Access Disparity Modeling and Fairness Provisioning in Multi-Hop Wireless Networks

There is an inherent access disparity problem, in terms of throughput and delay, in wireless local area networks. This is mainly due to the physical characteristics of the underlying communication channel including signal quality degradation caused by distance, fading, noise, interference, multi-path reflection, attenuation, and user mobility. This problem intensifies further in multi-hop wireless networks where client traffic is forwarded via series of relay nodes over several tandem contention domains towards a destination.The Distributed Coordinated Function (DCF) of the IEEE 802.11 standard stipulates long term equalization of throughput by giving the same number of opportunities to the contending stations to transmit their frames regardless of their individual bit rates. However, the scope of this provisioning is limited to only one hop, and a low bit rate station can hold the channel longer than a high bit rate station to compensate the throughput disparity at the expense of higher delay. In this dissertation, we first develop an analytical model that measures the end-to-end access blocking probabilities among contending stations. We use the access blocking probability disparities to develop a Fair Access Rate (FAR) algorithm that mitigates throughput disparities among contending stations in single-hop and multi-hop networks under various traffic conditions. Second, we extend the existing theoretical model for a single-hop wireless network to develop a Fair End-to-End Multi-hop Access (FEEMA) algorithm based on underlying contention graphs that strikes a balance between transmission time and transmission rate for each station. Third, we develop an analytical model based on open queuing networks to measure the end-to-end delay and throughput disparities in multi-hop wireless network. Finally, we develop a number of simulation scenarios with different network topologies in QualNet network simulator to assess the performance of the analytical models.

Name thesis:degree_name

PHD

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Kent State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Hoblos, Jalaa

Contributors dc:contributor

• Peyravi, Hassan

• Computer Science

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1365703079

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:kent1365703079