The QoS-RWP mobility and user behavior model for public area wireless networks

ABSTRACT

Congestion is expected to become a prominent problem to deal with as the popularity of wireless data networks continues to increase. However, this problem can in principle be mitigated if a fraction of the network users could decide to move to another location in case their perceived QoS degrades. To account for this, we propose an extension of the well-known RWP model called QoS-RWP, in which users are divided into mobile users displaying constrained movement patterns, and QoS-driven users who are mainly stationary, but they can decide to move to a better location to improve their QoS level. Another enhancement of QoS-RWP with respect to the original RWP model is that waypoints are chosen according to an access point (AP) popularity metric, which reflects the recently observed phenomenon that different APs in a wireless data network display very different degrees of popularity among users. The QoS-RWP model also accounts for different classes of load offered to the network by the users, and for different channel access methods. Based on QoS-RWP, we perform a simulation-based analysis of network usage under different combinations of network parameters such as the number of users, number of APs, relative fraction of QoS-driven users, and channel access method. Our investigation discloses interesting insights on network usage, and shows that our model is able to capture important properties observed in real-world network deployments.

REFERENCES

• 1: Anand Balachandran , Geoffrey M. Voelker , Paramvir Bahl , P. Venkat Rangan, Characterizing user behavior and network performance in a public wireless LAN, Proceedings of the 2002 ACM SIGMETRICS international conference on Measurement and modeling of computer systems, June 15-19, 2002, Marina Del Rey, California
• 2: Anand Balachandran , Paramvir Bahl , Geoffrey M. Voelker, Hot-Spot Congestion Relief in Public-Area Wireless Networks, Proceedings of the Fourth IEEE Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications, p.70, June 20-21, 2002
• 3: Anand Balachandran , Geoffrey M. Voelker , Paramvir Bahl, Wireless hotspots: current challenges and future directions, Mobile Networks and Applications, v.10 n.3, p.265-274, June 2005 [doi>10.1007/s11036-005-6421-5]
• 4: Magdalena Balazinska , Paul Castro, Characterizing mobility and network usage in a corporate wireless local-area network, Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Mobile systems, applications and services, p.303-316, May 05-08, 2003, San Francisco, California [doi>10.1145/1066116.1066127]
• 5: Christian Bettstetter , Giovanni Resta , Paolo Santi, The Node Distribution of the Random Waypoint Mobility Model for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, v.2 n.3, p.257-269, March 2003 [doi>10.1109/TMC.2003.1233531]
• 6: Christian Bettstetter, Smooth is better than sharp: a random mobility model for simulation of wireless networks, Proceedings of the 4th ACM international workshop on Modeling, analysis and simulation of wireless and mobile systems, p.19-27, July 2001, Rome, Italy [doi>10.1145/381591.381600]
• 7: R. Bruno, M. Conti, E. Gregori, "Mesh Networks: Commodity Multihop Ad Hoc Networks", IEEE Communications Magazine, Vol. 43, n. 3, pp. 123--131, March 2005.
• 8: T. Camp, J. Boleng, V. Davies, "Mobility models for ad hoc network simulations", Wireless Communication & Mobile Computing (WCMC), special issue on mobile ad hoc networking, Wiley, 2002.
• 9: Aironet 1240AG data sheets, available at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/wireless.
• 10: Ivaylo Haratcherev , Jacco Taal , Koen Langendoen , Reginald Lagendijk , Henk Sips, Automatic IEEE 802.11 rate control for streaming applications: Research Articles, Wireless Communications & Mobile Computing, v.5 n.4, p.421-437, June 2005 [doi>10.1002/wcm.v5:4]
• 11: M. Heusse, F. Rousseau, G. Berger-Sabbatel, A. Duda, "Performance Anomaly of 802.11b", Proc. IEEE Infocom 03, 2003.
• 12: W. Hsu, K. Merchant, H. Shu, C. Hsu, A. Helmy, "Preference-based Mobility Model and the Case for Congestion Relief in WLANs using Ad Hoc Networks", Proc. IEEE VTC 04, 2004.
