Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

TCP-aware bidirectional bandwidth allocation in IEEE 802.16 networks

  • Published:
Wireless Networks Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a bidirectional bandwidth-allocation mechanism to improve TCP performance in the IEEE 802.16 broadband wireless access networks. By coupling the bandwidth allocation for uplink and downlink connections, the proposed mechanism increases the throughput of the downlink TCP flow and it enhances the efficiency of uplink bandwidth allocation for the TCP acknowledgment (ACK). According to the IEEE 802.16 standard, when serving a downlink TCP flow, the transmission of the uplink ACK, which is performed over a separate unidirectional connection, incurs additional bandwidth-request/allocation delay. Thus, it increases the round trip time of the downlink TCP flow and results in the decrease of throughput accordingly. First, we derive an analytical model to investigate the effect of the uplink bandwidth-request/allocation delay on the downlink TCP throughput. Second, we propose a simple, yet effective, bidirectional bandwidth-allocation scheme that combines proactive bandwidth allocation with piggyback bandwidth request. The proposed scheme reduces unnecessary bandwidth-request delay and the relevant signaling overhead due to proactive allocation; meanwhile, it maintains high efficiency of uplink bandwidth usage by using piggyback request. Moreover, our proposed scheme is quite simple and practical; it can be simply implemented in the base station without requiring any modification in the subscriber stations or resorting to any cross-layer signaling mechanisms. The simulation results ascertain that the proposed approach significantly increases the downlink TCP throughput and the uplink bandwidth efficiency.

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
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For simplicity, we do not consider the delayed ACK mechanism [2] or the fragmentation/packing of MAC service data unit (MSDU) in Fig. 2.

  2. This analysis model can be extended to consider time-varying capacity of wireless link if the adaptive modulation and coding scheme is specified and if the channel model is given. The extension can be achieved by considering that the capacity can change every RTT stage.

  3. Although RTTmin may vary, we assume that it is constant in order to focus on the throughput reduction due to t br.

  4. In this configuration, we observed from the simulation that the queuing delay is negligible compared to RTTmin so it is not included in RTT calculation.

  5. In order to evaluate the overhead related to the bandwidth request, we include the MAC header and the bandwidth-request message in B alloc. Note that the unit of B alloc and B used is byte even though they are termed as bandwidth [4]. The corresponding bandwidth can be actually calculated by dividing B alloc or B used by the whole simulation time.

  6. Note that the analysis model can give the ideal throughput, however, it is not intended to derive the UL delay and/or the UL bandwidth efficiency.

  7. If HARQ and ARQ are enabled, most of the packet losses due to the wireless channel errors are recovered, so we cannot arbitrarily set the packet loss rate.

References

  1. Blaunstein, N. (1999). Radio propagation in cellular networks. Norwood:Artech House.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Braden, R. (October 1989). Requirements for Internet hosts—communication layers. IETF RFC 1122.

  3. Cicconetti, C., Lenzini, L., Mingozzi, E., & Eklund, C. (2006). Quality of service support in IEEE 802.16 networks. IEEE Network, 20(2), 50–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. IEEE 802.16 WG. (December, 2005). IEEE standard for local and metropolitan area networks part 16: Air interface for fixed and mobile broadband wireless access systems, Amendment 2. IEEE 802.16 Standard.

  5. IEEE 802.16 WG. (December 2007). Draft IEEE 802.16m evaluation methodlogy. IEEE 802.16 Standard.

  6. ITU-R Task Group 8/1. (1999). Guidelines for evaluation of radio transmission technologies for IMT-2000. Recommendation ITU-R M.1225.

  7. Kim, E., Kim, J., & Kim, K. S. (2007). An efficient resource allocation for TCP service in IEEE 802.16 wireless MANs. In: Proceedings of IEEE vehicular technology conference (VTC)-Fall (pp. 1513–1517).

  8. Kim, S., & Yeom, I. (2006). TCP-aware uplink scheduling for IEEE 802.16. IEEE Communications letters, 11, 146–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Liu, Q., Wang, X., & Giannakis, G. B. (2006). A cross-layer scheduling algorithm with QoS support in wireless networks. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 55(3), 839–847.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. OPNET WiMAX Model Development Consortium (2007). OPNET network simulator with WiMAX model. http://www.opnet.com/WiMax.

  11. Padhye, J., Firoiu, V., Towsley, D., & Kurose, J. (1998). Modeling TCP throughput: A simple model and empirical validation. In: Proceedings of ACM SIGCOMM (pp. 303–314).

  12. Park, E.-C., Kim, H., Kim, J.-Y., & Kim, H.-S. (2008). Dynamic bandwidth request-allocation algorithm for real-time service in IEEE 802.16 broadband wireless access networks. In: Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM.

  13. Park, E.-C., Kim, J.-Y., Kim, H., & Kim, H.-S. (2008). Bidirectional bandwidth allocation for TCP performance enhancement in mobile WiMAX networks. In: Proceedings of IEEE PIMRC (personal, indoor and mobile radio communications).

  14. Rath, H. K., Karandikar, A., & Sharma, V. (2008). Adaptive modulation-based tcp-aware uplink scheduling in ieee 802.16 networks. In: Proceedings of IEEE ICC.

  15. Sayenko, A., Alanen, O., Karhula, J., & Hämäläinen, T. (2006). Ensuring the QoS requirments in 802.16 scheduling. In: Proceedings of the 9th ACM international symposium on modeling analysis and simulation of wireless and mobile systems (MSWiM) (pp. 108–117).

  16. Wongthavarawat, K., & Ganz, A. (2003). Packet scheduling for QoS support in IEEE 802.16 broadband wireless access systems. International Journal of Communication systems, 16(1), 81–96.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Wu, H. T., & Cheng S. D. (2003). DCF+: An enhancement for reliable transport protocol over WLAN. Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 18(2), 201–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Dongguk University Research Fund of 2009, in part by R&D program of MKE/IITA [2008-F-015-02, Research on Ubiquitous Mobility Management Methods for Higher Service Availability], and in part by Industrial Source Technology Development Programs (Project No. 10033347) funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE, Korea).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information and Communications Engineering, Dongguk University-Seoul, Seoul, Korea

    Eun-Chan Park

  2. School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea

    Hwangnam Kim

Authors
  1. Eun-Chan Park
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hwangnam Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hwangnam Kim.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Park, EC., Kim, H. TCP-aware bidirectional bandwidth allocation in IEEE 802.16 networks. Wireless Netw 16, 2123–2138 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-010-0247-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-010-0247-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation