A Study of Bandwidth-Perception Management Mechanisms in IEEE 802.16 Networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates how bandwidth perception management policies in IEEE 802.16 networks affect uplink throughput, using ns-2 simulations to analyze different request-grant mechanisms and their impact on TCP traffic.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of bandwidth perception issues in 802.16 networks and evaluates the effects of various management policies through simulation.

Findings

Bandwidth perception varies with management policy.

Different policies impact system throughput.

Best-Effort TCP flows are used for evaluation.

Abstract

Bandwidth request-grant mechanisms are used in 802.16 networks to manage the uplink bandwidth needs of subscriber stations (SSs). Requests may be sent by SSs to the base station (BS) by means of several mechanisms defined in the standard. Based on the incoming requests, the BS (which handles most of the bandwidth scheduling in the system) schedules the transmission of uplink traffic, by assigning transmission opportunities to the SSs in an implementation-dependent manner. In this paper we present a study of some bandwidth allocation issues, arising from the management of the perception of subscriber stations' bandwidth needs at the base station. We illustrate how the bandwidth perception varies depending on the policy used to handle requests and grants. By means of ns-2 simulations, we evaluate the potential impact of such policies on the system's aggregate throughput when the traffic is composed of Best-Effort TCP flows.