Throughput Validation of an Advanced Channel Assignment Algorithm in an IEEE 802.11 WLAN

In this paper, an enhanced channel-assignment algorithm at the access points (APs) of a wireless local area network (WLAN) is validated. The algorithm aims to maximize the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) at the user level in order to determine the appropriate channel at the APs. The initial channel assignment step at the APs is based on minimizing the total interference between APs. Based on this initial assignment, the SIR for each user is calculated. Then, another channel assignment is performed based on maximizing the SIR at the users. The algorithm can be applied to any WLAN, irrespective of the user distribution and user load. Results show that the algorithm is capable of significantly increasing the SIR over the WLAN, which in turn should improve throughput. Therefore, we use OPNET simulation tool to construct several realistic scenarios in order to validate our results.