An Approach for Load Distribution and Resource Sharing in IEEE 802.11 Networks

Recently there is a growing interest in the Internet and multimedia wireless networking where the bandwidth and the QoS (Quality of Service) metrics must be profoundly adjusted to the application requirements. However the problem of user bandwidth availability arises as one of the most limit of this solution. In fact, the IEEE 802.11 standards do not provide performed mechanism of loading distribution among different access points (APs of the network). Then an AP can be heavily overloaded leading to station throughput degradation. This paper focuses on the specification of a centralized solution for QoS management in IEEE 802.11 networks. It, mainly, presents the general architecture of the overall system based on a load balancing server over the AP(s) network resources. In addition, the paper addresses a protocol specification for AP and mobiles interactions intended to provide a better resources allocation. This protocol is being described and simulated with SDL and MSC tools as a first step before experimenting in real environment.