Coordinated architecture for wireless home networks

Today's services in home networks are no longer limited to basic applications such as email or file transfer but also include multimedia delivery for supporting home entertainment. In addition, wireless network is wide spreading in home as users become mobile and now expect to run their applications in wireless environment the same way they do over wired network. As a consequence, entertainment services should be guaranteed in home wireless networks as well. Ensuring quality of service raises new challenges as open wireless conditions result in instability and vulnerability to all types of interference and disturbance. Especially, IPTV application requires not only throughput but also stability on a wide coverage area and with low packet loss. Therefore, good reception level needs to be guaranteed in the whole house in order to use the highest modulation, and interferences need to be controlled when several transmitters share the same channel. In this paper, we present a new architecture for future home networks, in which multiple access points can be easily deployed on the same channel with coordination established to provide reliable transmission of several IPTV applications in the house. The mechanism is built on top of the DCF and has two main advantages: fully compatible with 802.11 standard and applicable to downlink and uplink streams. For our case study, we use NS-3 to evaluate performances of the Coordinated-APs compared to Single-AP and Distributed-APs approaches, in realistic home environment. The obtained results demonstrate better channel utilization and collision reduction that guarantee four IPTV streams in the coordinated approach. Behaviors at lower layers are presented in order to provide a better understanding of resource utilization. Moreover, discussions about feasibility of the solution in real world scenario are also provided.