Wireless Router Contention Window for Fair Bandwidth
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless mesh networks face challenges in fairly allocating bandwidth across multiple interconnected routers and clients, leading to biased bandwidth distribution favoring nodes closer to the gateway, which is not efficiently addressed by conventional ad-hoc routing protocols or existing MAC extensions.
Innovation Solution
A method that dynamically calculates a precise contention window for routers based on information exchanged through control channels, such as the number of hops, total clients, and requested throughput, ensuring fair bandwidth allocation by adjusting the contention window to minimize collisions and provide equal access to the wireless medium.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a predetermined amount of bandwidth is allocated to each client based on total network capacity, then the allocation process is simple and straightforward, but bandwidth distribution becomes biased in favor of nodes nearest to the gateway, causing unfair allocation across the network
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of contention window size dynamically based on the router's position in the network (number of hops from gateway). Routers farther from the gateway are assigned larger contention windows, which compensates for the cumulative bandwidth consumption along the path and ensures fair bandwidth distribution across all nodes regardless of their location.
2Device complexity
If all routers are treated equally as clients with the same bandwidth allocation, then the MAC layer control is simplified, but routers farther from the gateway receive insufficient bandwidth due to cumulative consumption by intermediate nodes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different contention window sizes to routers based on their specific location (number of hops) from the gateway. Each router's contention window is locally optimized according to its position, ensuring that routers farther from the gateway receive appropriate bandwidth compensation without requiring complex centralized control.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional ad-hoc routing protocols are used in wireless mesh networks, then implementation is straightforward, but they cannot efficiently address bandwidth allocation fairness issues in multihop scenarios
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables routers to autonomously determine their own contention window size based on their hop count from the gateway. Each router independently calculates and configures its parameters without requiring complex centralized coordination or modifications to conventional routing protocols, thus maintaining ease of implementation while achieving fair bandwidth allocation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of determining a contention window for allocating bandwidth in a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes, said nodes comprising at least a first and a second router and at least one client connected to each of said first and second routers, the method comprising the steps of: receiving information at the first router from the other nodes, said information relating to the condition of the other nodes; calculating a contention window for said first router based on the received information; and setting the delay for a retransmission of data by the first router to the calculated contention window, wherein the retransmission of data follows an unsuccessful transmission of said data.