Achieving MAC layer fairness in wireless packet networks

Abstract

Link-layer fairness models that have been proposed for wire-line and packet cellular networks cannot be generalized for shared channel wireless networks because of the unique characteristics of the wireless channel, such as location-dependent contention, inherent conflict between optimizing channel utilization and achieving fairness, and the absence of any centralized control. In this paper, we propose a general analytical framework that captures the unique characteristics of shared wireless channels and allows the modeling of a large class of system-wide fairness models via the specification of per-flow utility functions. We show that system-wide fairness can be achieved without explicit global coordination so long as each node executes a contention resolution algorithm that is designed to optimize its local utility function. We present a general mechanism for translating a given fairness model in our framework into a corresponding contention resolution algorithm. Using this translation, we derive the backoff algorithm for achieving proportional fairness in wireless shared channels, and compare the fairness properties of this algorithm with both the ideal proportional fairness objective, and state-of-the-art backoff-based contention resolution algorithms. We believe that the two aspects of the proposed framework, i.e. the ability to specify arbitrary fairness models via local utility functions, and the ability to automatically generate local contention resolution mechanisms in response to a given utility function, together provide the path for achieving flexible service differentiation in future shared channel wireless networks.