Approaching Throughput-optimality in Distributed CSMA Scheduling Algorithms with Collisions

It was shown recently that CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access)-like distributed algorithms can achieve the maximal throughput in wireless networks (and task processing networks) under certain assumptions. One important, but idealized assumption is that the sensing time is negligible, so that there is no collision. In this paper, we study more practical CSMA-based scheduling algorithms with collisions. First, we provide a Markov chain model and give an explicit throughput formula which takes into account the cost of collisions and overhead. The formula has a simple form since the Markov chain is "almost" time-reversible. Second, we propose transmission-length control algorithms to approach throughput optimality in this case. Sufficient conditions are given to ensure the convergence and stability of the proposed algorithms. Finally, we characterize the relationship between the CSMA parameters (such as the maximum packet lengths) and the achievable capacity region.Comment: To appear in IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. This is the longer versio

Random Access Scheduling without Message Passing: A Collision-based AIMD Approach

Department of Computer EngineeringWireless scheduling has been extensively studied in the literature. Since Maximum Weighted Scheduling has been developed and shown to achieve the optimal performance, there have been many efforts to overcome its complexity issue. Random access has attracted much attention due to its potential for low complexity and distributed control, which are desirable for scheduling in multi-hop wireless networks. Although several interesting random access scheduling schemes have been shown to be provably efficient, they suffer in practice from high packet delays or severe performance degradation due to the control overhead to exchange information between neighboring links. In this paper, we develop a novel random access scheduling scheme that does not need message passing. We pay attention to the interplay between the links and control their access probabilities targeting at a certain collision rate. We employ the Additive Increase Multiplicative Decrease (AIMD) algorithm for convergence, and show that our proposed scheme can achieve the same performance bound as the previous random access schemes with high control overhead. We verify our results through simulations and show that our proposed scheme achieves the performance close to that of the centralized greedy algorithm.ope

Leveraging Physical Layer Capabilites: Distributed Scheduling in Interference Networks with Local Views

In most wireless networks, nodes have only limited local information about the state of the network, which includes connectivity and channel state information. With limited local information about the network, each node's knowledge is mismatched; therefore, they must make distributed decisions. In this paper, we pose the following question - if every node has network state information only about a small neighborhood, how and when should nodes choose to transmit? While link scheduling answers the above question for point-to-point physical layers which are designed for an interference-avoidance paradigm, we look for answers in cases when interference can be embraced by advanced PHY layer design, as suggested by results in network information theory. To make progress on this challenging problem, we propose a constructive distributed algorithm that achieves rates higher than link scheduling based on interference avoidance, especially if each node knows more than one hop of network state information. We compare our new aggressive algorithm to a conservative algorithm we have presented in [1]. Both algorithms schedule sub-networks such that each sub-network can employ advanced interference-embracing coding schemes to achieve higher rates. Our innovation is in the identification, selection and scheduling of sub-networks, especially when sub-networks are larger than a single link.Comment: 14 pages, Submitted to IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, October 201

Q-CSMA: Queue-Length Based CSMA/CA Algorithms for Achieving Maximum Throughput and Low Delay in Wireless Networks

Recently, it has been shown that CSMA-type random access algorithms can achieve the maximum possible throughput in ad hoc wireless networks. However, these algorithms assume an idealized continuous-time CSMA protocol where collisions can never occur. In addition, simulation results indicate that the delay performance of these algorithms can be quite bad. On the other hand, although some simple heuristics (such as distributed approximations of greedy maximal scheduling) can yield much better delay performance for a large set of arrival rates, they may only achieve a fraction of the capacity region in general. In this paper, we propose a discrete-time version of the CSMA algorithm. Central to our results is a discrete-time distributed randomized algorithm which is based on a generalization of the so-called Glauber dynamics from statistical physics, where multiple links are allowed to update their states in a single time slot. The algorithm generates collision-free transmission schedules while explicitly taking collisions into account during the control phase of the protocol, thus relaxing the perfect CSMA assumption. More importantly, the algorithm allows us to incorporate mechanisms which lead to very good delay performance while retaining the throughput-optimality property. It also resolves the hidden and exposed terminal problems associated with wireless networks.Comment: 12 page