Bandwidth management of WiMAX systems and performance modeling

WiMAX has been introduced as a competitive alternative for metropolitan broadband wireless access technologies. It is connection oriented and it can provide very high data rates, large service coverage, and flexible quality of services (QoS). Due to the large number of connections and flexible QoS supported by WiMAX, the uplink access in WiMAX networks is very challenging since the medium access control (MAC) protocol must efficiently manage the bandwidth and related channel allocations. In this paper, we propose and investigate a cost-effective WiMAX bandwidth management scheme, named the WiMAX partial sharing scheme (WPSS), in order to provide good QoS while achieving better bandwidth utilization and network throughput. The proposed bandwidth management scheme is compared with a simple but inefficient scheme, named the WiMAX complete sharing scheme (WCPS). A maximum entropy (ME) based analytical model (MEAM) is proposed for the performance evaluation of the two bandwidth management schemes. The reason for using MEAM for the performance evaluation is that MEAM can efficiently model a large-scale system in which the number of stations or connections is generally very high, while the traditional simulation and analytical (e.g., Markov models) approaches cannot perform well due to the high computation complexity. We model the bandwidth management scheme as a queuing network model (QNM) that consists of interacting multiclass queues for different service classes. Closed form expressions for the state and blocking probability distributions are derived for those schemes. Simulation results verify the MEAM numerical results and show that WPSS can significantly improve the network's performance compared to WCPS.

Service differentiation for the bandwidth request scheme in fixed IEEE 802.16 networks

IEEE 802.16 standards have been developed as one of the technical solutions for broadband wireless access systems. It has high data rate, large network coverage, flexible QoS schemes and cheap network deployment. Various flexible mechanisms related to QoS provisioning have been specified for uplink traffic at the medium access control (MAC) layer in the standards. Among the mechanisms, contention based bandwidth request scheme can be used to indicate bandwidth demands to the base station for the non-real-time polling and besteffort services. These two services are used for most application with unknown traffic characteristics. Due to the diverse QoS requirements of those applications, service differentiation (SD) is anticipated over the contention based bandwidth request scheme. In this paper we investigate the SD with the bandwidth request scheme by means of assigning different channel access parameters and bandwidth allocation priorities. The effectiveness of the differentiation schemes are evaluated by simulations. It is observed that the initial backoff window can be efficient in SD, and if combined with the bandwidth allocation priority, the SD performances will be better. ©2008 IEEE.

Design and analysis of distributed utility maximization algorithm for multihop wireless network with inaccurate feedback

Distributed network utility maximization (NUM) is receiving increasing interests for cross-layer optimization problems in multihop wireless networks. Traditional distributed NUM algorithms rely heavily on feedback information between different network elements, such as traffic sources and routers. Because of the distinct features of multihop wireless networks such as time-varying channels and dynamic network topology, the feedback information is usually inaccurate, which represents as a major obstacle for distributed NUM application to wireless networks. The questions to be answered include if distributed NUM algorithm can converge with inaccurate feedback and how to design effective distributed NUM algorithm for wireless networks. In this paper, we first use the infinitesimal perturbation analysis technique to provide an unbiased gradient estimation on the aggregate rate of traffic sources at the routers based on locally available information. On the basis of that, we propose a stochastic approximation algorithm to solve the distributed NUM problem with inaccurate feedback. We then prove that the proposed algorithm can converge to the optimum solution of distributed NUM with perfect feedback under certain conditions. The proposed algorithm is applied to the joint rate and media access control problem for wireless networks. Numerical results demonstrate the convergence of the proposed algorithm. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Enhanced slotted aloha protocols for underwater sensor networks with large propagation delay

