Improving reliability and performance of dense-AP network using DAPnet

A network with densely deployed access points can perform better and more reliably by adapting the transmission parameters like transmission power, minimum size of contention window (cwmin), maximum size of contention window (cwmax) and transmission rate. To understand the impact of these parameters on performance of CSMA-based protocol in a multi-AP network, we are building a testbed called DAPnet. DAPnet lets us change cwmin, cwmax, transmission rate, transmission power and operating channel of the nodes in the network remotely. The testbed is partially deployed and soon will be completely deployed at the Coordinate Science Lab (CSL) which is a research center at the University of Illinois. This testbed consists of 40 devices equipped with USB wireless cards. In this paper we discuss the challenges, design and implementation of DAPnet and how it can be used to improve reliability and performance of Dense-AP network.