Improving MAC Layer Fairness in Multi-Hop 802.11 Networks

M V S  Deekshitulu; Sukumar Nandi; Atanu Roy Chowdhury

2nd International IEEE Conference on Communication System Software and Middleware

Research Article

Improving MAC Layer Fairness in Multi-Hop 802.11 Networks

Cite: BibTeX Plain Text

@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1109/COMSWA.2007.382628,
    author={M V S  Deekshitulu and Sukumar Nandi and Atanu Roy Chowdhury},
    title={Improving MAC Layer Fairness in Multi-Hop 802.11 Networks},
    proceedings={2nd International IEEE Conference on Communication System Software and Middleware},
    publisher={IEEE},
    proceedings_a={COMSWARE},
    year={2007},
    month={7},
    keywords={Computer science  Round robin  Scheduling algorithm  Software engineering  Spread spectrum communication  Streaming media  Telecommunication traffic  Traffic control  Wireless communication  Wireless networks},
    doi={10.1109/COMSWA.2007.382628}
}

M V S Deekshitulu
Sukumar Nandi
Atanu Roy Chowdhury
Year: 2007
Improving MAC Layer Fairness in Multi-Hop 802.11 Networks
COMSWARE
IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/COMSWA.2007.382628

M V S Deekshitulu¹^,*, Sukumar Nandi¹^,*, Atanu Roy Chowdhury²^,*

1: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, North-Guwahati- 780139, Assam, India.
2: Software Engineering and Technology Labs, Infosys Technologies Ltd, Bangalore- 560100, India.

*Contact email: vsdm@iitg.ernet.in, sukumar@iitg.ernet.in, atanuschowdhury@infosys_.com

Abstract

Wireless adhoc networks consist of nodes interconnected by wireless multi-hop communication paths. Such networks exhibit simulated mobility, where the topological changes are caused by nodes coming up or going down. These networks also exhibit complex overlapping of flow paths. This in turn leads to severe contention in between flows as well as between the sub-flows of the same flow. In this paper, we analyze the unfairness of IEEE 802.11, in case it is extended for multi-hop networks. Thereafter we demonstrate how a simple, distributed algorithm can be put in place to approximate an ideal scheduler like round-robin and provide fair access to all the flows. Our simulation results clearly show that such an approach outscores the existing standard on fairness grounds. Additionally we also gain in terms of throughput by reducing the number of collisions.

Keywords: Computer science Round robin Scheduling algorithm Software engineering Spread spectrum communication Streaming media Telecommunication traffic Traffic control Wireless communication Wireless networks

Published: 2007-07-09
Publisher: IEEE
Modified: 2011-07-26

: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/COMSWA.2007.382628