590 research outputs found
A Remote Capacity Utilization Estimator for WLANs
In WLANs, the capacity of a node is not fixed and can vary dramatically due to the shared nature of the medium under the IEEE 802.11 MAC mechanism. There are two main methods of capacity estimation in WLANs: Active methods based upon probing packets that consume the bandwidth of the channel and do not scale well. Passive methods based upon analyzing the transmitted packets that avoid the overhead of transmitting probe packets and perform with greater accuracy. Furthermore, passive methods can be implemented locally or remotely. Local passive methods require an additional dissemination mechanism in order to communicate the capacity information to other network nodes which adds complexity and can be unreliable under adverse network conditions. On the other hand, remote passive methods do not require a dissemination mechanism and so can be simpler to implement and also do not suffer from communication reliability issues. Many applications (e.g. ANDSF etc) can benefit from utilizing this capacity information. Therefore, in this thesis we propose a new remote passive Capacity Utilization estimator performed by neighbour nodes. However, there will be an error associated with the measurements owing to the differences in the wireless medium as observed by the different nodesâ location. The main undertaking of this thesis is to address this issue. An error model is developed to analyse the main sources of error and to determine their impact on the accuracy of the estimator. Arising from this model, a number of modifications are implemented to improve the accuracy of the estimator. The network simulator ns2 is used to investigate the performance of the estimator and the results from a range of different test scenarios indicate its feasibility and accuracy as a passive remote method. Finally, the estimator is deployed in a node saturation detection scheme where it is shown to outperform two other similar schemes based upon queue observation and probing with ping packets
Treatment-Based Classi?cation in Residential Wireless Access Points
IEEE 802.11 wireless access points (APs) act as the central communication hub inside homes, connecting all networked devices to the Internet. Home users run a variety of network applications with diverse Quality-of-Service requirements (QoS) through their APs. However, wireless APs are often the bottleneck in residential networks as broadband connection speeds keep increasing. Because of the lack of QoS support and complicated configuration procedures in most off-the-shelf APs, users can experience QoS degradation with their wireless networks, especially when multiple applications are running concurrently.
This dissertation presents CATNAP, Classification And Treatment iN an AP , to provide better QoS support for various applications over residential wireless networks, especially timely delivery for real-time applications and high throughput for download-based applications. CATNAP consists of three major components: supporting functions, classifiers, and treatment modules. The supporting functions collect necessary flow level statistics and feed it into the CATNAP classifiers. Then, the CATNAP classifiers categorize flows along three-dimensions: response-based/non-response-based, interactive/non-interactive, and greedy/non-greedy. Each CATNAP traffic category can be directly mapped to one of the following treatments: push/delay, limited advertised window size/drop, and reserve bandwidth. Based on the classification results, the CATNAP treatment module automatically applies the treatment policy to provide better QoS support.
CATNAP is implemented with the NS network simulator, and evaluated against DropTail and Strict Priority Queue (SPQ) under various network and traffic conditions. In most simulation cases, CATNAP provides better QoS supports than DropTail: it lowers queuing delay for multimedia applications such as VoIP, games and video, fairly treats FTP flows with various round trip times, and is even functional when misbehaving UDP traffic is present. Unlike current QoS methods, CATNAP is a plug-and-play solution, automatically classifying and treating flows without any user configuration, or any modification to end hosts or applications
Controlo de congestionamento em redes sem fios
Doutoramento em Engenharia ElectrotécnicaCongestion control in wireless networks is an important and open issue.
Previous research has proven the poor performance of the Transport
Control Protocol (TCP) in such networks. The factors that contribute
to the poor performance of TCP in wireless environments concern its
unsuitability to identify/detect and react properly to network events,
its TCP window based
ow control algorithm that is not suitable for
the wireless channel, and the congestion collapse due to mobility. New
rate based mechanisms have been proposed to mitigate TCP performance
in wired and wireless networks. However, these mechanisms
also present poor performance, as they lack of suitable bandwidth estimation
techniques for multi-hop wireless networks.
It is thus important to improve congestion control performance in wireless
networks, incorporating components that are suitable for wireless
environments. A congestion control scheme which provides an e -
cient and fair sharing of the underlying network capacity and available
bandwidth among multiple competing applications is crucial to the definition
of new e cient and fair congestion control schemes on wireless
multi-hop networks.
