Performance analysis of video transmission over IEEE 802.11 a/e WLANs

This paper presents efficient mechanisms for delay-sensitive transmission of video over IEEE 802.11a/e Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). Transmitting video over WLANs in real time is very challenging due to the time-varying wireless channel and video content characteristics. This paper provides a comprehensive view of how to adapt the quality of service signaling, IEEE 802.11e parameters and cross-layer design to optimize the video quality at the receiver. We propose an integrated system view of admission control and scheduling for both contention and poll-based access of IEEE 802.11e Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol and outline the merits of each approach for video transmission. We also show the benefits of using a cross-layer optimization by sharing the Application, MAC, and Physical layer parameters of the Open Systems Interconnection stack to enhance the video quality. We will show through analysis and simulation that controlling the contention-based access in IEEE 802.11e is simple to realize in real products and how different cross-layer strategies used in poll-based access lead to a larger number of stations being simultaneously admitted and/or a higher video quality for the admitted stations. Finally, we introduce a new concept called time fairness, which is critical in enhancing the video performance when different transmitter-receiver pairs deploy different cross-layer strategies.