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Recovering a game model from an optimal channel access scheme for WLANs

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Abstract

Idle Sense is an optimal channel access scheme to achieve high throughput with high short-term fairness in IEEE 802.11 style wireless LANs. This paper recovers a non-cooperative game model from the protocol. We show that the control algorithm used by Idle Sense can be reverse-engineered so that each node implicitly maximizes a selfish local utility function. We prove the game has a Nash equilibrium which, under certain conditions, is unique with all nodes sharing the wireless channel equally. We perform extensive numerical simulations to get the equilibrium point for various network sizes and compare the performance of the model with IEEE 802.11 DCF. The achieved throughput at equilibrium is close to optimal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interra Systems India Pvt. Ltd., Plot 53, Block DN, Sector 5, Salt Lake, Kolkata, 700 091, India

    Debarshi Kumar Sanyal

  2. School of Education Technology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700 032, India

    Matangini Chattopadhyay

  3. Department of Information Technology, Jadavpur University (Salt Lake Campus), Kolkata, 700 098, India

    Samiran Chattopadhyay

Authors
  1. Debarshi Kumar Sanyal
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  2. Matangini Chattopadhyay
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  3. Samiran Chattopadhyay
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Correspondence to Debarshi Kumar Sanyal.

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Sanyal, D.K., Chattopadhyay, M. & Chattopadhyay, S. Recovering a game model from an optimal channel access scheme for WLANs. Telecommun Syst 52, 475–483 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-011-9450-3

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