Hwangnam Kim

Improving protocol capacity with model-based frame scheduling in IEEE 802.11-operated WLANs

In this paper, we develop a model-based frame scheduling scheme, called MFS, to enhance the capacity of IEEE 802.11-operated wireless LANs (WLANs). In MFS each node estimates the current network status by keeping track of the number of collisions it encounters between its two consecutive successful frame transmissions, and, based on the the estimated information, computes the current network utilization. The result is then used to determine a scheduling delay that is introduced (with the objective of avoiding collision) before a node attempts for transmission of its pending frame. In order to accurately calculate the current utilization in WLANs, we develop an analytical model that characterizes data transmission activities in IEEE 802.11-operated WLANs with/without the RTS/CTS mechanism, and validate the model with ns-2 simulation. All the control overhead incurred in the physical and MAC layers, as well as system parameters specified in IEEE 802.11 are figured in.We have conducted a comprehensive simulation study to evaluate MFS in perspective of number of collisions, achievable throughput, and inter-transmission delay. The simulation results indicate that the performance improvement with respect to protocol capacity can be as high as 20% with RTS/CTS and 150% without RTS/CTS, in a WLAN of up to 300 nodes. In addition, the inter-transmission delay in MFS is smaller and exhibits less variation than that in IEEE 802.11.

A Cross-Layer Approach for Per-Station Fairness in TCP over WLANs

In this paper, we investigate the issue of per-station fairness in TCP over IEEE 802.11-compliant wireless local area networks (WLANs), especially in Wi-Fi hot spot. It is asserted that the hot spot suffers from the unfairness among stations in exploiting the wireless medium. The source of this unfairness is analyzed from two aspects, TCP-induced asymmetry and MAC-induced asymmetry; the former causes TCP congestion control with a cumulative acknowledgment mechanism to prefer the sending stations to receiving stations, while the later exacerbates the unfairness problem in the hot spots. We investigate the interaction between TCP congestion control and MAC contention control, and propose a cross-layer feedback approach to assure per-station fairness and to ensure high channel utilization. In this approach, we introduce the notion of channel access cost to quantify the system-wide traffic load and per-station channel usage. The access cost is estimated at the MAC in an access point and conveyed to the TCP sender. Then, the TCP sender adjusts its sending rate based on the access cost, so as to assure per-station fairness. The simulation results indicate that the proposed approach can provide both per-station fairness and high channel utilization, irrespective of network configurations.

Provisioning Quality Controlled Medium Access in UltraWideBand-Operated WPANs

Quality of service (QoS) provisioning is one of the most important criteria in newly emerging UWB-operated WPANs, as they are expected to support a wide variety of applica- tions from time-constrained, multimedia streaming to throughput- hungry, content transfer applications. As such, the Enhanced Distributed Coordinated Access (EDCA) mechanism has been adopted by MultiBand OFDM Alliance in its UWB MAC proposal. In this paper, we conduct a rigorous, comprehensive, theoretical analysis and show that with the currently recommended parame- ter setting, EDCA cannot provide adequate QoS. In particular, without responding to the system dynamics (e.g., taking into account of the number of active class-i stations), EDCA cannot allocate bandwidth in a deterministic proportional manner and the system bandwidth is under-utilized. After identifying the deficiency of EDCA, we propose, in compliance with the EDCA-incorporated UWB MAC protocol proposed in (15) (20), a framework, along with a set of theoretically grounded methods for controlling medium access with determin- istic QoS for UWB networks. We show that in this framework, 1) real-time traffic is guaranteed of deterministic bandwidth via a contention-based reservation access method; 2) best-effort traffic is provided with deterministic proportional QoS; and moreover, 3) the bandwidth utilization is maximized. We have also validated and evaluated the QoS provisioning capability and practicality of the proposed MAC framework both via simulation and empirically by leveraging the MADWifi (Multiband Atheros Driver for WiFi) Linux driver for Wireless LAN devices with the Atheros chipset.

