Feasibility Study of Video Distribution over WLANs in Dense Deployment

Emerging technologies such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and multiple in multiple out (MIMO) has significantly increased the bandwidth of a wireless channel. A potential application of these technologies is to distribute digital video content over wireless in a home environment. However, video streaming is bandwidth demanding, and the number of interference free wireless channels is limited, selecting the best operating channel is critical to guarantee the quality of viewer´s experience. We study the feasibility of transmitting video over WLANs in a multi-dwelling unit environment; design a centralized channel selection algorithm that satisfies each client´s demand, at the same time, takes the fairness and residual bandwidth into consideration. We use directed edge-weighted graph to model the interference between different basic service systems and classify APs into cooperative APs and non cooperative APs. Our simulation results show that using existing 802.11a channels, a feasible channel allocation scheme for video streaming over WLANs in a dense deployment can be found in most cases.