Handling Real-Time Communication in Infrastructured IEEE 802.11 Wireless Networks: The RT-WiFi Approach

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2019

Authors

Costa, R (Author) Other; Lau, J (Author) Other; Paulo Portugal (Author) FEUP; Francisco Vasques (Author) FEUP; Moraes, R (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Communications and Networks

Vol. 21

Pages: 319-334

ISSN: 1229-2370

Publisher: Korean Institute of Communication Sciences

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 12 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00Q-W2D

DOI: 10.1109/jcn.2019.000013

Abstract (EN): In this paper, the RT-WiFi architecture is proposed to handle real-time (RT) communication in infrastructured IEEE 802.11 networks operating in high density industrial environments. This architecture is composed of a time division multiple access (TDMA)-based coordination layer that schedules the medium access of RT traffic flows, and an underlying traffic separation mechanism that is able do handle the coexistence of RT and non-RT traffic sources in the same communication environment. The simulation assessment considers an overlapping basic service set (OBSS), where a set of RT and non-RT stations share the same frequency band. The performance assessment compares the behaviour of the RT-WiFi architecture vs. the behaviour of standard distributed coordination function (DCF), point coordination function (PCF), enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA), and hybrid coordination function (HCF) controlled channel access (HCCA) medium access control mechanisms. A realistic error-prone model has been used to measure the impact of message losses in the RT-WiFi architecture. It is shown that the proposed RT-WiFi architecture offers a significantly enhanced behaviour when compared with the use of IEEE 802.11 standard mechanisms, in what concerns average deadline misses and average access delays. Moreover, it also offers an almost constant access delay, which is a relevant characteristic when supporting RT applications.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 16