Channel assignment for WLAN by considering overlapping channels in SINR interference model

It has been believed that the simultaneous use of multiple channels in 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs) can improve network performance. Many efforts have been done to better exploit multiple non-overlapped channels. However, due to the limited number of orthogonal channels in IEEE 802.11 b/g standards, using only non-overlapping channels cannot completely eliminate the interference. Recent studies indicate that we can improve the full-range channel utilization and the network throughput by properly utilizing the partially overlapping channels. However, there are only limited studies of channel assignment algorithms for partially overlapping channels. In this paper, we investigate the problem of partially overlapping channel assignment to improve the performance of 802.11 wireless networks based on SINR model. Using the SINR model, we deduce a direct relationship between maximizing system throughput and minimizing total interference when partially overlapping channels are employed. After that, we propose a greedy method to minimize the total interference for throughput maximization. We evaluate our algorithm through extensive simulations and compare its performances with those of the state-of-the-art. © 2012 IEEE.