AP selection algorithm based on a potential game for large IEEE 802.11 WLANs

This paper presents a novel Access Point (AP) selection strategy based on a potential game played at a centralized controller. The proposed approach relies on Software Defined Networking (SDN), which has long been considered in the literature as a method to control management functionalities for Wi-Fi networks. The use of SDN provides a global view of the network, which guarantees an efficient distribution of Wi-Fi users among the APs. The centralized potential game proposed in this paper is based on the Fittingness Factor (FF) concept, which is a metric reflecting the suitability of the available spectrum resources to the application requirements. This paper describes the development of a new SDN-based framework that implements the potential game-based algorithm relying on the FF for efficient AP selection. The simulation campaign illustrates the important gains, both in terms of data rates assigned to the Wi-Fi users and their satisfaction compared against the AP selection suggested by the IEEE 802.11 standards and another algorithm proposed in the literature.