Cross-layer RaCM design for vertically integrated wireless networks

Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-74).Wireless local and metropolitan area network (WLAN/WMAN) technologies, more specifically IEEE 802.11 (or wireless fidelity, WiFi) and IEEE 802.16 (or wireless interoperability for microwave access, WiMAX), are well-suited to enterprise networking since wireless offers the advantages of rapid deployment in places that are difficult to wire. However, these networking standards are relatively young with respect to their traditional mature high-speed low-latency fixed-line networking counterparts. It is more challenging for the network provider to supply the necessary quality of service (QoS) to support the variety of existing multimedia services over wireless technology. Wireless communication is also unreliable in nature, making the provisioning of agreed QoS even more challenging. Considering the advantages and disadvantages, wireless networks prove well-suited to connecting rural areas to the Internet or as a networking solution for areas that are difficult to wire. The focus of this study specifically pertains to IEEE 802.16 and the part it plays in an IEEE vertically integrated wireless Internet (WIN): IEEE 802.16 is a wireless broadband backhaul technology, capable of connecting local area networks (LANs), wireless or fixed-line, to the Internet via a high-speed fixed-line link

Connection admission control and packet scheduling for IEEE 802.16 networks

Includes bibliographical references.The IEEE 802.16 standard introduced as one of the Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN) for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) which is known as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), provides a solution of broadband connectivity to areas where wired infrastructure is economically and technically infeasible. Apart from the advantage of having high speeds and low costs, IEEE 802.16 has the capability to simultaneously support various service types with required QoS characteristics. ... While IEEE 802.16 standard defines medium access control (MAC) and physical (PHY) layers specification, admission control and packet scheduling mechanisms which are important elements of QoS provisioning are left to vendors to design and implement for service differentiation and QoS support

Escalonamento de pacotes áudio e vídeo em redes WiMAX em malha com QoS

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e Telecomunicações´E evidente na actualidade que os utilizadores procuram cada vez mais aceder a servi¸cos multim´edia e aplica¸c˜oes interactivas nos seus terminais m´oveis. H´a, portanto, uma necessidade de implementar arquitecturas de Qualidadede- Servi¸co (QoS) e Qualidade-de-Experiˆencia (QoE) robustas, que sejam capazes de fornecer um atraso baixo para as aplica¸c˜oes interactivas, ao mesmo tempo que lidam com outro tipo de aplica¸c˜oes que requerem uma maior largura de banda, mas com mais tolerˆancia a atrasos, desta forma maximizando a utiliza¸c˜ao dos recursos dispon´ıveis na rede e melhorando a experiˆencia do utilizador final. A norma IEEE 802.16 representa uma das tecnologias mais avan¸cadas e de maior relevˆancia para o acesso sem fios em banda larga a redes de ´area metropolitana. O modo de opera¸c˜ao Ponto-multiponto (PMP) do IEEE 802.16 foi desenvolvido para suportar requisitos de QoS, control´avel pelo operador da rede, e desta forma complementando as solu¸c˜oes m´oveis de terceira-gera¸c˜ao j´a existentes. Um modo alternativo de opera¸c˜ao em malha (MESH) permite a cria¸c˜ao de redes flex´ıveis e auto-configur´aveis em que o tr´afego ´e encaminhado atrav´es de v´arios n´os. Esta tese aborda os temas de QoS e QoE quando aplicados a redes sem fios em malha, operando sobre a norma IEEE 802.16. S˜ao contribu´ıdos melhoramentos e an´alises de desempenho a uma nova arquitectura para trazer suporte de QoS ao modo de opera¸c˜ao MESH do standard 802.16. Tamb´em ´e apresentado um novo escalonador de pacotes com o objectivo de melhorar a qualidade subjectiva de servi¸cos de ´audio, v´ıdeo e transferˆencia de ficheiros que o utilizador final experiencia. Os resultados provenientes de simula¸c˜oes demonstram tanto a eficiˆencia da arquitectura QoS em termos de medidas objectivas como taxa de transfer ˆencia e atraso de pacotes, como o bom funcionamento do escalonador de pacotes para QoE, com melhorias vis´ıveis em m´etricas de qualidade subjectiva.It is clear nowadays that users are becoming increasingly interested in accessing multimedia and interactive applications on their mobile terminals. Therefore, there is a need to implement robust Quality-of-Service (QoS) and Quality-of-Experience (QoE) architectures capable of providing low delay for such interactive applications, while at the same time dealing with other bandwidth-hungry but more delay-tolerant services, and thereby maximizing the network’s available resources and improving the end-user experience. The IEEE 802.16 standard represents one of the most relevant and advanced technologies for broadband wireless access in metropolitan area networks. The point-to-multipoint (PMP) mode of IEEE 802.16 has been designed to support quality of service (QoS) requirements, controlled by the network operator, thus complementing the existing third-generation mobile solutions. An alternative mesh (MESH) mode of operation allows the creation of flexible, self-configuring networks with traffic routing through various nodes. This thesis approaches the subjects of QoS and QoE when applied to wireless mesh networks operating under the IEEE 802.16 standard. It provides improvements and performance evaluations of a new architecture to bring QoS support to the 802.16 MESH mode of operation. It also presents a new packet scheduler with the aim to improve the subjective quality of audio, video and file transfer services, as experienced by the end user. Simulation results demonstrate both the efficiency of the QoS architecture in terms of objective measurements such as throughput and packet delay, and the good functioning of the QoE-aware packet scheduler, with noticeable increases in subjective quality metrics