MR-CloudSim: Designing and implementing MapReduce computing model on CloudSim

Nowadays, we can hear the word “cloud” everywhere. Cloud web storage, cloud-based web applications, and cloud networks, they all indicate that cloud has become more important than it has ever been. Internet service providers (ISP) and internet contents providers (ICP) are providing more and more services with cloud computing, and also in mobile computing environments, a cloud service is drawing much attention from the community. The biggest advantage of cloud computing is clear. As far as the user is connected to the cloud, (s)he can have all the extra computing power and storage no matter what his device is. However, empirical validation of various research projects on a cloud system seems to be ineffective in both cost and time since it requires involving to a huge amount of computing facilities and resources. Even with its importance as commerce and inconvenience of researching, there are not many simulators that can provide a simulation environment for cloud computing and datacenters. Thus, we propose a simulation tool that supports the MapReduce model, the most widely used programming model for big data processing, implemented on CloudSim, an open source simulator for cloud computing and datacenters.

Dynamic Bandwidth Request-Allocation Algorithm for Real-Time Services in IEEE 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access Networks

The emerging broadband wireless access (BWA) technology based on IEEE 802.16 is one of the most promising solutions to provide ubiquitous wireless access to the broadband service at low cost. This paper proposes an efficient uplink bandwidth request-allocation algorithm for variable-rate realtime services in IEEE 802.16 BWA networks. In order to minimize bandwidth wastage without degrading quality of service (QoS), we introduce a notion of target delay and propose dual feedback architecture. The proposed algorithm calculates the amount of bandwidth request such that the delay is regulated around the desired level to minimize delay violation and delay jitter for real-time services. Also, it can maximize utilization of wireless channel by making use of dual feedback, where the bandwidth request is adjusted based on the information about the backlogged amount of traffic in the queue and the rate mismatch between packet arrival and service rates. Due to the dual feedback architecture, the proposed scheme responds quickly to the variation of traffic load and is robust to the change of network condition. We analyze the stability of the proposed algorithm from a control-theoretic viewpoint and derive a simple design guideline based on the analysis. By implementing the algorithm in OPNET simulator, we evaluate its performance in terms of queue regulation, optimal bandwidth allocation, delay controllability, and robustness to traffic characteristics.

Self-Learning Collision Avoidance for Wireless Networks

The limited number of orthogonal channels and the autonomous installations of hotspots and home wireless networks often leave neighboring 802.11 basic service sets (BSS’s) operating on the same or overlapping channels, therefore interfering with each other. However, the 802.11 MAC does not work well in resolving inter-BSS interferences due to the well-known hidden/exposed receiver problem, which has been haunting in the research community for more than a decade. In this paper we propose SELECT, an effective and efficient self-learning collision avoidance strategy to address the open hidden/exposed receiver problem in wireless networks. SELECT is based on the observation that carrier sense with received signal strength (RSS) measurements at the sender and the receiver are strongly correlated. A SELECT-enabled sender exploits such correlation using automated on-line learning algorithm, and makes informed judgment of the channel availability at the intended receiver. SELECT achieves collision avoidance at packetlevel time granularity, involves zero communication overhead, requires no hardware support beyond what is available in offthe-shelf 802.11 devices, and easily integrates with the 802.11 DCF. Our evaluation in both analysis and simulations show that SELECT addresses the hidden/exposed receiver problem well. In typical hidden/exposed receiver scenarios SELECT improves the throughput by up to 140% and channel access success ratio by up to 302%, while almost completely eliminating contention-induced data packet drops.

Improving protocol capacity for UDP/TCP traffic with model-based frame scheduling in IEEE 802.11-operated WLANs

In this paper, we develop a model-based frame scheduling scheme, called MFS, to enhance the capacity of IEEE 802.11-operated wireless local area networks (WLANs) for both transmission control protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) traffic. In MFS each node estimates the current network status by keeping track of the number of collisions it encounters between its two consecutive successful frame transmissions, and computes accordingly the current network utilization. The result is then used to determine a scheduling delay to be introduced before a node attempts to transmit its pending frame. MFS does not require any change in IEEE 802.11, but instead lays a thin layer between the LL and medium access control (MAC) layers. In order to accurately calculate the current utilization in WLANs, we develop an analytical model that characterizes data transmission activities in IEEE 802.11-operated WLANs with/without the request to send/clear to send (RTS/CTS) mechanism, and validate the model with ns-2 simulation. All the control overhead incurred in the physical and MAC layers, as well as system parameters specified in IEEE 802.11, are figured in. We conduct a comprehensive simulation study to evaluate MFS in perspective of the number of collisions, achievable throughput, intertransmission delay, and fairness in the cases of TCP and UDP traffic. The simulation results indicate that the performance improvement with respect to the protocol capacity in a WLAN of up to 300 nodes is 1) as high as 20% with the RTS/CTS and 70% without the RTS/CTS in the case of UDP traffic and 2) as high as 10% with the RTS/CTS and 40% without the RTS/CTS in the case of TCP traffic. Moreover, the intertransmission delay in MFS is smaller and exhibits less variation than that in IEEE 802.11; the fairness among wireless nodes in MFS is better than, or equal to, that in IEEE 802.11.

