Access granularity control of multichannel random access in next-generation wireless LANs

As the next-generation Wireless LANs (WLANs) will provide the ubiquitous high-data-rate network coverage, the traditional contention-based Medium Access Control (MAC) scheme may be unable to fulfill the requirement of efficient channel access. To address this problem, several research works have proposed the random access systems combined with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex Access (OFDMA) technology. Access granularity control is a crucial issue in this combination. Specifically, this issue focuses on how to tune the subchannel bandwidth and the number of accessible subchannels towards the maximum channel utilization. This paper analyzes access granularity control in an OFDMA system that adopts a multichannel Carrier Sensing Multiple Access (CSMA) MAC and resolves contention by the frequency-domain backoff. The theoretical analysis verifies the significance of access granularity control. In addition, the simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed dynamic access granularity control algorithms notably outperform the traditional ones that divide channel band statically and adjust the number of accessible subchannels empirically.