Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Scalable Load Balancing and Flow Management in Dynamic Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

  • Published:
Journal of Network and Systems Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The number of connected devices has reached 18 billion in 2017 and this will nearly double by 2022, while also new wireless communication technologies become available. Since these modern devices support the use of multiple communication technologies, efforts have been made to enable simultaneous usage and handovers between the different technologies for these devices. However, existing solutions are missing the intelligence to decide on fine-grained (e.g. flow or packet level) optimizations that can drastically enhance the network’s performance (e.g., throughput) and user experience. To this extent, we present a multi-technology flow-management load balancing approach for heterogeneous wireless networks that dynamically re-routes traffic through heterogeneous networks, in order to maximize the global throughput. This dynamic approach can be deployed on top of existing solutions and takes into account the specific characteristics of the different technologies, as well as station mobility. We both present a mathematical problem formulation and a heuristic that ensures practical scalability. We demonstrate the heuristic’s ability to increase the network-wide throughput by more than 100% across a variety of scenarios and scalability up to 10,000 devices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Cisco: Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Trends, 2017–2022. Cisco pp. 1–71 (2017)

  2. Afaqui, M.S., Garcia-Villegas, E., Lopez-Aguilera, E.: IEEE 802.11ax: challenges and requirements for future high efficiency WiFi. IEEE Wirel. Commun. 24(3), 130–137 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. IEEE 1905.1: Standard for a Convergent Digital Home Network for Heterogeneous Technologies (2013)

  4. Ford, A., Raiciu, C., Handley, M., Bonaventure, O.: TCP Extensions for Multipath Operation with Multiple Addresses. RFC 6824, RFC Editor (2013). http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6824.txt

  5. Hoymann, C., Astely, D., Stattin, M., Wikström, G., Cheng, J.F.T., Höglund, A., Frenne, M., Blasco, R., Huschke, J., Gunnarsson, F.: LTE release 14 outlook. IEEE Commun. Mag. 54(6), 44–49 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. De Schepper, T., Bosch, P., Zeljkovi, E., Haxhibeqiri, J., Hoebeke, J., Famaey, J., Latre, S.: ORCHESTRA: enabling inter-technology network management in heterogeneous wireless networks. IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manag. 15(4), 1733–1746 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. De Schepper, T., Latré, S., Famaey, J.: Flow management and load balancing in dynamic heterogeneous LANs. IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manag. 15(2), 693–706 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. De Schepper, T., Latre, S., Famaey, J.: Load balancing and flow management under user mobility in heterogeneous wireless networks. In: 2018 14th International Conference on Network and Service Management (CNSM), pp. 1–9 (2018)

  9. Tessares: Hybrid Access Networks with MPTCP. https://www.tessares.net/

  10. Rebecchi, F., De Amorim, M.D., Conan, V., Passarella, A., Bruno, R., Conti, M.: Data offloading techniques in cellular networks: A survey. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor. 17(2), 580–603 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. De Coninck, Q., Baerts, M., Hesmans, B., Bonaventure, O.: A first analysis of multipath TCP on smartphones. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) 9631(September 2015), 57–69 (2016)

  12. Paasch, C., Ferlin, S., Alay, O., Bonaventure, O.: Experimental evaluation of multipath TCP schedulers. In: Proceedings of the 2014 ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Capacity Sharing Workshop—CSWS ’14, pp. 27–32 (2014)

  13. Khalili, R., Gast, N., Popovic, M., Le Boudec, J.Y.: Mptcp is not pareto-optimal: performance issues and a possible solution. IEEE/ACM Trans. Netw. (ToN) 21(5), 1651–1665 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mukherjee, A., Cheng, J.F., Falahati, S., Koorapaty, H., Kang, D.H., Karaki, R., Falconetti, L., Larsson, D.: Licensed-assisted access LTE: coexistence with IEEE 802.11 and the evolution toward 5G. IEEE Commun. Mag. 54(6), 50–57 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Abinader, F.M., Almeida, E.P., Chaves, F.S., Cavalcante, A.M., Vieira, R.D., Paiva, R.C., Sobrinho, A.M., Choudhury, S., Tuomaala, E., Doppler, K., Sousa, V.A.: Enabling the coexistence of LTE and Wi-Fi in unlicensed bands. IEEE Commun. Mag. 52(11), 54–61 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Zhang, N., Zhang, S., Wu, S., Ren, J., Mark, J.W., Shen, X.: Beyond coexistence: traffic steering in LTE networks with unlicensed bands. IEEE Wirel. Commun. 23(6), 40–46 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Networks, M.: Truffle—Broadband Bonding Appliance. https://www.mushroomnetworks.com/truffle/

