The Case for Non-Cooperative Multihoming of Users to Access Points in IEEE 802.11 WLANs

Shakkottai, Srinivas and Altman, Eitan and Kumar, Anurag (2007) The Case for Non-Cooperative Multihoming of Users to Access Points in IEEE 802.11 WLANs. In: 25th IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications. Proceedings INFOCOM 2006., April 2006 , Barcelona, Spain .

PDF The_Case_for.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (240kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

In many cases, a mobile user has the option of connecting to one of several IEEE 802.11 access points (APs),each using an independent channel. User throughput in each AP is determined by the number of other users as well as the frame size and physical rate being used. We consider the scenario where users could multihome, i.e., split their traffic amongst all the available APs, based on the throughput they obtain and the price charged. Thus, they are involved in a non-cooperative game with each other. We convert the problem into a fluid model and show that under a pricing scheme, which we call the cost price mechanism, the total system throughput is maximized,i.e., the system suffers no loss of efficiency due to selfish dynamics. We also study the case where the Internet Service Provider (ISP) could charge prices greater than that of the cost price mechanism. We show that even in this case multihoming outperforms unihoming, both in terms of throughput as well as profit to the ISP.

Item Type:	Conference Paper
Publisher:	IEEE
Additional Information:	Copyright 2006 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.
Department/Centre:	Division of Electrical Sciences > Electrical Communication Engineering
Date Deposited:	10 Nov 2011 05:18
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2011 05:18
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/41987

Actions (login required)

View Item