Algorithms and protocols for multi-channel wireless networks

A wireless channel is shared by all devices, in the vicinity, that are tuned to the channel, and at any given time, only one of the devices can transmit information. One way to overcome this limitation, in throughput capacity, is to use multiple orthogonal channels for different devices, that want to transmit information at the same time. In this work, we consider the use of multiple orthogonal channels in wireless data networks. We explore algorithms and protocols for such multi-channel wireless networks under two broad categories of network-wide and link-level challenges. Towards handling the network-wide issues, we consider the channel assignment and routing issues in multi-channel wireless networks. We study both single radio and multi-radio multi-channel networks. For single radio multi-channel networks, we propose a new granularity for channel assignment, that we refer to as component level channel assignment. The strategy is relatively simple, and is characterized by several impressive practical advantages. For multi-radio multi-channel networks, we propose a joint routing and channel assignment protocol, known as Lattice Routing. The protocol manages channels of the radios, for the different nodes in the network, using information about current channel conditions, and adapts itself to varying traffic patterns, in order to efficiently use the multiple channels. Through ns2 based simulations, we show how both the protocols outperform other existing protocols for multi-channel networks under different network environments. Towards handling the link-level challenges, we identify the practical challenges in achieving a high data-rate wireless link across two devices using multiple off-the-shelf wireless radios. Given that the IEEE 802.11 a/g standards define 3 orthogonal wi-fi channels in the 2.4GHz band and 12 orthogonal wi-fi channels in the 5GHz band, we answer the following question: ``can a pair of devices each equipped with 15 wi-fi radios use all the available orthogonal channels to achieve a high data-rate link operating at 600Mbps?' Surprisingly, we find through experimental evaluation that the actual observed performance when using all fifteen orthogonal channels between two devices is a mere 91Mbps. We identify the reasons behind the low performance and present Glia, a software only solution that effectively exercises all available radios. We prototype Glia and show using experimental evaluations that Glia helps achieve close to 600Mbps data-rate when using all possible wi-fi channels.PhDCommittee Chair: Sivakumar, Raghupathy; Committee Member: Blough, Doug; Committee Member: Coyle, Edward; Committee Member: Eidenbenz, Stephan; Committee Member: Fekri, Faramar

Supporting Internet Access and Quality of Service in Distributed Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

In this era of wireless hysteria, with continuous technological advances in wireless communication and new wireless technologies becoming standardized at a fast rate, we can expect an increased interest for wireless networks, such as ad hoc and mesh networks. These networks operate in a distributed manner, independent of any centralized device. In order to realize the practical benefits of ad hoc networks, two challenges (among others) need to be considered: distributed QoS guarantees and multi-hop Internet access. In this thesis we present conceivable solutions to both of these problems. An autonomous, stand-alone ad hoc network is useful in many cases, such as search and rescue operations and meetings where participants wish to quickly share information. However, an ad hoc network connected to the Internet is even more desirable. This is because Internet plays an important role in the daily life of many people by offering a broad range of services. In this thesis we present AODV+, which is our solution to achieve this network interconnection between a wireless ad hoc network and the wired Internet. Providing QoS in distributed wireless networks is another challenging, but yet important, task mainly because there is no central device controlling the medium access. In this thesis we propose EDCA with Resource Reservation (EDCA/RR), which is a fully distributed MAC scheme that provides QoS guarantees by allowing applications with strict QoS requirements to reserve transmission time for contention-free medium access. Our scheme is compatible with existing standards and provides both parameterized and prioritized QoS. In addition, we present the Distributed Deterministic Channel Access (DDCA) scheme, which is a multi-hop extension of EDCA/RR and can be used in wireless mesh networks. Finally, we have complemented our simulation studies with real-world ad hoc and mesh network experiments. With the experience from these experiments, we obtained a clear insight into the limitations of wireless channels. We could conclude that a wise design of the network architecture that limits the number of consecutive wireless hops may result in a wireless mesh network that is able to satisfy users’ needs. Moreover, by using QoS mechanisms like EDCA/RR or DDCA we are able to provide different priorities to traffic flows and reserve resources for the most time-critical applications

