Downlink-first Scheduling of Real-time Voice Traffic in IEEE 802.11 Wireless LANs

Abstract: The IEEE 802.11 MAC (Media Access Control) Protocol supports two modes of operation, a random access mode for nonreal-time data applications processed by Distributed Coordinated Function (DCF), and a polling mode for real-time applications served by Point Coordinated Function (PCF). It is known that the standard IEEE 802.11 is insufficient to serve real-time traffic. To provide Quality of Service (QoS) of real-time traffic, we propose the Downlink-first scheduling with Earliest Due Date (EDD) in Contention Free Period (CFP) with suitable admission control. The capacity and deadline violation probability of the proposed system is analyzed and compared to the standard pair system of downlink and uplink. Analytical and simulation results show that the proposed scheme is remarkably efficient in view of the deadline violation probability.

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