The Thesis is divided in three parts. First, we present a performance
evaluation study of several congestion control protocols against TCP,
in wireless mesh and ad-hoc networks. The obtained results show that
rate based congestion control protocols need an eficient and accurate
underlying available bandwidth estimation technique. The second part
of the Thesis presents a new link capacity and available bandwidth estimation
mechanism denoted as rt-Winf (real time wireless inference).
The estimation is performed in real-time and without the need to intrusively
inject packets in the network. Simulation results show that
rt-Winf obtains the available bandwidth and capacity estimation with
accuracy and without introducing overhead trafic in the network.
The third part of the Thesis proposes the development of new congestion
control mechanisms to address the congestion control problems
of wireless networks. These congestion control mechanisms use cross
layer information, obtained by rt-Winf, to accurately and eficiently estimate
the available bandwidth and the path capacity over a wireless
network path. Evaluation of these new proposed mechanisms, through
ns-2 simulations, shows that the cooperation between rt-Winf and the
congestion control algorithms is able to significantly increase congestion
control eficiency and network performance.O controlo de congestionamento continua a ser extremamente importante
quando se investiga o desempenho das redes sem fios. Trabalhos
anteriores mostram o mau desempenho do Transport Control Proto-
col (TCP) em redes sem fios. Os fatores que contribuem para um
pior desempenho do TCP nesse tipo de redes s~ao: a sua falta de capacidade
para identificar/detetar e reagir adequadamente a eventos da
rede; a utilização de um algoritmo de controlo de
uxo que nĂŁo Ă© adequado
para o canal sem fios; e o colapso de congestionamento devido
ĂĄ mobilidade. Para colmatar este problemas foram propostos novos
mecanismos de controlo de congestionamento baseados na taxa de
transmissão. No entanto, estes mecanismos também apresentam um
pior desempenho em redes sem fios, jĂĄ que nĂŁo utilizam mecanismos
adequados para a avaliação da largura de banda disponĂvel. Assim, Ă©
importante para melhorar o desempenho do controlo de congestionamento
em redes sem fios, incluir componentes que sĂŁo adequados para
esse tipo de ambientes. Um esquema de controlo de congestionamento
que permita uma partilha eficiente e justa da capacidade da rede e da
largura de banda disponĂvel entre mĂșltiplas aplicaçÔes concorrentes Ă©
crucial para a definição de novos, eficientes e justos mecanismos de
controlo congestionamento para as redes sem fios.
A Tese estĂĄ dividida em trĂȘs partes. Primeiro, apresentamos um estudo
sobre a avaliação de desempenho de vårios protocolos de controlo de
congestionamento relativamente ao TCP, em redes sem fios em malha
e ad-hoc. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os protocolos baseados
na taxa de transmissão precisam de uma técnica de avaliação da largura
de banda disponĂvel que seja eficiente e precisa . A segunda parte da
Tese apresenta um novo mecanismo de avaliação da capacidade da
ligação e da largura de banda disponĂvel, designada por rt-Winf (real
time wireless inference). A avaliação é realizada em tempo real e sem
a necessidade de inserir tråfego na rede. Os resultados obtidos através
de simulação e emulação mostram que o rt-Winf obtém com precisão
a largura de banda disponĂvel e a capacidade da ligação sem sobrecarregar
a rede. A terceira parte da Tese propÔe novos mecanismos de
controlo de congestionamento em redes sem fios. Estes mecanismos
de controlo de congestionamento apresentam um conjunto de caracter
Ăsticas novas para melhorar o seu desempenho, de entre as quais
se destaca a utilização da informação de largura de banda disponĂvel
obtida pelo rt-Winf. Os resultados da avaliação destes mecanismos,
utilizando o simulador ns-2, permitem concluir que a cooperação entre
o rt-Winf e os algoritmos de controlo de congestionamento aumenta
significativamente o desempenho da rede
Contention techniques for opportunistic communication in wireless mesh networks
