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Multi-user access mechanism with intra-access categories differentiation for IEEE 802.11ac wireless local area networks

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Abstract

To cope with the increasing demand of multimedia applications, new IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks devices have been defined such as IEEE 802.11aa and IEEE 802.11ac. The former proposes new intra-access categories (AC) differentiation based on stream classification service (SCS) scheme. The latter standard allows simultaneous downlink transmissions thanks to downlink multi-user MIMO technology and sharing transmission opportunity (TXOP) period scheme. In this paper, we focus on the basis of this technique and the behavior of the access point (AP) to manage the multi-user access. Then, we propose a hybrid access mechanism entitled multi-user multi-cast access mechanism (MUMAM) that supports downlink multi-user transmissions while considering intra-AC differentiation. MUMAN considers SCS scheme to prioritize between multicast and unicast flows of an AC and follows transmissions based on IEEE 802.11ac TXOP sharing technique. Extensive simulation and analysis show that MUMAM has a significant positive impact on delay and throughput performance of different AC(s).

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Abbreviations

AAC:

Alternate access category

AC:

Access category

ACK:

Acknowledgment

AP:

Access point

BA:

Block acknowledgment

BAR:

Block acknowledgment request

BE:

Best effort

C-AC:

Complementary AC

DL MU-MIMO:

Downlink multi-user MIMO

EDCA:

Enhanced distributed channel access

HCF:

Hybrid coordination function

MAC:

Medium access control

MIMO:

Multiple input multiple output

MUMAM:

Multi-user multicast access mechanism

MU-TXOP:

Multi-user TXOP

P-AC:

Primary AC

PHY:

Physical layer

PPDU:

PHY layer protocol data unit

QoS:

Quality of service

SIFS:

Short inter-frame spacing

S-AC:

Secondary AC

SCS:

Stream classification service

STA:

Station

TXOP:

Transmission opportunity

\(TXOP_{EL}\) :

TXOP elementary period

UP:

User priority

VI:

Video

VO:

Voice

VHT:

Very high throughput

WLAN:

Wireless local area network

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Electronics and Information Technologies (LETI), National School of Engineering B.P.W, University of Sfax, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Emna Charfi, Lamia Chaari, Souha Ben Hlima & Lotfi Kammoun

Authors
  1. Emna Charfi
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  2. Lamia Chaari
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  3. Souha Ben Hlima
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  4. Lotfi Kammoun
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Correspondence to Emna Charfi.

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Charfi, E., Chaari, L., Ben Hlima, S. et al. Multi-user access mechanism with intra-access categories differentiation for IEEE 802.11ac wireless local area networks. Telecommun Syst 64, 479–494 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-016-0187-x

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