Channel Load Aware AP / Extender Selection in Home WiFi Networks Using IEEE 802.11k/v
Next-generation Home WiFi networks have to step forward in terms of performance. New applications such as on-line games, virtual reality or high quality video contents will further demand higher throughput levels, as well as low latency. Beyond physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) improvem...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2021-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Access |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9354613/ |
| _version_ | 1818932290291499008 |
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| author | Toni Adame Marc Carrascosa Boris Bellalta Ivan Pretel Inaki Etxebarria |
| author_facet | Toni Adame Marc Carrascosa Boris Bellalta Ivan Pretel Inaki Etxebarria |
| author_sort | Toni Adame |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Next-generation Home WiFi networks have to step forward in terms of performance. New applications such as on-line games, virtual reality or high quality video contents will further demand higher throughput levels, as well as low latency. Beyond physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) improvements, deploying multiple access points (APs) in a given area may significantly contribute to achieve those performance goals by simply improving average coverage and data rates. However, it opens a new challenge: to determine the best AP for each given station (STA). This article studies the achievable performance gains of using secondary APs, also called Extenders, in Home WiFi networks in terms of throughput and delay. To do that, we introduce a centralized, easily implementable channel load aware selection mechanism for WiFi networks that takes full advantage of IEEE 802.11k/v capabilities to collect data from STAs, and distribute association decisions accordingly. These decisions are completely computed in the AP (or, alternatively, in an external network controller) based on an AP selection decision metric that, in addition to RSSI, also takes into account the load of both access and backhaul wireless links for each potential STA-AP/Extender connection. Performance evaluation of the proposed channel load aware AP and Extender selection mechanism has been first conducted in a purpose-built simulator, resulting in an overall improvement of the main analyzed metrics (throughput and delay) and the ability to serve, at least, 35% more traffic while keeping the network uncongested when compared to the traditional RSSI-based WiFi association. This trend was confirmed when the channel load aware mechanism was tested in a real deployment, where STAs were associated to the indicated AP/Extender and total throughput was increased by 77.12%. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:30:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b8d468c547d485e937e0bc84aaf1621 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T04:30:08Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Access |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b8d468c547d485e937e0bc84aaf16212022-12-21T19:53:25ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362021-01-019300953011210.1109/ACCESS.2021.30594739354613Channel Load Aware AP / Extender Selection in Home WiFi Networks Using IEEE 802.11k/vToni Adame0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9789-9777Marc Carrascosa1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4387-4192Boris Bellalta2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7826-3703Ivan Pretel3Inaki Etxebarria4Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, SpainDepartment of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, SpainDepartment of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, SpainFON Labs, Bilbao, SpainFON Labs, Bilbao, SpainNext-generation Home WiFi networks have to step forward in terms of performance. New applications such as on-line games, virtual reality or high quality video contents will further demand higher throughput levels, as well as low latency. Beyond physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) improvements, deploying multiple access points (APs) in a given area may significantly contribute to achieve those performance goals by simply improving average coverage and data rates. However, it opens a new challenge: to determine the best AP for each given station (STA). This article studies the achievable performance gains of using secondary APs, also called Extenders, in Home WiFi networks in terms of throughput and delay. To do that, we introduce a centralized, easily implementable channel load aware selection mechanism for WiFi networks that takes full advantage of IEEE 802.11k/v capabilities to collect data from STAs, and distribute association decisions accordingly. These decisions are completely computed in the AP (or, alternatively, in an external network controller) based on an AP selection decision metric that, in addition to RSSI, also takes into account the load of both access and backhaul wireless links for each potential STA-AP/Extender connection. Performance evaluation of the proposed channel load aware AP and Extender selection mechanism has been first conducted in a purpose-built simulator, resulting in an overall improvement of the main analyzed metrics (throughput and delay) and the ability to serve, at least, 35% more traffic while keeping the network uncongested when compared to the traditional RSSI-based WiFi association. This trend was confirmed when the channel load aware mechanism was tested in a real deployment, where STAs were associated to the indicated AP/Extender and total throughput was increased by 77.12%.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9354613/Home WiFiAP selectionextenderload balancingIEEE 802.11kIEEE 802.11v |
| spellingShingle | Toni Adame Marc Carrascosa Boris Bellalta Ivan Pretel Inaki Etxebarria Channel Load Aware AP / Extender Selection in Home WiFi Networks Using IEEE 802.11k/v IEEE Access Home WiFi AP selection extender load balancing IEEE 802.11k IEEE 802.11v |
| title | Channel Load Aware AP / Extender Selection in Home WiFi Networks Using IEEE 802.11k/v |
| title_full | Channel Load Aware AP / Extender Selection in Home WiFi Networks Using IEEE 802.11k/v |
| title_fullStr | Channel Load Aware AP / Extender Selection in Home WiFi Networks Using IEEE 802.11k/v |
| title_full_unstemmed | Channel Load Aware AP / Extender Selection in Home WiFi Networks Using IEEE 802.11k/v |
| title_short | Channel Load Aware AP / Extender Selection in Home WiFi Networks Using IEEE 802.11k/v |
| title_sort | channel load aware ap extender selection in home wifi networks using ieee 802 11k v |
| topic | Home WiFi AP selection extender load balancing IEEE 802.11k IEEE 802.11v |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9354613/ |
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