IEEE 802.11 Task Group E (TGe) enhances the Quality of Service (QoS) by means of HCF Controlled Channel Access (HCCA). The scheduler of HCCA allocates Transmission Opportunities (TXOPs) to QoS-enabled Station (QSTA) based on their TS Specifications (TSPECs) negotiated at the traffic setup time so that it is only efficient for Constant Bit Rate (CBR) applications. However, Variable Bit Rate (VBR) traffics are not efficiently supported as they exhibit nondeterministic profile during the time. In this paper, we present a dynamic TXOP assignment Scheduling Algorithm for supporting the video traffics transmission over IEEE 802.11e wireless networks. This algorithm uses a piggybacked information about the size of the subsequent video frames of the uplink traffic to assist the Hybrid Coordinator accurately assign the TXOP according to the fast changes in the VBR profile. The proposed scheduling algorithm has been evaluated using simulation with different variability level video streams. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm reduces the delay experienced by VBR traffic streams comparable to HCCA scheduler due to the accurate assignment of the TXOP which preserve the channel time for transmission.

Improving the QoS of IEEE 802.11e networks through imprecise computation

IEEE 802.11e HCCA reference scheduler is based on fixed value parameters that do not adapt to traffic changes, thus quality of service QoS for multimedia applications is a challenge, especially in the case of variable bit rate VBR streams, that requires dynamic resource assignment. This paper is focused on immediate dynamic TXOP HCCA IDTH scheduling algorithm and its new evolution immediate dynamic TXOP HCCA plus IDTH+. Their reclaiming mechanisms, refined by the monitoring of transmission duration, aim at overcoming the limits of fixed preallocation of resources by varying the stations transmission time and avoiding waste of resources. Simulations and theoretical analysis based on the imprecise computation model show that the integration of IDTH and IDTH+ can achieve improved network performance in terms of transmission queues length, mean access delay and packets drop rate, and to efficiently manage bursty traffic. Moreover, the performance improvements of IDTH+ with respect to IDTH are highlighted.

A novel cross-layer design for dynamic TXOP in IEEE802.11e

A novel cross-layer design for dynamic TXOP in IEEE802.11e

Adaptive multi-polling scheduler for QoS support of video transmission in IEEE 802.11e WLANs

The 802.11E Task Group has been established to enhance Quality of Service (QoS) provision for time-bounded services in the current IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol. The QoS is introduced throughout Hybrid Coordination Function Controlled Channel Access (HCCA) for the rigorous QoS provision. In HCCA, the station is allocated a fixed Transmission Opportunity (TXOP) based on its TSPEC parameters so that it is efficient for Constant Bit Rate streams. However, as the profile of Variable Bit Rate (VBR) traffics is inconstant, they are liable to experience a higher delay especially in bursty traffic case. In this paper, we present a dynamic TXOP assignment algorithm called Adaptive Multi-polling TXOP scheduling algorithm (AMTXOP) for supporting the video traffics transmission over IEEE 802.11e wireless networks. This scheme invests a piggybacked information about the size of the subsequent video frames of the uplink streams to assist the Hybrid Coordinator accurately assign the TXOP according to actual change in the traffic profile. The proposed scheduler is powered by integrating multi-polling scheme to further reduce the delay and polling overhead. Extensive simulation experiments have been carried out to show the efficiency of the AMTXOP over the existing schemes in terms of the packet delay and the channel utilization.

Performance analysis of a threshold-based dynamic TXOP scheme for intra-AC QoS in wireless LANs

The IEEE 802.11e Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) protocol has been proposed for provisioning of differentiated Quality-of-Service (QoS) between various Access Categories (ACs), i.e., inter-AC QoS, in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). However, the EDCA lacks the support of the intra-AC QoS provisioning, which is indispensable in practical WLANs since the network loads are always asymmetric between traffic flows of ACs with the same priority. To address the intra-AC QoS issue, this paper proposes a Threshold-Based Dynamic Transmission Opportunity (TBD-TXOP) scheme which sets the TXOP limits adaptive to the current status of the transmission queue based on the pre-setting threshold. An analytical model is further developed to evaluate the QoS performance of this scheme in terms of throughput, end-to-end delay, and frame loss probability. NS-2 simulation experiments validate the accuracy of the proposed analytical model. The performance results demonstrate the efficacy of TBD-TXOP for the intra-AC QoS differentiation.

Fairness Enhancement Scheme for Multimedia Applications in IEEE 802.11e Wireless LANs

Multimedia traffic should be transmitted to a receiver within the delay bound. The traffic is discarded when breaking its delay bound. Then, QoS (Quality of Service) of the traffic and network performance are lowered. The IEEE 802.11e standard defines a TXOP (Transmission Opportunity) parameter. The TXOP is the time interval in which a station can continuously transmit multiple data packets. All stations use the same TXOP value in the IEEE 802.11e standard. Therefore, when stations transmit traffic generated in different multimedia applications, fairness problem occurs. In order to alleviate the fairness problem, we propose a dynamic TXOP control scheme based on the channel utilization of network and multimedia traffic quantity in the queue of a station. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme improves fairness and QoS of multimedia traffic.

Improving QoS Performance in IEEE 802.11e Under Heavy Traffic Loads

IEEE 802.11e standard is a concrete attempt to QoS challenge, but when the volume of traffic flows increases, this approach is not sufficient. Several techniques have been developed to improve WLAN QoS performance, mainly introducing a trade-off between performance and standard compatibility. This work describes the techniques used to enhance EDCA efficiency by suitably regulating standard’s parameters and it introduces an innovative algorithm, named Dynamic TXOP (DTXOP), capable of enhancing fairness between upstream and downstream resource allocation in Wi-Fi networks. Finally, after a brief review of admission control algorithms for QoS support under heavy traffic loads, a suitable admission control scheme is integrated with DTXOP as a possible solution for facing QoS degradation of active sources due to an excessive network load. The benefits obtained by integrating DTXOP and the proposed admission control policy are shown in terms of QoS enhancement and efficiency in resource allocation.

Research of the QoS-Supporting IEEE 802.11 EDCA Performance

With the rapid development of wireless applications, the IEEE 802.11 task group proposed the QoS- supporting enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) MAC mechanism, which is based on the legacy IEEE 802.11 DCF, to provide service differentiation for different types of traffic flows in the networks. This paper proposes a novel Markov chain-based analytical model for the IEEE 802.11 EDCA. Unlike the existing analytical models for the EDCA, the proposed model incorporates all the three major features of the EDCA, i.e., Wmin/Wmax, AIFS (arbitration inter-frame space), and TXOP (transmission opportunity). With this model, the paper presents the performance evaluations of the EDCA analytically, including each priority’s transmission throughput, media access delay, packet loss rate, etc. It dose not only analyze the saturated EDCA operation case, but also analyze the non-saturated EDCA operation case. Simulation results confirm the accuracy of the model analysis. Based on the model analysis, this paper proposes an admission control scheme D-TXOP (dynamic TXOP). While making admission decision, the scheme adjusts different priorities’ TXOP parameter settings adaptively according to their QoS requirements, which greatly enhances the network capacity.