  18. Macone, D., Oddi, G., Palo, A., Suraci, V.: A dynamic load balancing algorithm for quality of service and mobility management in next generation home networks. Telecommun. Syst. 53(3), 265–283 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Oddi, G., Pietrabissa, A., Priscoli, F.D., Suraci, V.: A decentralized load balancing algorithm for heterogeneous wireless access networks. In: World Telecommunications Congress, pp. 1–6 (2014)

  20. Olvera-Irigoyen, O., Kortebi, A., Toutain, L.: Available bandwidth probing for path selection in heterogeneous home networks. In: IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps), pp. 492–497 (2012)

  21. Bouchet, O., Kortebi, A., Boucher, M.: Inter-MAC green path selection for heterogeneous networks. In: IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps), pp. 487–491 (2012)

  22. Kortebi, A., Bouchet, O.: Performance evaluation of inter-mac green path selection protocol. In: 12th Annual IEEE Mediterranean Ad Hoc Networking Workshop (MED-HOC-NET), pp. 42–48 (2013)

  23. Zekri, M., Jouaber, B., Zeghlache, D.: A review on mobility management and vertical handover solutions over heterogeneous wireless networks. Comput. Commun. 35(17), 2055–2068 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Gódor, G., Jakó, Z., Knapp, Á., Imre, S.: A survey of handover management in lte-based multi-tier femtocell networks: requirements, challenges and solutions. Comput. Netw. 76, 17–41 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Andrews, J.G., Singh, S., Ye, Q., Lin, X., Dhillon, H.S.: An overview of load balancing in hetnets: old myths and open problems. IEEE Wirel. Commun. 21(2), 18–25 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Ng, B., Deng, A., Qu, Y., Seah, W.K.: Changeover prediction model for improving handover support in campus area wlan. In: Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS), 2016 IEEE/IFIP, pp. 265–272. IEEE (2016)

  27. Harutyunyan, D., Herle, S., Maradin, D., Agapiu, G., Riggio, R.: Traffic-aware user association in heterogeneous lte/wifi radio access networks. In: NOMS 2018-2018 IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium, pp. 1–8. IEEE (2018)

  28. Lien, S.Y., Shieh, S.L., Huang, Y., Su, B., Hsu, Y.L., Wei, H.Y.: 5g new radio: waveform, frame structure, multiple access, and initial access. IEEE Commun. Mag. 55(6), 64–71 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Parkvall, S., Dahlman, E., Furuskar, A., Frenne, M.: Nr: the new 5g radio access technology. IEEE Commun. Stand. Mag. 1(4), 24–30 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Alizadeh, A., Vu, M.: Load balancing user association in millimeter wave mimo networks. IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun. 18(6), 2932–2945 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Donoso, Y., Fabregat, R.: Multi-objective Optimization in Computer Networks Using Metaheuristics. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2016)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  32. De Schepper, T., Latre, S., Famaey, J.: A transparent load balancing algorithm for heterogeneous Local Area Networks. In: 2017 IFIP/IEEE Symposium on Integrated Network and Service Management (IM), pp. 160–168 (2017)

  33. Liu, H., Darabi, H., Banerjee, P., Liu, J.: Survey of wireless indoor positioning techniques and systems. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part C Appl. Rev. 37(6), 1067–1080 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Riley, G.F., Henderson, T.R.: The ns-3 network simulator. In: Modeling and Tools for Network Simulation, pp. 15–34. Springer (2010)

  35. NoteTN2224, A.T.: Best Practices for Creating and Deploying HTTP Live Streaming Media for Apple Devices. Tech. rep., Apple (2012). https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/technotes/tn2224/_index.html

  36. Lee, D.J., Carpenter, B.E., Brownlee, N.: Media streaming observations: trends in UDP to TCP ratio. Int. J. Adv. Syst. Meas. 3(3), 147–162 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IDLab - Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Antwerp - imec, Sint-Pietersvliet 7, 2000, Antwerp, Belgium

    Tom De Schepper, Steven Latré & Jeroen Famaey

Authors
  1. Tom De Schepper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Steven Latré
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jeroen Famaey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tom De Schepper.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

De Schepper, T., Latré, S. & Famaey, J. Scalable Load Balancing and Flow Management in Dynamic Heterogeneous Wireless Networks. J Netw Syst Manage 28, 133–159 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10922-019-09502-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10922-019-09502-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation