Abstract — Anecdotal evidence suggests that home wireless networks may be unpredictable despite their limited size. In this work, we deploy six-node wireless testbeds in three houses in the United States and the United Kingdom. We examine the quality of links in home wireless networks and the effect of (i) transmission rate, (ii) transmission power, (iii) node location, (iv) type of house, and (v) 802.11 technology. We provide empirical evidence suggesting that homes are challenging environments for wireless communication. Wireless links in the home are highly asymmetric and heavily influenced by precise node location, transmission power, and encoding rate, rather than physical distance between nodes. In our measurements, many links were unable to utilize the maximum transmission rate of the deployed 802.11 technology, and a few provided no connectivity at all. These results suggest that creating an AP-based topology with maximum coverage and throughput in this environment is challenging. Our findings have implications on the design of future home wireless networks and requirements for future wifi-enabled consumer electronic devices. We show that coverage and performance can be improved using a multi-hop topology, implying that mesh capabilities may actually be needed in consumer electronics for seamless connectivity across the home. I.

Spatial reuse in a wireless network can allow multiple communications to proceed simultaneously, hence proportionally improve the overall network throughput. To maximize spatial reuse, the MAC protocol must enable simultaneous transmitters to maintain the minimal separation distance to avoid interference. This paper demonstrates that physical carrier sensing enhanced with tunable sensing threshold is effective at avoiding interference in 802.11 mesh networks without requiring the use of virtual carrier sensing through RTS/CTS. We present analytical model that demonstrates how to derive the optimal sensing threshold given reception power, data rate and network topology. Simulation results are shown for large-scale 802.11b networks to demonstrate that physical carrier sensing with the optimally tuned threshold improves network throughput by maximizing the potential of spatial reuse. In the case of a regular chain topology of 90 nodes, with tuned physical carrier sensing, the end-to-end throughput approaches 90% of the theoretical upper bound that assumes a perfect MAC protocol. Hence, without modifying the 802.11 MAC protocol, our enhanced physical carrier sensing mechanism effectively maximizes the potential of improving network throughput with spatial reuse.

Abstract Spatial reuse in a mesh network can allow multiple communications to proceed simultaneously, hence proportionally improve the overall network throughput. To maximize spatial reuse, the MAC protocol must enable simultaneous transmitters to maintain the minimal separation distance that is sufficient to avoid interference. This paper demonstrates that physical carrier sensing enhanced with a tunable sensing threshold is effective at avoiding interference in 802.11 mesh networks without requiring the use of virtual carrier sensing. We present an analytical model for deriving the optimal sensing threshold given network topology, reception power and data rate. A distributed adaptive scheme is also presented to dynamically adjust the physical carrier sensing threshold based on periodic estimation of channel conditions in the network. Simulation results are shown for large‐scale 802.11b and 802.11a networks to validate both the analytical model and the adaptation scheme. It is demonstrated that the enhanced physical carrier sensing mechanism effectively improves network throughput by maximizing the potential of spatial reuse. With dynamically tuned physical carrier sensing, the end to end throughput approaches 90% of the predicted theoretical upper‐bound assuming a perfect MAC protocol, for a regular chain topology of 90 nodes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.