Recently underwater sensor networks (UWSN) attracted large research interests. Medium access control (MAC) is one of the major challenges faced by UWSN due to the large propagation delay and narrow channel bandwidth of acoustic communications used for UWSN. Widely used slotted aloha (S-Aloha) protocol suffers large performance loss in UWSNs, which can only achieve performance close to pure aloha (P-Aloha). In this paper we theoretically model the performances of S-Aloha and P-Aloha protocols and analyze the adverse impact of propagation delay. According to the observation on the performances of S-Aloha protocol we propose two enhanced S-Aloha protocols in order to minimize the adverse impact of propagation delay on S-Aloha protocol. The first enhancement is a synchronized arrival S-Aloha (SA-Aloha) protocol, in which frames are transmitted at carefully calculated time to align the frame arrival time with the start of time slots. Propagation delay is taken into consideration in the calculation of transmit time. As estimation error on propagation delay may exist and can affect network performance, an improved SA-Aloha (denoted by ISA-Aloha) is proposed, which adjusts the slot size according to the range of delay estimation errors. Simulation results show that both SA-Aloha and ISA-Aloha perform remarkably better than S-Aloha and P-Aloha for UWSN, and ISA-Aloha is more robust even when the propagation delay estimation error is large. © 2011 IEEE.

An adaptive IEEE 802.15.4 data transmission scheme for smart grid applications

IEEE 802.15.4 networks (also known as ZigBee networks) has the features of low data rate and low power consumption. In this paper we propose an adaptive data transmission scheme which is based on CSMA/CA access control scheme, for applications which may have heavy traffic loads such as smart grids. In the proposed scheme, the personal area network (PAN) coordinator will adaptively broadcast a frame length threshold, which is used by the sensors to make decision whether a data frame should be transmitted directly to the target destinations, or follow a short data request frame. If the data frame is long and prone to collision, use of a short data request frame can efficiently reduce the costs of the potential collision on the energy and bandwidth. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme with largely improve bandwidth and power efficiency. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Service differentiation in OFDM-Based IEEE 802.16 networks

IEEE 802.16 network is widely viewed as a strong candidate solution for broadband wireless access systems. Various flexible mechanisms related to QoS provisioning have been specified for uplink traffic at the medium access control (MAC) layer in the standards. Among the mechanisms, bandwidth request scheme can be used to indicate and request bandwidth demands to the base station for different services. Due to the diverse QoS requirements of the applications, service differentiation (SD) is desirable for the bandwidth request scheme. In this paper, we propose several SD approaches. The approaches are based on the contention-based bandwidth request scheme and achieved by the means of assigning different channel access parameters and/or bandwidth allocation priorities to different services. Additionally, we propose effective analytical model to study the impacts of the SD approaches, which can be used for the configuration and optimization of the SD services. It is observed from simulations that the analytical model has high accuracy. Service can be efficiently differentiated with initial backoff window in terms of throughput and channel access delay. Moreover, the service differentiation can be improved if combined with the bandwidth allocation priority approach without adverse impacts on the overall system throughput.

A simulation study of service differentiation for the bandwidth request scheme in fixed IEEE 802.16 network

Various flexible mechanisms related to quality of service (QoS) provisioning have been specified for uplink traffic at the medium access control (MAC) layer in the IEEE 802.16 standards. Among the mechanisms, contention based bandwidth request scheme can be used to indicate bandwidth demands to the base station for the non-real-time polling and best-effort services. These two services are used for most applications with unknown traffic characteristics. Due to the diverse QoS requirements of those applications, service differentiation (SD) is anticipated over the contention based bandwidth request scheme. In this paper we investigate the SD with the bandwidth request scheme by means of assigning different channel access parameters and bandwidth allocation priorities at different packets arrival probability. The effectiveness of the differentiation schemes is evaluated by simulations. It is observed that the initial backoff window can be efficient in SD, and if combined with the bandwidth allocation priority, the SD performances will be better.

