Efficient Polling MAC Scheduler for IEEE 802.11 WLAN

Abstract

Although the Distributed Coordination Function is the fundamental access protocol of IEEE 802.11, it cannot meet the quality of service (QoS) requirements in general. So, the Point Coordinate Function is provided to support QoS related services. However, it has inherent problems. Access point (AP) has no knowledge of the queue status and instantaneous channel condition of stations in the system. In this paper we propose an efficient and versatile polling scheduler that shows excel-lent throughput and fairness performance. Comparison with well known polling schemes is provided through computer simulation under various channel situations including error prone environments.