A centralised Wi-Fi management framework for D2D communications in dense Wi-Fi networks

Abstract

Abstract-In Wi-Fi networks, Device-to-Device (D2D) communications aim to improve the efficiency of the network by supporting direct communication between users in close proximity. However, in a congested Wi-Fi network, establishing D2D connections through a locally managed self-organising approach will intensify the congestion and reduce the scalability of the solution. Therefore, a centralised management approach must be involved in orchestrating those actions to guarantee the sufficiency of D2D communications. In this paper, we propose a novel management framework for D2D communications in dense Wi-Fi networks. The proposed framework employs a SoftwareDefined Networking (SDN) based centralised controller in synergy with a novel Access Point (AP) channel assignment process. This framework is designed to proactively establish and manage D2D connections in Wi-Fi networks considering the available radio resources and the effect of the subsequent interference. Thus, improving the overall performance of the network and providing users with higher data rate. Through simulation, we validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework and demonstrate how D2D deployment considerably improves the Wi-Fi network efficiency especially when the data rate requirements are high. Furthermore, we show that our proposed framework achieves better performance than the widely deployed Least Congested Channel selection strategy (LCC).

Enabling Device‐to‐Device (D2D) Communication for the Next Generation WLAN

“…In [21], Shah et al review the interference mitigation and radio resource management of in-band D2D communications and discuss the problems of resource management, mode selection, energy efficiency, and coexistence of D2D communications. Correspondingly, the researches on D2D communication technology are mainly divided into D2D link management [22][23][24], resource allocation, and interference management [25][26][27].…”

“…In [26], Wen et al propose a joint power control and resource allocation algorithm that greatly reduces the interference and improves the network performance, but the algorithm is too complex. In [27], Seyedebrahimi et al propose a novel management framework for D2D communications in dense WiFi network, which proactively establishes and manages D2D connections by considering the available radio resource and the effect of the subsequent interference. However, the overlay D2D communication mode is not considered.…”

Quality of Service Oriented Access Point Selection Framework for Large Wi-Fi Networks

“…Furthermore, it has been already proven that SDN is an effective way to achieve fast handovers, frequency selection, and power control in Wi-Fi networks [26]. Moreover, SDN offers flexibility and cross-layer management, as the central controller is able to obtain monitoring information about the status of the network and execute relevant algorithms to react accordingly while respecting the requirements of the wireless users, as shown by the work in [4], [5] and [30]. It is worth mentioning that Wi-5 is currently developing a SDN framework that extends the capabilities of OpenFlow and relaxes its limitations to support the monitoring of Wi-Fi networks, the QoS requirements of wireless applications, and the configuration of Wi-Fi APs [31].…”

QoS aware radio access technology selection framework in heterogeneous networks using SDN

“…2. In this architecture, management solutions are implemented as applications on the northbound API of the SDN controller and algorithms for AP selection [23], [24], chan- nel assignment [25], [26], and RRM [27] have been already proposed for implementation to address spectrum congestion in Wi-Fi networks. The Wi-5 architecture defines a Spectrum Plane which enhances the operational capabilities of IEEE 802.11 APs by defining new monitoring and configuration primitives, and making APs programmable, thereby enabling fine-grained spectrum allocation and management.…”