Multicast for ubiquitos streaming of multimedia content to mobile terminals : Network architecture and protocols

The Universal Mobile Telecommunication Services (UMTS) network was envisioned to carry a wide range of new services; however, the first UMTS release was not designed to efficiently support multimedia content. In this thesis we analyse several mechanisms, and suggest architectural changes to improve UMTS’s capacity for a subset of the multimedia services; high-bandwidth group services. In our initial work we have suggested how IP multicast protocols can be used in the UMTS network to reduce the required network capacity for group services. This proposal was one of many suggestions for the evolving Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) architecture for UMTS. The next technique we have suggested and analysed is a new wireless channel type named the "sticky-channel"; this channel is intended for sparsely populated multicast groups. The sticky-channel is able to stick to mobile multicast members in the boarder area of neighbouring radio cells, thus some base stations does not need to broadcast the multicast data. Consequently, the total number of broadcast channels needed to cover a given area is reduced. There is a marginal reduction of required resources with this technique. In the main part of our work we have studied heterogeneous multihop wireless access for multicast traffic in the UMTS network. In a heterogeneous wireless access network, the wireless resources needed to distribute high-bandwidth group services, can be shared among cooperating network technologies. Mobile terminals with a UMTS interface and an IEEE 802.11 interface are readily available, consequently a heterogeneous network with UMTS and 802.11 links will be easy to deploy. We have described a heterogeneous architecture based on those wireless technologies. In this architecture, the range of a UMTS radio channel is reduced, and local IEEE 802.11-based Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) forward the data to users located outside the coverage of the reduced UMTS channel. The wireless resources required to transmit a data packet are proportional to (at least) the square of the distance the packet must travel, thus a reduction in the channel range releases a significant amount of UMTS radio resources. Detailed simulation results showed acceptable service quality when the UMTS broadcast channel range is more than halved. Finally we have studied whether Forward Error Correction (FEC) at the packet-level on multicast flows could improve the performance of the heterogeneous wireless access network. There is a marginal improvement. Most of the protection brought by the FEC code has been used to repair the increased packet-loss introduced by the FEC overhead

Medium access in cognitive radio networks: From single hop to multiple hops

If channel assembling is enabled, this technique can be utilized for potential performance improvement in CRNs. Two use cases are envisaged for channel assembling. In the first use case, the system can accommodate parallel SU services in multiple channels, while in the second use case, the system allows only one SU service at a time. In the use case where parallel SU services are allowed, various channel assembling strategies are proposed and modeled in order to investigate their performance and to acquire better comprehension of the behavior of CRNs with channel assembling. Moreover, the capacity upper bound for CRNs with channel assembling in the quasistationary regime is derived. In the use case when there is only one SU service that can utilize the vacant channels at a time, we formulate channel access into two optimization problems on power allocation in multi-channel CRNs and propose various algorithms to solve these problems

Wireless sensor networks: performance analysis in indoor scenarios

We evaluate the performance of realistic wireless sensor networks in indoor scenarios. Most of the considered networks are formed by nodes using the Zigbee communication protocol. For comparison, we also analyze networks based on the proprietary standard Z-Wave. Two main groups of network scenarios are proposed: (i) scenarios with direct transmissions between the remote nodes and the network coordinator, and (ii) scenarios with routers, which relay the packets between the remote nodes and the coordinator. The sensor networks of interest are evaluated considering different performance metrics. In particular, we show how the received signal strength indication (RSSI) behaves in the considered scenarios. Then, the network behavior is characterized in terms of end-to-end delay and throughput. In order to confirm the experiments, analytical and simulation results are also derived

Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

Being infrastructure-less and without central administration control, wireless ad-hoc networking is playing a more and more important role in extending the coverage of traditional wireless infrastructure (cellular networks, wireless LAN, etc). This book includes state-of-the-art techniques and solutions for wireless ad-hoc networks. It focuses on the following topics in ad-hoc networks: quality-of-service and video communication, routing protocol and cross-layer design. A few interesting problems about security and delay-tolerant networks are also discussed. This book is targeted to provide network engineers and researchers with design guidelines for large scale wireless ad hoc networks

Benchmarking Wireless Network Protocols: Threat and Challenge Analysis of the AeroRP

To accommodate the unique conditions of mobile wireless networks, numerous protocols have been designed. Protocols are initially tested through simulation software, but often under non-realistic conditions, using simple or even ideal wireless environments not usually found in the real world. Without challenges and channel impairments, such simulations cannot accurately determine the advantages and disadvantages of the protocol nor can a reliable comparison be made between the performance of any two protocols. New protocols must be tested in a manner consistent with legacy protocols so they can be accurately compared and improved upon. The contributions of this thesis are a set of models that can create more realistic and challenging simulations, including a 3-D implementation of the Gauss-Markov mobility model, and a set of benchmarks that can be used to test the strengths and weaknesses of wireless routing protocols. These benchmarks are then applied to several MANET protocols including AODV, DSR, OLSR, DSDV, and AeroRP that is part of the Aero protocol stack developed at The University of Kansas. AeroRP outperforms the traditional MANET routing protocols in benchmarks that involve either highly-dynamic networks or disruptions in connectivity

Channel Assignment for Multiple Interface Nodes in Wireless Ad

In wireless networks, due to the broadcast property of the medium, nodes close to each other cannot simultaneously transmit over the same channel. One way to overcome this limitation is to use multiple independent channels available in the system. Although we can use a single wireless interface card to access multiple channels, such schemes can raise issues of compatibility (e.g., modication of the MAC protocol) and performance degradation (e.g., due to frequent channel switching). In this paper, we assume that nodes are equipped with multiple interface cards, and focus on the channel assignment problem for minimizing the total number of interferences among wireless links. We show that the problem is NP-hard and present distributed heuristics. We also present two centralized algorithms and show that the algorithms give constant factor approximation guarantees. We perform simulation experiments for the proposed distributed heuristic. The results show that compared to one-channel scenarios, our proposed algorithm can reduce the number of interferences by up to 85% when nodes are equipped with four interface cards. Through detailed packetlevel simulation experiments, we also show that depending on the scenario, the resulting channel assignment actually achieves up to seven times throughput improvement over the single-channel case

Throughput Maximization in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Networks

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) swarms in civilian applications such as surveillance, agriculture, search and rescue, and border patrol is becoming popular. UAVs have also found use as mobile or portable base stations. In these applications, communication requirements for UAVs are generally stricter as compared to conventional aircrafts. Hence, there needs to be an efficient Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol that ensures UAVs experience low channel access delays and high throughput. Some challenges when designing UAVs MAC protocols include interference and rapidly changing channel states, which require a UAV to adapt its data rate to ensure data transmission success. Other challenges include Quality of Service (QoS) requirements and multiple contending UAVs that result in collisions and channel access delays. To this end, this thesis aims to utilize Multi-Packet Reception (MPR) technology. In particular, it considers nodes that are equipped with a Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) radio, and thereby, allowing them to receive multiple transmissions simultaneously. A key problem is to identify a suitable a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) transmission schedule that allows UAVs to transmit successfully and frequently. Moreover, in order for SIC to operate, there must be a sufficient difference in received power. However, in practice, due to the location and orientation of nodes, the received power of simultaneously transmitting nodes may cause SIC decoding to fail at a receiver. Consequently, a key problem concerns the placement and orientation of UAVs to ensure there is diversity in received signal strength at a receiving node. Lastly, interference between UAVs serving as base station is a critical issue. In particular, their respective location may have excessive interference or cause interference to other UAVs; all of which have an impact on the schedule used by these UAVs to serve their respective users