Improving multiple broadcasting of multimedia traffic in wireless ad-hoc networks

The increasing use of multimedia streaming applications in addition with advent of internet television and radio, demands from today's wireless networks to handle with reliability multiple broadcasting and multicasting sources. However, the way that 802.11 standard, which is the primary technology in wireless networking, handle this type of traffic raises a series of problems mainly related to the lack of an effective feedback mechanism. This lack in turn, limits the capability of random backoff process to eliminate collisions and reduce reliability and fairness. This inherited drawback of the standard is affecting the way broadcast and multicast traffic is transmitted as well as the overall performance of the network. In this paper initially we are highlighting the drawback of the IEEE 802.11 MAC algorithm in handling multiple stations “media type” data broadcasting in an ad-hoc wireless network. Then, we propose two different approaches in alleviating these problems. The first approach is the simple linear increase of the contention window (CW) while the second propose a linear increase of the CW implementing an exclusive backoff number allocation (EBNA) algorithm. In addition we are modifying the 802.11 medium access control (MAC) algorithm to use the clear to send to self (CTS-to-Self) protection mechanism prior to every transmission. Both the above techniques are simulated and compared with the classic 802.11 MAC. The results show that the overall performance of the network can be improved using these alternative MAC methods

Multicast MAC extensions for high rate real-time traffic in wireless LANs

Nowadays we are rapidly moving from a mainly textual-based to a multimedia-based Internet, for which the widely deployed IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs can be one of the promising candidates to make them available to users anywhere, anytime, on any device. However, it is still a challenge to support group-oriented real-time multimedia services, such as video-on-demand, video conferencing, distance educations, mobile entertainment services, interactive games, etc., in wireless LANs, as the current protocols do not support multicast, in particular they just send multicast packets in open-loop as broadcast packets, i.e., without any possible acknowledgements or retransmissions. In this thesis, we focus on MAC layer reliable multicast approaches which outperform upper layer ones with both shorter delays and higher efficiencies. Different from polling based approaches, which suffer from long delays, low scalabilities and low efficiencies, we explore a feedback jamming mechanism where negative acknowledgement (NACK) frames are allowed from the non-leader receivers to destroy the acknowledgement (ACK) frame from the single leader receiver and prompts retransmissions from the sender. Based on the feedback jamming scheme, we propose two MAC layer multicast error correction protocols, SEQ driven Leader Based Protocol (SEQ-LBP) and Hybrid Leader Based Protocol (HLBP), the former is an Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) scheme while the later combines both ARQ and the packet level Forward Error Correction (FEC). We evaluate the feedback jamming probabilities and the performances of SEQ-LBP and HLBP based on theoretical analyses, NS-2 simulations and experiments on a real test-bed built with consumer wireless LAN cards. Test results confirm the feasibility of the feedback jamming scheme and the outstanding performances of the proposed protocols SEQ-LBP and HLBP, in particular SEQ-LBP is good for small multicast groups due to its short delay, effectiveness and simplicity while HLBP is better for large multicast groups because of its high efficiency and high scalability with respect to the number of receivers per group.Zurzeit vollzieht sich ein schneller Wechsel vom vorwiegend textbasierten zum multimediabasierten Internet. Die weitverbreiteten IEEE 802.11 Drahtlosnetzwerke sind vielversprechende Kandidaten, um das Internet für Nutzer überall, jederzeit und auf jedem Gerät verfügbar zu machen. Die Unterstützung gruppenorientierter Echtzeit-Dienste in drahtlosen lokalen Netzen ist jedoch immer noch eine Herausforderung. Das liegt daran, dass aktuelle Protokolle keinen Multicast unterstützen. Sie senden Multicast-Pakete vielmehr in einer "Open Loop"-Strategie als Broadcast-Pakete, d. h. ohne jegliche Rückmeldung (feedback) oder Paketwiederholungen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit, anders als in den auf Teilnehmereinzelabfragen (polling) basierenden Ansätzen, die unter langen Verzögerungen, geringer Skalierbarkeit und geringer Effizienz leiden, versuchen wir, Multicast-Feedback bestehend aus positiven (ACK) und negativen Bestätigungen (NACK) auf MAC-Layer im selben Zeitfenster zu bündeln. Die übrigen Empfänger können NACK-Frames senden, um das ACK des Leaders zu zerstören und Paketwiederholungen zu veranlassen. Basierend auf einem Feedback-Jamming Schema schlagen wir zwei MAC-Layer-Protokolle für den Fehlerschutz im Multicast vor: Das SEQ-getriebene Leader Based Protocol (SEQ-LBP) und das Hybrid Leader Based Protocol (HLBP). SEQ-LBP ist eines Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) Schema. HLBP kombiniert ARQ und paketbasierte Forward Error Correction (FEC). Wir evaluieren die Leistungsfähigkeit von ACK/NACK jamming, SEQ-LBP und HLBP durch Analysis, Simulationen in NS-2, sowie Experimenten in einer realen Testumgebung mit handelsüblichen WLAN-Karten. Die Testergebnisse bestätigen die Anwendbarkeit der Feedback-Jamming Schemata und die herausragende Leistungsfähigkeit der vorgestellten Protokolle SEQ-LBP und HLBP. SEQ-LBP ist durch seine kurze Verzögerung, seine Effektivität und seine Einfachheit für kleine Multicast-Gruppen nützlich, während HLBP auf Grund seiner hohen Effizienz und Skalierbarkeit im Bezug auf die Größe der Empfänger eher in großen Multicast-Gruppen anzuwenden ist

Infrastructure dependent wireless multicast - the effect of spatial diversity and error correction

The use of multiple Access Points (APs) with one AP placed at the middle of a coverage area and the remaining placed at the edge may reduce the Packet Error Rate (PER) experienced by a group of multicast receivers. This paper shows that Spatial Diversity can augment the channel quality experienced especially by those nodes which are located farther from the Master AP, i.e. the AP at the middle, however this study also demonstrates the need for error correction scheme. The aim of this analysis is to propose a means of enhancing the infrastructure end of an IEEE 802.11n Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), such that multicast data can be delivered reliably in order to guarantee that the received video has an adequate Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), but with the constraint that the Medium Access Control (MAC) and the Physical (PHY) layer of the receivers are not modified, hence a legacy IEEE 802.11n node may join the multicast group and experience good Quality of Service.peer-reviewe