Media and data traffic coexistence in power-controlled wireless networks

A key issue in wireless multimedia networking regards the coexistence of different services/traffic types over common wireless resources. Research in Transmitter Power Control (TPC) has proposed various schemes for different traffic types without addressing effectively the problem of coexistence. Each of the TPC schemes of the literature is usually (i) unsuitable/inefficient for supporting diverse traffic types, and (ii) incompatible with each other, leading to conflicts if operated over common wireless channels.In this paper, we tackle the problem of coexistence by presenting novel converged TPC schemes. First, we investigate converged TPC schemes for links carrying the two basic traffic types of media streaming circuit-switched/constant-rate traffic (i.e. voice, CBR video), andpacket-switched elastic traffic (i.e. data).Evaluated against conventional TPC algorithms operating in dedicated wireless resources, the proposed schemes are demonstrated to increase the capacity of the wireless network. Second, we explore new hybrid types of traffic that combine the best-effort grade of service adapting to the network conditions with a guaranteed minimum, and propose appropriate TPC schemes.