Utility Max-Min Fair Link Adaptation in IEEE 802.11ac Downlink Multi-User

Abstract

In this letter, we propose a novel model and corresponding algorithms to address the optimal utility max-min fair link adaptation in Downlink Multi-User (DL-MU) feature of the emerging IEEE 802.11ac WLAN standard. Herein, we first propose a simple yet accurate model to formulate the max-min fair link adaptation problem. Furthermore, this model guarantees the minimum utility gain of each receiver according to its requirements. In the second step, we show that the optimal solution of the proposed model can be obtained in polynomial time, and then the solution algorithms are proposed and analyzed. The simulation results demonstrate the significant achievement of the proposed utility-aware link adaptation approach in terms of max-min fairness and utility gain compared to utility-oblivious schemes.Index Terms-IEEE 802.11ac, DL-MU, utility max-min fairness, link adaptation

Impact of IEEE 802.11n/ac PHY/MAC High Throughput Enhancements on Transport and Application Protocols—A Survey

“…Fairness in performance: Fairness of IEEE 802.11ac network is examined in some existing works. Khavasi et al [84] formulated a simple model to design the max-min fair related link adaptation problem. This model guarantees the minimum gain of utility of each receiver node according to its requirement and thus, upper layer performance is improved.…”

“…A combination of intelligent channel bonding and different rate adaption algorithms can be applied to find their impact over upper layer protocols in IEEE 802.11n. IEEE 802.11ac should also adapt to dynamic link condition to achieve the maximum physical data rate [84], [93].…”