Cross-layer interference minimization-oriented channel assignment in IEEE 802.11 WLANs

Abstract

IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs) are widely deployed nowadays in home and urban areas. To solve the problem of radio frequency scarcity, interference minimization-oriented channel assignment has been very much explored at PHY layer. However, the effect of time domain simultaneous transmission on the neighboring interference is rarely considered. In this paper, we propose a cross-layer channel assignment algorithm for newly deployed access point (AP) initial setting up in high-density WLANs. Compared to the conventional algorithms which only focus on PHY layer, our proposed algorithm jointly analyzes the time domain overlap from MAC layer and frequency domain overlap at PHY layer to minimize the neighboring interference, which is the fatal reason of network Quality of Service (QoS) reduction. We also modify the beacon frame to support real-time information collection for channel assignment. Simulation results are provided to validate the proposed cross-layer channel assignment algorithm.