Capacity of Asynchronous Random-Access Scheduling in Wireless Networks

TitleCapacity of Asynchronous Random-Access Scheduling in Wireless Networks
Publication TypeConference Papers
Year of Publication2008
AuthorsChafekar D, Levin D, Kumar VSA, Marathe MV, Parthasarathy S, Srinivasan A
Conference NameIEEE INFOCOM 2008. The 27th Conference on Computer Communications
Date Published2008/04/13/18
PublisherIEEE
ISBN Number978-1-4244-2025-4
Keywordsasynchronous random-access scheduling, channel access probability, Computer networks, Computer science, Educational institutions, Interference, Optimal scheduling, Peer to peer computing, probability, Processor scheduling, radio link, radio links, radio networks, Routing, scheduling, Throughput, throughput capacity, wireless channels, Wireless networks
Abstract

We study the throughput capacity of wireless networks which employ (asynchronous) random-access scheduling as opposed to deterministic scheduling. The central question we answer is: how should we set the channel-access probability for each link in the network so that the network operates close to its optimal throughput capacity? We design simple and distributed channel-access strategies for random-access networks which are provably competitive with respect to the optimal scheduling strategy, which is deterministic, centralized, and computationally infeasible. We show that the competitiveness of our strategies are nearly the best achievable via random-access scheduling, thus establishing fundamental limits on the performance of random- access. A notable outcome of our work is that random access compares well with deterministic scheduling when link transmission durations differ by small factors, and much worse otherwise. The distinguishing aspects of our work include modeling and rigorous analysis of asynchronous communication, asymmetry in link transmission durations, and hidden terminals under arbitrary link-conflict based wireless interference models.

DOI10.1109/INFOCOM.2008.170