Access Optimization in 802.11ax WLAN for Load Balancing and Competition Avoidance of IPTV Traffic

Abstract

With the improvement of terminal intelligence and the enrichment of digital content, terminal density is showing an explosive growth trend, and the traffic carried by IPTV and other services is rapidly increasing. HDHB WLAN (High-Density High-Bandwidth Wireless LAN) is becoming a dominant form of wireless LAN. However, the RSSI-based access mode has led to a notable load imbalance, and the resource competition mode based on random access intensifies the difficulty of access resource acquisition, which exacerbates the traffic challenges faced by WLAN. IEEE 802.11ax somewhat alleviates traffic pressure, but it does not fundamentally solve these problems. This paper introduces an access optimization mechanism for the 802.11ax HDHB WLAN, which aims to achieve load balancing while considering competition avoidance, alleviating the pressure of IPTV traffic. First, an 802.11ax access optimization architecture for HDHB WLAN is constructed, aimed at alleviating traffic pressure and meeting the quality requirements of IPTV and other services by modifying access processes of terminals. Next, a terminal information acquisition and interactive access control strategy based on the trigger frame is devised to obtain accurate parameter information and facilitate orderly concurrent access control for high-density terminals. Additionally, a load balancing and competition avoidance oriented access control method for HDHB WLAN is proposed, including an access optimization control model, and an access strategy generation algorithm based on the Improved DQN algorithm. Finally, simulation results show that the global throughput and load balancing of HDHB WLAN are improved, consequently reducing overall WLAN traffic pressure.