Performance modelling and analysis of multiple coexisting IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor networks

With the features of low-power and flexible networking capabilities IEEE 802.15.4 has been widely regarded as one strong candidate of communication technologies for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). It is expected that with an increasing number of deployments of 802.15.4 based WSNs, multiple WSNs could coexist with full or partial overlap in residential or enterprise areas. As WSNs are usually deployed without coordination, the communication could meet significant degradation with the 802.15.4 channel access scheme, which has a large impact on system performance. In this thesis we are motivated to investigate the effectiveness of 802.15.4 networks supporting WSN applications with various environments, especially when hidden terminals are presented due to the uncoordinated coexistence problem. Both analytical models and system level simulators are developed to analyse the performance of the random access scheme specified by IEEE 802.15.4 medium access control (MAC) standard for several network scenarios. The first part of the thesis investigates the effectiveness of single 802.15.4 network supporting WSN applications. A Markov chain based analytic model is applied to model the MAC behaviour of IEEE 802.15.4 standard and a discrete event simulator is also developed to analyse the performance and verify the proposed analytical model. It is observed that 802.15.4 networks could sufficiently support most WSN applications with its various functionalities. After the investigation of single network, the uncoordinated coexistence problem of multiple 802.15.4 networks deployed with communication range fully or partially overlapped are investigated in the next part of the thesis. Both nonsleep and sleep modes are investigated with different channel conditions by analytic and simulation methods to obtain the comprehensive performance evaluation. It is found that the uncoordinated coexistence problem can significantly degrade the performance of 802.15.4 networks, which is unlikely to satisfy the QoS requirements for many WSN applications. The proposed analytic model is validated by simulations which could be used to obtain the optimal parameter setting before WSNs deployments to eliminate the interference risks.

Design and analysis of distributed utility maximization algorithm for multihop wireless network with inaccurate feedback

Distributed network utility maximization (NUM) is receiving increasing interests for cross-layer optimization problems in multihop wireless networks. Traditional distributed NUM algorithms rely heavily on feedback information between different network elements, such as traffic sources and routers. Because of the distinct features of multihop wireless networks such as time-varying channels and dynamic network topology, the feedback information is usually inaccurate, which represents as a major obstacle for distributed NUM application to wireless networks. The questions to be answered include if distributed NUM algorithm can converge with inaccurate feedback and how to design effective distributed NUM algorithm for wireless networks. In this paper, we first use the infinitesimal perturbation analysis technique to provide an unbiased gradient estimation on the aggregate rate of traffic sources at the routers based on locally available information. On the basis of that, we propose a stochastic approximation algorithm to solve the distributed NUM problem with inaccurate feedback. We then prove that the proposed algorithm can converge to the optimum solution of distributed NUM with perfect feedback under certain conditions. The proposed algorithm is applied to the joint rate and media access control problem for wireless networks. Numerical results demonstrate the convergence of the proposed algorithm. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Performance investigation of IEEE 802.11 MAC in multihop wireless networks

Medium access control (MAC) protocols have a large impact on the achievable system performance for wireless ad hoc networks. Because of the limitations of existing analytical models for ad hoc networks, many researchers have opted to study the impact of MAC protocols via discreteevent simulations. However, as the network scenarios, traffic patterns and physical layer techniques may change significantly, simulation alone is not efficient to get insights into the impacts of MAC protocols on system performance. In this paper, we analyze the performance of IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) in multihop network scenario. We are particularly interested in understanding how physical layer techniques may affect the MAC protocol performance. For this purpose, the features of interference range is studied and taken into account of the analytical model. Simulations with OPNET show the effectiveness of the proposed analytical approach. Copyright 2005 ACM.

