Throughput optimization of a power-aware MAC for WLANs in correlated shadowing environments

In this paper we propose a call admission protocol that adapts the transmit power and data rate of interfering links in WLANs in order to maximize the aggregate and per-node throughput of the network. Power and data rate are adapted in a distributed way by discovering the statistical parameters of the channel and communicating those parameters to neighboring nodes. To ensure accurate results, we consider a realistic and comprehensive propagation model, where shadowing among links is assumed to be correlated. Simulation results show that the proposed model achieves significant gains in aggregate and per-node throughput over traditional WLANs.