Extreme power saving directional MAC protocol in IEEE 802.11ah networks

Abstract

In this study, a novel directional medium access control scheme with an extreme power saving mechanism is developed for traffic indication map stations in the IEEE 802.11ah networks. To improve the aggregate throughput, stations are managed based on their geographical locations in combination with the employment of directional operation mode on the access point. In addition to the restricted access window mechanism used in the IEEE 802.11ah standard for power saving, an adaptive transmission power scheme is proposed for uplink transmission to leverage the power-saving efficiency. With the proposed access scheme, the network performance is significantly enhanced compared to the IEEE 802.11ah standard. The analytical models for throughput and energy consumption are formulated using Markov Chains under unsaturated conditions. The simulation results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed directional access scheme under various network scenarios.

Restricted Access Window-Based Resource Allocation Scheme for Performance Enhancement of IEEE 802.11ah Multi-Rate IoT Networks

“…The performance analysis of IEEE 802.11ah had been extensively studied in the literature [10], [11], [13]- [27]. In [10], [14], [15], the authors provided the various features of IEEE 802.11ah for different IoT scenarios.…”

“…After his pioneering work, several authors had extended the DTMC model for different versions of IEEE 802.11 WLAN supporting various applications. The authors of [11], [13], [16]- [27] evaluated the performance of IEEE 802.11ah network. A completely new approach referred to as mean value analysis was used by the authors of [11] for the throughput performance of IEEE 802.11ah network.…”

“…As the IEEE 802.11ah standard promoted for low power applications, the authors of [24]- [27] evaluated the energy efficiency of the IEEE 802.11ah network. In [24], the authors proposed an optimal traffic sensor grouping scheme for the IEEE 802.11ah network.…”

“…Here, it estimates the service interval and schedules the subsequent frames by eliminating the contention. In [27], the authors presented a novel directional MAC scheme using PS mechanism to improve the throughput and reduce the energy consumption for the IEEE 802.11ah network.…”

“…In such a case, the STAs must reset the BO counter and restart from the start of the next allocated RAW slot. The analytical models developed by the authors of [11], [13], [16]- [20], [23]- [27], [33] did not consider this important aspect of RAW mechanism, which is the reset and renewal of BO process at the beginning of RAW slot as per the IEEE 802.11ah standard [7]. Also, in [21] and [22], the authors proposed the analytical models for single-rate IEEE 802.11ah network; but neither of these two works provided a closed-form expression of throughput.…”