Cross-Layer RaCM Design for Vertically Integrated Wireless Networks

IEEE 802.16 wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) technology is an improvement on its wireless local area network (WLAN) counterpart, namely IEEE 802.11, in that it provides longer range and higher bandwidth capabilities. More importantly, it specifies a connection-oriented medium access control layer (MAC) and scheduling services to support quality of service (QoS) in IEEE 802.16 networks. However, in the standard, scheduling and connection admission control (CAC) mechanisms are left unspecified, leaving this for network operators to decide. This allows implementers to create market and performance advantages, making it a rich field of research and performance analysis. Typically, researchers studying scheduling and admission control in such wireless networks consider these resource and connection management (RaCM) algorithms in isolation: They investigate (1) schedulers while fixing the admission control processes or using static connection scenarios and (2) admission controllers while fixing the scheduling processes. We hypothesize that there exists an interdependent relationship between RaCM components which is an essential aspect to cross-layer inter-RaCM algorithm design. In order to prove our hypothesis that you cannot consider the scheduler and the CAC in isolation, where it involves the performance of IEEE 802.16 networks, we require a performance model: Analytic modelling is an ideal solution but the system is far too complex. Experimental test beds are expensive, making hardware experimentation another impractical solution. The only other feasible solution is simulation. General simulation environments, such as NS2 and OMNeT++, offer IEEE 802.16 libraries and some degree of development community support. However, for several reasons, as we shall discuss, we developed our own deep simulator – a discrete-event simulation model of an IEEE vertically integrated wireless Internet scenario. In particular, we concentrate our effort on the fixed IEEE 802.16 WMAN (802.16-2004), simulating admission control and scheduling processes exactly. Both the machine model and workload model play an integral part in obtaining useful performance data: Our machine model includes particular MAC and physical layer (PHY) functions of the standard, such as framing, adaptive modulation and coding, fragmentation, and so on, as well as the admission control and scheduling algorithms. For the workload model, we developed a Markov Modulated Arrival Process (MMAP) by combining existing traffic models of different Internet applications, such as VoIP, P2P, etc. Each application is associated with one of the IEEE 802.16 traffic categories (TCs). The MMAP generates both connection– and packet level data, maintaining traffic volume ratios, as reported by previous studies of Internet application traffic volumes. Performance metrics of delay and jitter are calculated per TC connection. This allows a comparison of the quality of experience (QoE) of an individual user for the duration of a connection. At the connection level, we report the blocking probability. By simulating the RaCM with various admission control and scheduling configurations, we were able to show that there is a significant difference in performance when using different CAC and scheduler combinations. Although hardly surprising, it is still proof that one cannot simply consider either in isolation, as is done in various performance studies reported in the literature. This interdependent relationship should be considered when designing complementary admission control and scheduling algorithms

Portfolio peak algorithms achieving superior performance for maximizing throughput in WiMAX networks

