An Asymmetric Access Point for Solving the Unfairness Problem in WLANs
Résumé
In a typical deployment of IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs in the infrastructure mode, an access point acts as a bridge between the wireless and the wired part of the network. Under the current IEEE 802.11 DCF access method, which provides equal channel access probability to all devices in a cell, the access point cannot relay all the frames it receives on the downlink. This causes significant unfairness between uplink and downlink flows, long delays, and frame losses. The main problem is that the access point requires more transmission attempt probability than wireless stations for correct operation at the transport layer. In this paper, we propose to solve the unfairness problem in a simple and elegant way at the MAC layer. We define the operation of an Asymmetric Access Point that benefits from a sufficient transmission capacity with respect to wireless stations so that the overall performance improves. The proposed method of operation is intrinsically adaptive so that when the access point does not need the increased capacity, it is used by wireless stations. We validate the proposed access method by simulation to compare it with other solutions based on IEEE 802.11e. Moreover, we provide measurement data gathered on an experimental prototype that uses wireless cards implementing the proposed method.