• 13: Ravi Jain , Dan Lelescu , Mahadevan Balakrishnan, Model T: an empirical model for user registration patterns in a campus wireless LAN, Proceedings of the 11th annual international conference on Mobile computing and networking, August 28-September 02, 2005, Cologne, Germany [doi>10.1145/1080829.1080848]
• 14: Amit Jardosh , Elizabeth M. Belding-Royer , Kevin C. Almeroth , Subhash Suri, Towards realistic mobility models for mobile ad hoc networks, Proceedings of the 9th annual international conference on Mobile computing and networking, September 14-19, 2003, San Diego, CA, USA [doi>10.1145/938985.939008]
• 15: D.B. Johnson, D.A. Maltz, "Dynamic Source Routing in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks", Mobile Computing, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 153--181, 1996.
• 16: Minkyong Kim , David Kotz, Modeling users' mobility among WiFi access points, Papers presented at the 2005 workshop on Wireless traffic measurements and modeling, p.19-24, June 05-05, 2005, Seattle, Washington
• 17: David Kotz , Kobby Essien, Analysis of a campus-wide wireless network, Proceedings of the 8th annual international conference on Mobile computing and networking, September 23-28, 2002, Atlanta, Georgia, USA [doi>10.1145/570645.570659]
• 18: J.Y. LeBoudec, M. Vojnovic, "Perfect Simulation and Stationarity of a Class of Mobility Models", Proc. IEEE Infocom 05, pp. ??, 2005.
• 19: Jong-Kwon Lee , Jennifer C. Hou, Modeling steady-state and transient behaviors of user mobility:: formulation, analysis, and application, Proceedings of the seventh ACM international symposium on Mobile ad hoc networking and computing, May 22-25, 2006, Florence, Italy [doi>10.1145/1132905.1132915]
• 20: Dan Lelescu , Ulaş C. Kozat , Ravi Jain , Mahadevan Balakrishnan, Model T++:: an empirical joint space-time registration model, Proceedings of the seventh ACM international symposium on Mobile ad hoc networking and computing, May 22-25, 2006, Florence, Italy [doi>10.1145/1132905.1132913]
• 21: Michael McGuire, Stationary distributions of random walk mobility models for wireless ad hoc networks, Proceedings of the 6th ACM international symposium on Mobile ad hoc networking and computing, May 25-27, 2005, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA [doi>10.1145/1062689.1062702]
• 22: Mirco Musolesi , Stephen Hailes , Cecilia Mascolo, An ad hoc mobility model founded on social network theory, Proceedings of the 7th ACM international symposium on Modeling, analysis and simulation of wireless and mobile systems, October 04-06, 2004, Venice, Italy [doi>10.1145/1023663.1023669]
• 23: W. Navidi, T. Camp, "Stationary Distributions for the Random Waypoint Mobility Model", IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Vol. 3, n. 1, pp. 99--108, 2004.
• 24: G. Resta, P. Santi, "The QoS-RWP Mobility and User Behavior Model for Public Area Wireless Networks", Tech. Rep. IIT-TR-03/2006, Istituto di Informatica e Telematica, Pisa - Italy, May 2006.
• 25: M. Satyanarayanan, "Pervasive Computing: Vision and Challanges", IEEE Personal Communications, Vol. 8, n. 4, pp. 10--17, August 2001.
• 26: Diane Tang , Mary Baker, Analysis of a local-area wireless network, Proceedings of the 6th annual international conference on Mobile computing and networking, p.1-10, August 06-11, 2000, Boston, Massachusetts, United States [doi>10.1145/345910.345912]
• 27: C. Tuduce, T. Gross, "A Mobility Model based on WLAN Traces and its Validation", Proc. IEEE Infocom 05, pp. 664--674, 2005.
• 28: J. Yoon, M. Liu, and B. Noble, "Random Waypoint Considered Harmful", Proc. IEEE Infocom, (San Francisco, CA), April 2003.
• 29: Jungkeun Yoon , Mingyan Liu , Brian Noble, Sound mobility models, Proceedings of the 9th annual international conference on Mobile computing and networking, September 14-19, 2003, San Diego, CA, USA [doi>10.1145/938985.939007]

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:
Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
mobility modeling, quality of service, random waypoint mobility, wireless LAN, wireless mesh networks