MPhil Thesis Defence


"CACAO: Client-Assisted Channel Assignment Optimization for
Uncoordinated Home WLANS"

By

Mr. Chi-Fai Wong


Abstract

A home network is a residential local area network, in which users are
networking their PCs, laptops or network-capable appliances to use a
single residential access point or gateway connecting to the Internet. As
wireless network-capable appliances continue to gain momentum in the home,
wireless home networks are becoming increasingly popular. Because home
networks are usually deployed by non-network-specialist, they are
therefore uncoordinated, unplanned, and unmanaged in nature, and hence
they do not have careful access point placement and channel assignment.
The problem arising from the increasing number of uncoordinated "wireless
home" is the interference introduced from neighbor's home networks which
leads to throughput dropped precipitously. The problem considered in this
thesis is different from the traditional channel assignment problem in
WLAN. We are considering how home wireless network can self-configure its
operating channel to minimize interference with other networks, instead of
how network administrator assigns channel to different access points. In
this thesis, we propose a client-assisted channel assignment optimization
algorithm, termed CACAO, for home WLAN based on local information. A newly
power on access point automatically configures itself to operate on a
channel with least interference. Mobile node helps its access point detect
interference, which in turn helps channel selection dynamically. We design
and prototype CACAO algorithm and conduct proof-of-concept experiments,
which validate the benefit of our design. Our simulation and experimental
measurements show that the algorithm effectively reduces interference
among different networks and improves user goodput substantially.


Date:				Monday, 11 June 2007

Time:				10:30a.m.-12:30p.m.

Venue:				Room 3501
				Lifts 25-26

Committee Members:		Dr. Gary Chan (Supervisor)
				Dr. Jogesh Muppala (Chairperson)
				Prof. Mounir Hamdi


**** ALL are Welcome ****