On the Packet Allocation of Multi-Band Aggregation Wireless Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces an optimal packet distribution and scheduling framework for multi-band WLAN systems with multi-RAT devices, significantly reducing latency and improving performance through the OMMA Leaky Bucket algorithm.

Contribution

It develops a theoretical framework and a novel packet scheduling algorithm for multi-RAT systems, optimizing latency and supporting multiple QoS classes.

Findings

The OMMA Leaky Bucket algorithm reduces end-to-end packet delay.

Simulation results show performance gains over existing scheduling methods.

The system architecture supports dynamic multi-RAT device operation.

Abstract

The use of heterogeneous networks with multiple radio access technologies (RATs) is a system concept that both academia and industry are studying. In such system, integrated use of available multiple RATs is essential to achieve beyond additive throughput and connectivity gains using multi-dimensional diversity. This paper considers an aggregation module called opportunistic multi-MAC aggregation (OMMA). It resides between the IP layer and the air interface protocol stacks, common to all RATs in the device. We present a theoretical framework for such system while considering a special case of multi-RAT systems, i.e., a multi-band wireless LAN (WLAN) system. An optimal packet distribution approach is derived which minimizes the average packet latency (the sum of queueing delay and serving delay) over multiple bands. It supports multiple user terminals with different QoS classes simultaneously. We further propose a packet scheduling algorithm, OMMA Leaky Bucket, which minimizes the packet end-to-end delay, i.e., the sum of average packet latency and average packet reordering delay. We also describe the system architecture of the proposed OMMA system, which is applicable for the general case of the multi- RAT devices. It includes functional description, discovery and association processes, and dynamic RAT update management. We finally present simulation results for a multi-band WLAN system. It shows the performance gains of the proposed OMMA Leaky Bucket scheme in comparison to other existing packet scheduling mechanisms.