Game-Theoretic Analysis of Multibandwidth Channel Selection by Coordinated APs in WLANs

Kohei HANADA  Koji YAMAMOTO  Masahiro MORIKURA  Koichi ISHIHARA  Riichi KUDO  

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E96-B   No.6   pp.1277-1287
Publication Date: 2013/06/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1345
DOI: 10.1587/transcom.E96.B.1277
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Heterogeneous Networks for Future Cellular Systems)
Category: 
Keyword: 
wireless LAN,  multibandwidth,  channel selection,  IEEE 802.11ac,  overlapping BSS,  game theory,  

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Summary: 
As the demand for high-throughput communications in wireless LANs (WLAN) increases, the need for expanding channel bandwidth also increases. However, the use of wider band channels results in a decrease in the number of available channels because the total available bandwidth for WLAN is limited. Therefore, if multiple access points (APs) are in proximity and the cells overlap, it is difficult for each AP to use an orthogonal channel and competition increases between APs using the same channel. Coordination of APs is one promising approach; however, it is impractical to control all APs in WLAN systems. To cope with this problem, we proposed to analyze throughput performances of a multibandwidth channel selection by the coordinating APs at Nash equilibria, which can be considered as operating points for independent channel selection by APs. To clarify the effect of coordinating APs, we assume a simple scenario where the cells of three or more APs overlap, and each AP can select multibandwidth channels to maximize their own throughput. Through game-theoretic analysis, we find that the coordinated APs are able to select channels more effectively than if each AP independently selects channels. Consequently, the total throughput of the coordinated APs at Nash equilibria is significantly improved.