Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Price Based Decentralized Rate Selection in IEEE 802.11 Based WLANS

  • Published:
Wireless Personal Communications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We consider the problem of decentralized rate selection in IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs). Owing to the decentralized nature of WLANs, we formulate the current problem of rate selection as a non-cooperative game where individual users (players) of a WLAN can pick their actions from a finite set of physical layer modulation rates. The utility of each user is the difference of throughput and a cost incurred due to the price imposed by the access point. We prove the resulting non-cooperative game to be supermodular, and hence has at least one pure strategy Nash equilibrium, that is contained in a set bounded by the smallest and largest Nash equilibria. We also prove the smallest and largest Nash equilibria to be non-decreasing functions of the price and the smallest Nash equilibrium to be Pareto-dominant. We present an algorithm to compute the best response of each user asynchronously, that converges almost surely to the smallest Nash equilibrium of the game. Next we extend our price based approach to the multi-channel case and prove the resulting game to be supermodular in the special case of two channels. Our simulation results demonstrate the improvement in overall network throughput with appropriate tuning of the price.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Andradottir S. (1996) A global search method for discrete stochastic optimization. SIAM Journal on Optimization 6(2): 513–530

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Bianchi G. (2000) Performance analysis of the IEEE 802.11 distributed Coordination Function. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 18(3): 535–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cullen H. F. (1961) Complete continuity for functions. The American Mathematical Monthly 68(2): 165–168

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Currarini S., Marini M.A. (2004) A conjectural cooperative equilibrium for strategic form games. In: Carraro C., Fragnelli V. (eds) Book Chapter in game practise and the environment. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishers

    Google Scholar 

  5. de Mello T.H. (2003) Variable-sample methods for stochastic optimization. ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation 13(2): 108–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Fudenberg D., Tirole J. (1996) Game theory. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  7. Heusse, M., Rousseau, F., Berger-Sabbatel, & G., Duda, A. (2003). Performance Anomaly of 802.11b. In Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2003 (pp. 836–843).

  8. Heusse, M., Rousseau, F., Guillier, R., & Duda, A. (2005) Idle sense: An optimal access method for high throughput and fairness in rate diverse wireless LANs. In Proceedings of ACM SIGCOMM 2005 (pp. 121–132).

  9. Huang J., Berry R. A., Honig M. L. (2006) Distributed interference compensation in wireless networks. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 24(5): 1074–1084

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless LAN medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications. Available at http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.11b-1999.pdf.

  11. Krishnamuthy V., Wang X., Yin G. (2004) Spreading code optimization and adaptation in CDMA via discrete stochastic approximation. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory 50(9): 1927–1949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Liu P., Tao Z., Narayanan S., Korakis T., Panwar S. S. (2007) CoopMAC: A cooperative MAC for wireless LANs. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications 25(2): 340–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Mas-Colell A., Whinston M. D., Green J. R. (1995) Microeconomic theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

    Google Scholar 

  14. Milgrom P., Roberts J. (1990) Rationalizability, learning, and equilibrium in games with strategic complementarities. Econometrica 58(6): 1255–1277

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  15. Osborne M. J., Rubinstein A. (1994) A course in game theory. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. Proakis J. G. (2000) Digital communications. McGraw Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  17. Saraydar C. U., Mandayam N. B., Goodman D. J. (2002) Efficient power control via pricing in wireless data networks. IEEE Transactions on Communications 50(2): 291–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Tan G., & Guttag, J. (2004). Time-based fairness improves performance in multi-rate WLANs. In Proceedings of USENIX annual technical conference, 2004, p. 23.

  19. Tan, G., & Guttag, J. (2005) The 802.11 MAC leads to Inefficient Equilibria. In Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2005 (pp. 1–11).

  20. Topkis D. M. (1998) Supermodularity and Complementarity. Princeton University Press, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  21. Wang F., Krunz M., Cui S. (2008) Price-Based Spectrum Management in Cognitive Radio networks. IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Signal Processing 2(1): 74–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT), Post Bag 4, Near Indroda Circle, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 382007, India

    Laxminarayana S. Pillutla

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z4, Canada

    Vikram Krishnamurthy

Authors
  1. Laxminarayana S. Pillutla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vikram Krishnamurthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laxminarayana S. Pillutla.

Additional information

The authors would like to thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada for their research support in the form of a strategic grant.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pillutla, L.S., Krishnamurthy, V. A Price Based Decentralized Rate Selection in IEEE 802.11 Based WLANS. Wireless Pers Commun 56, 517–534 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-010-9987-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-010-9987-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation