Practical Power and Rate Control for WiFi

Author

Huehn, Thomas ; Sengul, Cigdem

Author_Institution

Telekom Innovation Labs., Tech. Univ. Berlin, Berlin, Germany

fYear

2012

fDate

July 30 2012-Aug. 2 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

7

Abstract

While there has been extensive theoretical work on sophisticated joint resource allocation algorithms for wireless networks, their applicability to WiFi (IEEE 802.11) networks is very limited. One of the main reasons is the limitations in changing MAC parameters in current driver implementations. To this end, in this work, we developed a general cross-layer communication interface in the Linux kernel between the IEEE 802.11 PHY and MAC to enable per packet TPC. Based on this implementation, we realize an decentralized rate-power controller (Minstrel-Piano). Our initial evaluation shows that Minstrel-Piano is able to significantly decrease the power levels while maintaining the same link performance. These results are encouraging for a better interference management and consequently, better resource allocation in WiFi networks.

Keywords

Linux; access protocols; decentralised control; interference suppression; operating system kernels; power control; resource allocation; telecommunication control; wireless LAN; IEEE 802.11 MAC; IEEE 802.11 PHY; IEEE 802.11 networks; Linux kernel; MAC parameters; Minstrel-Piano; WiFi networks; cross-layer communication interface; decentralized rate-power controller; interference management; link performance; per packet TPC; rate control; resource allocation algorithms; wireless networks; IEEE 802.11 Standards; Interference; Power control; Receivers; Signal to noise ratio; Throughput; Wireless communication;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN), 2012 21st International Conference on

Conference_Location

Munich

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1543-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICCCN.2012.6289295

Filename

6289295