The Dynamic Buffer Sizing Strategies for 802.11 Based Wireless Networks

Wireless networks face a number of fundamental issues that do not arise in wired networks. We consider the sizing of network buffers in 802.11 based wireless networks. 802.11 is a set of standards for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication using different frequency bands. They are created and maintained by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802). All internet routers contain buffers to hold packets during the time of congestion. Buffers are used to reduce the packet loss and to ensure high link efficiency. The widely used general rule-of-thumb is to have buffers size as the bandwidth-delay product (BDP) of the network, In this paper we argue that the use of the fixed size buffers in 802.11 based wireless networks results in either undesirable channel under-utilization or unnecessary high delays and the increased packet loss. Our objective is to maintain high network utilization while providing low queuing delays in 802.11 wireless networks through dynamic buffer sizing algorithms.