The Mobile WiMAX IEEE 802.16 standards ensure provision of last mile wireless access, variable and high data rate, point to multi-point communication, large frequency range and QoS (Quality of Service) for various types of applications. The WiMAX standards are published by the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and specify the standards of services and transmissions. However, the way how to run these services and when the transmission should be started are not specified in the IEEE standards and it is up to computer scientists to design scheduling algorithms that can best meet the standards. Finding the best way to implement the WiMAX standards through designing efficient scheduler algorithms is a very important component in wireless systems and the scheduling period presents the most common challenging issue in terms of throughput and time delay. The aim of the research presented in this thesis was to design and develop an efficient scheduling algorithm to provide the QoS support for real-time and non-real-time services with the WiMAX Network. This was achieved by combining a portfolio of algorithms, which will control and update transmission with the required algorithm by the various portfolios for supporting QoS such as; the guarantee of a maximum throughput for real-time and non-real-time traffic. Two algorithms were designed in this process and will be discussed in this thesis: Fixed Portfolio Algorithms and Portfolio Peak Algorithm. In order to evaluate the proposed algorithms and test their efficiency for IEEE 802.16 networks, the authors simulated the algorithms in the NS2 simulator. Evaluation of the proposed Portfolio algorithms was carried out through comparing its performance with those of the conventional algorithms. On the other hand, the proposed Portfolio scheduling algorithm was evaluated by comparing its performance in terms of throughput, delay, and jitter. The simulation results suggest that the Fixed Portfolio Algorithms and the Portfolio Peak Algorithm achieve higher performance in terms of throughput than all other algorithms. Keywords: WiMAX, IEEE802.16, QoS, Scheduling Algorithms, Fixed Portfolio Algorithms, and Portfolio Peak Algorithms.The Mobile WiMAX IEEE 802.16 standards ensure provision of last mile wireless access, variable and high data rate, point to multi-point communication, large frequency range and QoS (Quality of Service) for various types of applications. The WiMAX standards are published by the Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and specify the standards of services and transmissions. However, the way how to run these services and when the transmission should be started are not specified in the IEEE standards and it is up to computer scientists to design scheduling algorithms that can best meet the standards. Finding the best way to implement the WiMAX standards through designing efficient scheduler algorithms is a very important component in wireless systems and the scheduling period presents the most common challenging issue in terms of throughput and time delay. The aim of the research presented in this thesis was to design and develop an efficient scheduling algorithm to provide the QoS support for real-time and non-real-time services with the WiMAX Network. This was achieved by combining a portfolio of algorithms, which will control and update transmission with the required algorithm by the various portfolios for supporting QoS such as; the guarantee of a maximum throughput for real-time and non-real-time traffic. Two algorithms were designed in this process and will be discussed in this thesis: Fixed Portfolio Algorithms and Portfolio Peak Algorithm. In order to evaluate the proposed algorithms and test their efficiency for IEEE 802.16 networks, the authors simulated the algorithms in the NS2 simulator. Evaluation of the proposed Portfolio algorithms was carried out through comparing its performance with those of the conventional algorithms. On the other hand, the proposed Portfolio scheduling algorithm was evaluated by comparing its performance in terms of throughput, delay, and jitter. The simulation results suggest that the Fixed Portfolio Algorithms and the Portfolio Peak Algorithm achieve higher performance in terms of throughput than all other algorithms. Keywords: WiMAX, IEEE802.16, QoS, Scheduling Algorithms, Fixed Portfolio Algorithms, and Portfolio Peak Algorithms

Spectrum Sharing Methods in Coexisting Wireless Networks

Radio spectrum, the fundamental basis for wireless communication, is a finite resource. The development of the expanding range of radio based devices and services in recent years makes the spectrum scarce and hence more costly under the paradigm of extensive regulation for licensing. However, with mature technologies and with their continuous improvements it becomes apparent that tight licensing might no longer be required for all wireless services. This is from where the concept of utilizing the unlicensed bands for wireless communication originates. As a promising step to reduce the substantial cost for radio spectrum, different wireless technology based networks are being deployed to operate in the same spectrum bands, particularly in the unlicensed bands, resulting in coexistence. However, uncoordinated coexistence often leads to cases where collocated wireless systems experience heavy mutual interference. Hence, the development of spectrum sharing rules to mitigate the interference among wireless systems is a significant challenge considering the uncoordinated, heterogeneous systems. The requirement of spectrum sharing rules is tremendously increasing on the one hand to fulfill the current and future demand for wireless communication by the users, and on the other hand, to utilize the spectrum efficiently. In this thesis, contributions are provided towards dynamic and cognitive spectrum sharing with focus on the medium access control (MAC) layer, for uncoordinated scenarios of homogeneous and heterogeneous wireless networks, in a micro scale level, highlighting the QoS support for the applications. This thesis proposes a generic and novel spectrum sharing method based on a hypothesis: The regular channel occupation by one system can support other systems to predict the spectrum opportunities reliably. These opportunities then can be utilized efficiently, resulting in a fair spectrum sharing as well as an improving aggregated performance compared to the case without having special treatment. The developed method, denoted as Regular Channel Access (RCA), is modeled for systems specified by the wireless local resp. metropolitan area network standards IEEE 802.11 resp. 802.16. In the modeling, both systems are explored according to their respective centrally controlled channel access mechanisms and the adapted models are evaluated through simulation and results analysis. The conceptual model of spectrum sharing based on the distributed channel access mechanism of the IEEE 802.11 system is provided as well. To make the RCA method adaptive, the following enabling techniques are developed and integrated in the design: a RSS-based (Received Signal Strength based) detection method for measuring the channel occupation, a pattern recognition based algorithm for system identification, statistical knowledge based estimation for traffic demand estimation and an inference engine for reconfiguration of resource allocation as a response to traffic dynamics. The advantage of the RCA method is demonstrated, in which each competing collocated system is configured to have a resource allocation based on the estimated traffic demand of the systems. The simulation and the analysis of the results show a significant improvement in aggregated throughput, mean delay and packet loss ratio, compared to the case where legacy wireless systems coexists. The results from adaptive RCA show its resilience characteristics in case of dynamic traffic. The maximum achievable throughput between collocated IEEE 802.11 systems applying RCA is provided by means of mathematical calculation. The results of this thesis provide the basis for the development of resource allocation methods for future wireless networks particularly emphasized to operate in current unlicensed bands and in future models of the Open Spectrum Alliance