Achievable performance gain of IEEE 802.11 multi-rate link adaptation algorithm with cross-layer design

Link quality-based rate adaptation has been widely used for IEEE 802.11 networks. However, network performance is affected by both link quality and random channel access. Selection of transmit modes for optimal link throughput can cause medium access control (MAC) throughput loss. In this paper, we investigate this issue and propose a generalised cross-layer rate adaptation algorithm. It considers jointly link quality and channel access to optimise network throughput. The objective is to examine the potential benefits by cross-layer design. An efficient analytic model is proposed to evaluate rate adaptation algorithms under dynamic channel and multi-user access environments. The proposed algorithm is compared to link throughput optimisation-based algorithm. It is found rate adaptation by optimising link layer throughput can result in large performance loss, which cannot be compensated by the means of optimising MAC access mechanism alone. Results show cross-layer design can achieve consistent and considerable performance gains of up to 20%. It deserves to be exploited in practical design for IEEE 802.11 networks.

Optimization of Gabor Wavelets for Face Recognition

The article describes researches of a method of person recognition by face image based on Gabor wavelets. Scales of Gabor functions are determined at which the maximal percent of recognition for search of a person in a database and minimal percent of mistakes due to false alarm errors when solving an access control task is achieved. The carried out researches have shown a possibility of improvement of recognition system work parameters in the specified two modes when the volume of used data is reduced.

An adaptive IEEE 802.15.4 MAC layer transmission scheme for applications with heterogeneous traffic

IEEE 802.15.4 networks has the features of low data rate and low power consumption. It is a strong candidate technique for wireless sensor networks and can find many applications to smart grid. However, due to the low network and energy capacities it is critical to maximize the bandwidth and energy efficiencies of 802.15.4 networks. In this paper we propose an adaptive data transmission scheme with CSMA/CA access control, for applications which may have heavy traffic loads such as smart grids. The adaptive access control is simple to implement. Its compatibility with legacy 802.15.4 devices can be maintained. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme with largely improved bandwidth and power efficiency. © 2013 International Information Institute.

Performance analysis of IEEE 802.11 cognitive radio ad hoc networks

IEEE 802.11 standard is the dominant technology for wireless local area networks (WLANs). In the last two decades, the Distributed coordination function (DCF) of IEEE 802.11 standard has become the one of the most important media access control (MAC) protocols for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). The DCF protocol can also be combined with cognitive radio, thus the IEEE 802.11 cognitive radio ad hoc networks (CRAHNs) come into being. There were several literatures which focus on the modeling of IEEE 802.11 CRAHNs, however, there is still no thorough and scalable analytical models for IEEE 802.11 CRAHNs whose cognitive node (i.e., secondary user, SU) has spectrum sensing and possible channel silence process before the MAC contention process. This paper develops a unified analytical model for IEEE 802.11 CRAHNs for comprehensive MAC layer queuing analysis. In the proposed model, the SUs are modeled by a hyper generalized 2D Markov chain model with an M/G/1/K model while the primary users (PUs) are modeled by a generalized 2D Markov chain and an M/G/1/K model. The performance evaluation results show that the quality-of-service (QoS) of both the PUs and SUs can be statistically guaranteed with the suitable settings of duration of channel sensing and silence phase in the case of under loading.

Performance optimisation of the MAC protocol with multiple contention slots in MIMO ad hoc networks

The multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technique can be used to improve the performance of ad hoc networks. Various medium access control (MAC) protocols with multiple contention slots have been proposed to exploit spatial multiplexing for increasing the transport throughput of MIMO ad hoc networks. However, the existence of multiple request-to-send/clear-to-send (RTS/CTS) contention slots represents a severe overhead that limits the improvement on transport throughput achieved by spatial multiplexing. In addition, when the number of contention slots is fixed, the efficiency of RTS/CTS contention is affected by the transmitting power of network nodes. In this study, a joint optimisation scheme on both transmitting power and contention slots number for maximising the transport throughput is presented. This includes the establishment of an analytical model of a simplified MAC protocol with multiple contention slots, the derivation of transport throughput as a function of both transmitting power and the number of contention slots, and the optimisation process based on the transport throughput formula derived. The analytical results obtained, verified by simulation, show that much higher transport throughput can be achieved using the joint optimisation scheme proposed, compared with the non-optimised cases and the results previously reported.