Experimental investigation of PHY layer rate control and frequency selection in 802.11-based ad-hoc networks

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the performance impact of two important PHY layer design options that arise in 802.11 ad-hoc networks. In particular, throughput results are provided for multi-hop ad-hoc networks with and without PHY auto-rate control and for single vs. multiple frequencies. The study is motivated by the fact that default 802.11-based ad-hoc networks using commercially preset auto-rate PHY and a single frequency channel suffer from performance degradations caused by link quality fluctuations and MAC layer self-interference respectively. A baseline ad-hoc network scenario is set up on the ORBIT radio grid testbed at Rutgers and is used to determine end-to-end multi-hop flow throughput with default rate control and single channel operation. These results are then compared with those obtained with multiple channels and alternative PHY-rate selection methods demonstrating the potential for significant performance improvements. We observed significant improvements in end-to-end flow throughput, as much as 4x for multiple channel vs. single channel and 3x for optimally controlled PHY rate vs auto-rate.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Wireless communication

General Terms:
Experimentation, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
ad-hoc networks, experimental evaluation, multi-hop networks