Auf dem Gebiet der drahtlosen Kommunikation und insbesondere auf den tieferen Netzwerkschichten sind gewaltige Fortschritte zu verzeichnen. Innovative Konzepte und Technologien auf der physikalischen Schicht (PHY) gehen dabei zeitnah in zellulĂ€re Netze ein. Drahtlose Maschennetzwerke (WMNs) können mit diesem Innovationstempo nicht mithalten. Die Mehrnutzer-Kommunikation ist ein Grundpfeiler vieler angewandter PHY Technologien, die sich in WMNs nur ungenĂŒgend auf die etablierte Schichtenarchitektur abbilden lĂ€sst. Insbesondere ist das Problem des Scheduling in WMNs inhĂ€rent komplex. Erstaunlicherweise ist der Mehrfachzugriff mit TrĂ€gerprĂŒfung (CSMA) in WMNs asymptotisch optimal obwohl das Verfahren eine geringe DurchfĂŒhrungskomplexitĂ€t aufweist. Daher stellt sich die Frage, in welcher Weise das dem CSMA zugrunde liegende Konzept des konkurrierenden Wettbewerbs (engl. Contention) fĂŒr die Integration innovativer PHY Technologien verwendet werden kann. Opportunistische Kommunikation ist eine Technik, die die inhĂ€renten Besonderheiten des drahtlosen Kanals ausnutzt. In der vorliegenden Dissertation werden CSMA-basierte Protokolle fĂŒr die opportunistische Kommunikation in WMNs entwickelt und evaluiert. Es werden dabei opportunistisches Routing (OR) im zustandslosen Kanal und opportunistisches Scheduling (OS) im zustandsbehafteten Kanal betrachtet. Ziel ist es, den Durchsatz von elastischen PaketflĂŒssen gerecht zu maximieren. Es werden Modelle fĂŒr Ăberlastkontrolle, Routing und konkurrenzbasierte opportunistische Kommunikation vorgestellt. Am Beispiel von IEEE 802.11 wird illustriert, wie der schichtĂŒbergreifende Entwurf in einem Netzwerksimulator prototypisch implementiert werden kann. Auf Grundlage der Evaluationsresultate kann der Schluss gezogen werden, dass die opportunistische Kommunikation konkurrenzbasiert realisierbar ist. DarĂŒber hinaus steigern die vorgestellten Protokolle den Durchsatz im Vergleich zu etablierten Lösungen wie etwa DCF, DSR, ExOR, RBAR und ETT.In the field of wireless communication, a tremendous progress can be observed especially at the lower layers. Innovative physical layer (PHY) concepts and technologies can be rapidly assimilated in cellular networks. Wireless mesh networks (WMNs), on the other hand, cannot keep up with the speed of innovation at the PHY due to their flat and decentralized architecture. Many innovative PHY technologies rely on multi-user communication, so that the established abstraction of the network stack does not work well for WMNs. The scheduling problem in WMNs is inherent complex. Surprisingly, carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) in WMNs is asymptotically utility-optimal even though it has a low computational complexity and does not involve message exchange. Hence, the question arises whether CSMA and the underlying concept of contention allows for the assimilation of advanced PHY technologies into WMNs. In this thesis, we design and evaluate contention protocols based on CSMA for opportunistic communication in WMNs. Opportunistic communication is a technique that relies on multi-user diversity in order to exploit the inherent characteristics of the wireless channel. In particular, we consider opportunistic routing (OR) and opportunistic scheduling (OS) in memoryless and slow fading channels, respectively. We present models for congestion control, routing and contention-based opportunistic communication in WMNs in order to maximize both throughput and fairness of elastic unicast traffic flows. At the instance of IEEE 802.11, we illustrate how the cross-layer algorithms can be implemented within a network simulator prototype. Our evaluation results lead to the conclusion that contention-based opportunistic communication is feasible. Furthermore, the proposed protocols increase both throughput and fairness in comparison to state-of-the-art approaches like DCF, DSR, ExOR, RBAR and ETT
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Design of rate-adaptive MAC and medium aware routing protocols for multi-rate, multi-hop wireless networks
This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The IEEE 802.11 standard conformant wireless communication stations have multi-rate transmission capability. To achieve greater communication efficiency, multi-rate capable stations use rateadaptation to select appropriate transmission rate according to variations in the channel quality. The
thesis presents two rate-adaptation schemes, each belonging to one of the two classes of rateadaptation schemes i.e.(1) the frame-transmission statistics based schemes, and (2) Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) based, closed loop schemes. The SNR-based rate-adaptation scheme, proposed in this thesis uses a novel mechanism of delivering a receiverâs feedback to a transmitter; without requiring any modification in the standard frames as suggested by existing research. The frame-transmissionstatistics
based rate adaptation solution uses an on-demand incremental strategy for selecting a
rate-selection threshold. This solution is based on a cross-layer communication framework, where the rate-adaptation module uses information to/from the Application layer along with relevant information from the Medium Access Control (MAC) sub-layer. The proposed solutions are highly responsive when compared with existing rate-adaptation schemes; responsiveness is one of the key
