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IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN traffic analysis: a cross-layer approach
textThe deployment of broadband wireless data networks, e.g., wireless local area
networks (WLANs) [29], experienced tremendous growth in the last several
years, and this trend is continuously gaining momentum. In fact, WLAN is
becoming an indispensable component of the modern telecommunication infrastructure.
Despite this optimistic outlook, however, little is known about
the impact of the wireless channel on the characteristics of WLAN traffic.
This dissertation characterizes the correlation structures of WLAN channel
with traffic statistics from a cross-layer point of view, and provides new measurement
methodologies and statistical models for WLAN networks.
Currently WLAN standards are designed within the paradigm of the
layered network architecture. For example, the architecture of IEEE 802.11
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is almost identical to the Ethernet. However, wireless networks are fundamentally
different from their wired peers due to the shift of transmission media
from cables to over-the-air radio waves. This transition exposes wireless
systems to the influence of radio propagation, and more importantly, to the
temporal and spacial fluctuations of the radio channel that can actually be
propagated up to upper layers. However, the current WLAN architecture isolates
network layers, and largely ignores this impact. Therefore, we believe
that a cross-layer based approach is necessary to understand and reflect this
underlying impact of the channel to the upper layers of the network, especially
in relation to WLAN traffic behavior.
Measurement is one of the fundamental tools used to quantify radio
propagation. As part of this dissertation, a complete framework for a measurement
methodology, including hardware, software, and measurement procedures,
is established. Characteristics of the propagation channel are estimated
from measurement data, and the channel knowledge is applied to the upper
layers for more realistic and accurate modeling.
In WLAN environments, knowledge of the traffic characteristics is essential
for proper network provisioning, and for improving the performance
of the IEEE 802.11 standard and network devices, e.g., to design improved
MAC schemes, or to build better buffer scheduling algorithms with channel
knowledge, etc. Built upon extensive WLAN traffic traces, this dissertation
work presents cross-layer models for WLAN throughput predictions, traffic
statistics, and link layer characteristics.
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The main goal of this dissertation work is to experiment with and develop
new methods for identifying channel characteristics. Thereby utilizing
this knowledge, we show how to predict and improve WLAN performance.
Within the framework of the developed cross-layer measurement methodology,
we conducted extensive measurements in different physical environments
and different settings such as office buildings and stores, and (1) show that
the impact of the propagation channel can be quantified by using simple large
scale channel metric (throughput over longer period of time), and (2) also
present the existence of a Doppler effect within today’s WLAN packet traffic
at sub-second time scales. We also show the real-world WLAN usage pattern
from our measurement results. From this data, we conclude that the key issues
to study WLAN networks include accurate site-specific propagation channel
modeling and real-time autonomous traffic control.Electrical and Computer Engineerin
Cooperation Strategies for Enhanced Connectivity at Home
WHILE AT HOME , USERS MAY EXPERIENCE A POOR I NTERNET SERVICE while being connected to their 802.11 Access Points (APs). The AP is just one component
of the Internet Gateway (GW) that generally includes a backhaul connection (ADSL, fiber,etc..) and a router providing a LAN. The root cause of performance degradation may be poor/congested wireless channel between the user and the GW or congested/bandwidth limited backhaul connection.
The latter is a serious issue for DSL users that are located far from the central office because the greater the distance the lesser the achievable physical datarate. Furthermore, the GW is one of the few devices in the home that is left always on, resulting in energy waste and electromagnetic pollution increase. This thesis proposes two strategies to enhance Internet connectivity at home by (i) creating a wireless resource sharing scheme through the federation and the coordination of neighboring GWs in order to achieve energy efficiency while avoiding congestion, (ii) exploiting different king of connectivities, i.e., the wired plus the cellular (3G/4G) connections, through the aggregation of the available bandwidth across multiple access technologies.
In order to achieve the aforementioned strategies we study and develop:
• A viable interference estimation technique for 802.11 BSSes that can be implemented on commodity hardware at the MAC layer, without requiring active measurements, changes in the 802.11 standard, cooperation from the wireless stations (WSs). We extend previous theoretical results on the saturation throughput in order to quantify the impact in term of throughput loss of any kind of interferer. We im- plement and extensively evaluate our estimation technique with a real testbed and with different kind of interferer, achieving always good accuracy.
• Two available bandwidth estimation algorithms for 802.11 BSSes that rely only on passive measurements and that account for different kind of interferers on the ISM band. This algorithms can be implemented on commodity hardware, as they require only software modifications. The first algorithm applies to intra-GW while the second one applies to inter-GW available bandwidth estimation. Indeed, we use the first algorithm to compute the metric for assessing the Wi-Fi load of a GW and the second one to compute the metric to decide whether accept incoming WSs from neighboring GWs or not. Note that in the latter case it is assumed that one or more WSs with known traffic profile are requested to relocate from one GW to another
one. We evaluate both algorithms with simulation as well as with a real test-bed for different traffic patterns, achieving high precision.