QoS provisioning in IEEE 802.11-compliant networks: Past, present, and future

Proliferation of portable, wireless-enabled laptop computers and PDAs, cost-effective deployment of access points, and availability of the license-exempt bands and appropriate networking standards contribute to the conspicuous success of IEEE 802.11 WLANs. In the article, we provide a comprehensive overview of techniques for capacity improvement and QoS provisioning in the IEEE 802.11 protocol family. These techniques represent the R&D efforts both in the research community and the IEEE 802.11 Working Groups. Specifically, we summarize the operations of IEEE 802.11 legacy as well as its extension, introduce several protocol modeling techniques, and categorize the various approaches to improve protocol capacity, to provide QoS (by either devising new MAC protocol components or fine-tuning protocol parameters in IEEE 802.11), and to judiciously arbitrate radio resources (e.g., transmission rate and power). To demonstrate how to adapt QoS provisioning in newly emerging areas, we use the wireless mesh network as an example, discuss the role IEEE 802.11 plays in such a network, and outline research issues that arise.

Network calculus based simulation for TCP congestion control: theorems, implementation and evaluation

In this paper, we examine the feasibility of incorporating network calculus based models in simulating TCP/IP networks. By exploiting network calculus properties, we characterize how TCP congestion control - additive increase and multiplicative decrease (AIMD), together with the queue management strategy used in routers, regulates TCP flows. We first divide the time axis into intervals (each of which consists of multiple round-trip times), and derive a TCP AIMD throughput model which derives the attainable throughput of a TCP flow, given the number of collisions in an interval. Then based on the derived throughput model, we define a set of network calculus based theorems that give upper and lower bounds on the attainable TCP throughput in each interval. Finally, we implement network calculus (NC) based simulation in ns-2, conduct simulation in both the packet mode and the network calculus-based mode, and measure the performance gain (in terms of the execution time thus reduced) and the error discrepancy (in terms of the discrepancy between NC-based simulation results and packet-level simulation results). The simulation results indicate an order of magnitude or more (maximally 30 times) improvement in execution time and the performance improvement becomes more pronounced as the network size increases (in perspective of network capacities and number of flows). The error discrepancy between NC-based simulation and packet-level simulation, on the other hand, is minimally 1-2% and maximally 8-12% in a wide spectrum of network topologies and traffic loads employed in this study. The simulation results also indicate the superiority of NC-based simulation over fluid model based simulation (the latter realized using the time stepped hybrid simulation).

Noncooperative carrier sense game in wireless networks

The performance of carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) wireless networks heavily depends on the level of spatial reuse, i.e., how many concurrent transmissions are allowed. Spatial reuse is primarily determined by physical carrier sense, and a key parameter for physical carrier sense is the carrier sense threshold. Our focus is on how to control the carrier sense threshold for improving network performance. We present a noncooperative game-theoretic framework, which leads to a fully distributed algorithm for tuning the carrier sense threshold. We introduce a utility function of each node, which is a nondecreasing concave function of the carrier sense threshold. A pricing function is further introduced to mitigate severe interference among nodes. The cost function is defined as the difference between the pricing and the utility functions. We prove that the noncooperative carrier sense game admits a unique Nash equilibrium (NE) under some technical conditions.We derive sufficient conditions that ensure the convergence of the synchronous and asynchronous update algorithms. Based on the analysis, we propose a fully distributed algorithm, entitled noncooperative carrier sense update algorithm (NCUA). Our simulation study indicates that NCUA outperforms standard CSMA with respect to the per-node throughput by 10-50%.