factors in the design of such protocols. The novel feedback mechanism makes it possible to achieve frame-loss differentiation with just three frames, avoiding the use of Request To Send/ Clear To Send (RTS/CTS) frames and further delays in this process. Performance tests have affirmed that the
proposed rate-adaptation schemes are energy efficient; with efficiency up to 19% in specific test scenarios. In terms of throughput and frame loss-differentiation mechanisms, the proposed schemes have shown significantly better performance.Routing protocols for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs) use broadcast frames during the
route discovery process. The 802.11 mandates the use of different transmission rates for broadcast
and unicast (data-) frames. In many cases it causes creation of communication gray zones, where stations which are marked as âreachable neighboursâ using the broadcast frames (using lower transmission rate) are not accessible during normal, unicast communication (mainly at a higher
rate). Similarly, higher device density, interference and mobility cause variable medium access delays. The IEEE 802.11e introduces four different MAC level queues for four access categories, maintaining service priority within the queues; which implies that frames from a higher priority
queue are serviced more frequently than those belonging to lower priority queues. Such an enhancement at the MAC sub-layer introduces uneven queuing delays. Conventional routing protocols are unaware of such MAC specific constraints and as a result these factors are not considered which result in severe performance deterioration. To meet such challenges, the thesis presents a medium aware distance vector (MADV) routing protocol for MANETs. MADV uses MAC and physical layer (PHY) specific information in the route metric and maintains a separate route per-AC-per-destination in its routing tables. The MADV-metric can be incorporated into various routing rotocols and its applicability is determined by the possibility of provision of MAC dependent arameters that are used to determine the hop-by-hop MADV-metric values. Simulation tests and omparison with existing MANET protocols demonstrate the effectiveness of incorporating the medium dependent parameters and show that MADV is significantly better in terms of end-to-end
delay and throughput
Improving Performance for CSMA/CA Based Wireless Networks
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) based wireless networks are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. With the aim of supporting rich multimedia
applications such as high-definition television (HDTV, 20Mbps) and DVD (9.8Mbps), one of the technology trends is towards increasingly higher bandwidth. Some recent IEEE 802.11n proposals seek to provide PHY rates of up to 600 Mbps. In addition to increasing bandwidth, there is also strong interest in extending the coverage of CSMA/CA based wireless networks. One solution is to relay traffic via multiple intermediate stations if the sender and the receiver are far apart. The so called âmeshâ networks based on this relay-based approach, if properly designed, may feature both âhigh speedâ and âlarge coverageâ at the
same time. This thesis focusses on MAC layer performance enhancements in CSMA/CA based networks in this context.
Firstly, we observe that higher PHY rates do not necessarily translate into corresponding increases in MAC layer throughput due to the overhead of the CSMA/CA based MAC/PHY layers. To mitigate the overhead, we propose a novel MAC scheme whereby transported information is partially acknowledged and retransmitted. Theoretical analysis and extensive simulations show that the proposed MAC approach can achieve high efficiency (low MAC
overhead) for a wide range of channel variations and realistic traffic types.
Secondly, we investigate the close interaction between the MAC layer and the buffer above it to improve performance for real world traffic such as TCP. Surprisingly, the issue
of buffer sizing in 802.11 wireless networks has received little attention in the literature yet it poses fundamentally new challenges compared to buffer sizing in wired networks. We propose a new adaptive buffer sizing approach for 802.11e WLANs that maintains a high
level of link utilisation, while minimising queueing delay.
Thirdly, we highlight that gross unfairness can exist between competing flows in multihop mesh networks even if we assume that orthogonal channels are used in neighbouring
hops. That is, even without inter-channel interference and hidden terminals, multi-hop mesh networks which aim to offer a both âhigh speedâ and âlarge coverageâ are not achieved. We propose the use of 802.11eâs TXOP mechanism to restore/enfore fairness. The proposed approach is implementable using off-the-shelf devices and fully decentralised (requires no message passing)
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