• A fully distributed and decentralized inter-access point protocol for federated GWs that allows to dynamically manage the associations of the wireless stations (WSs) in the federated network in order to achieve energy efficiency and offloading con- gested GWs, i.e, we keep a minimum number of GWs ON while avoiding to create congestion and real-time throughput loss. We evaluate this protocol in a federated scenario, using both simulation and a real test-bed, achieving up to 65% of energy saving in the simulated setting. We compare the energy saving achieved by our protocol against a centralized optimal scheme, obtaining close to optimal results.
• An application level solution that accelerates slow ADSL connections with the parallel use of cellular (3G/4G) connections. We study the feasibility and the potential performance of this scheme at scale using both extensive throughput measurement of the cellular network and trace driven analysis. We validate our solution by implementing a real test bed and evaluating it “in the wild, at several residential locations of a major European city. We test two applications: Video-on-Demand (VoD) and picture upload, obtaining remarkable throughput increase for both applications at all locations. Our implementation features a multipath scheduler which we compare to other scheduling policies as well as to transport level solution like MTCP, obtaining always better results
Distributed Rate Allocation Policies for Multi-Homed Video Streaming over Heterogeneous Access Networks
We consider the problem of rate allocation among multiple simultaneous video
streams sharing multiple heterogeneous access networks. We develop and evaluate
an analytical framework for optimal rate allocation based on observed available
bit rate (ABR) and round-trip time (RTT) over each access network and video
distortion-rate (DR) characteristics. The rate allocation is formulated as a
convex optimization problem that minimizes the total expected distortion of all
video streams. We present a distributed approximation of its solution and
compare its performance against H-infinity optimal control and two heuristic
schemes based on TCP-style additive-increase-multiplicative decrease (AIMD)
principles. The various rate allocation schemes are evaluated in simulations of
multiple high-definition (HD) video streams sharing multiple access networks.
Our results demonstrate that, in comparison with heuristic AIMD-based schemes,
both media-aware allocation and H-infinity optimal control benefit from
proactive congestion avoidance and reduce the average packet loss rate from 45%
to below 2%. Improvement in average received video quality ranges between 1.5
to 10.7 dB in PSNR for various background traffic loads and video playout
deadlines. Media-aware allocation further exploits its knowledge of the video
DR characteristics to achieve a more balanced video quality among all streams.Comment: 12 pages, 22 figure
Experimenting with commodity 802.11 hardware: overview and future directions
The huge adoption of 802.11 technologies has triggered a vast amount of experimentally-driven research works. These works range from performance analysis to protocol enhancements, including the proposal of novel applications and services. Due to the affordability of the technology, this experimental research is typically based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices, and, given the rate at which 802.11 releases new standards (which are adopted into new, affordable devices), the field is likely to continue to produce results. In this paper, we review and categorise the most prevalent works carried out with 802.11 COTS devices over the past 15 years, to present a timely snapshot of the areas that have attracted the most attention so far, through a taxonomy that distinguishes between performance studies, enhancements, services, and methodology. In this way, we provide a quick overview of the results achieved by the research community that enables prospective authors to identify potential areas of new research, some of which are discussed after the presentation of the survey.This work has been partly supported by the European Community through the CROWD project (FP7-ICT-318115) and by the Madrid Regional Government through the TIGRE5-CM program (S2013/ICE-2919).Publicad
Measuring Transmission Opportunities in 802.11 Links
We propose a powerful MAC/PHY cross-layer approach
to measuring IEEE 802.11 transmission opportunities in
WLAN networks on a per-link basis. Our estimator can operate
at a single station and it is able to: 1) classify losses caused by
noise, collisions, and hidden nodes; and 2) distinguish between
these losses and the unfairness caused by both exposed nodes and
channel capture. Our estimator provides quantitative measures of
the different causes of lost transmission opportunities, requiring
only local measures at the 802.11 transmitter and no modification
to the 802.11 protocol or in other stations. Our approach is suited
to implementation on commodity hardware, and we demonstrate
our prototype implementation via experimental assessments. We
finally show how our estimator can help the WLAN station to
improve its local performance
JamLab: Augmenting Sensornet Testbeds with Realistic and Controlled Interference Generation
Radio interference drastically affects the performance of sensor-net communications, leading to packet loss and reduced energy-efficiency. As an increasing number of wireless devices operates on the same ISM frequencies, there is a strong need for understanding and debugging the performance of existing sensornet protocols under interference. Doing so requires a low-cost flexible testbed infrastructure that allows the repeatable generation of a wide range of interference patterns. Unfortunately, to date, existing sensornet testbeds lack such capabilities, and do not permit to study easily the coexistence problems between devices sharing the same frequencies. This paper addresses the current lack of such an infrastructure by using off-the-shelf sensor motes to record and playback interference patterns as well as to generate customizable and repeat-able interference in real-time. We propose and develop JamLab: a low-cost infrastructure to augment existing sensornet testbeds with accurate interference generation while limiting the overhead to a simple upload of the appropriate software. We explain how we tackle the hardware limitations and get an accurate measurement and regeneration of interference, and we experimentally evaluate the accuracy of JamLab with respect to time, space, and intensity. We further use JamLab to characterize the impact of interference on sensornet MAC protocols
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