RaCA: A joint rate and channel adaptation scheme for dense 802.11n networks

With the rapid deployment of 802.11n networks, the communication in 802.11n network suffers severe interferences. Traditional rate adaptation algorithms do not consider this problem. In this paper, we design a joint rate and channel adaptation scheme called RaCA for dense 802.11n networks. Firstly, we use RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) and CSI (Channel Station Information) to measure the current channel conditions. Secondly, we design a two-stage rate adaptation scheme TSRA to quickly adapt to appropriate rate based on RSSI and CSI. Finally, we propose a quorum-based channel adaptation algorithm QCA without control channel. If the channel suffers interferences, RaCA uses QCA to choose another channel to work on. Simulation results show that RaCA obtains significant aggregated throughput gain over Minstrel-HT.