Utility maximization of capacity entropy for multi-user access for the next generation WLANs

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax, as the next generation wireless local area networks (WLANs) standard, which introduces many new media access control (MAC) technologies, can increase the access efficiency greatly. Unlike traditional IEEE 802.11 protocol using random access mode, the draft of IEEE 802.11ax introduced an innovative hybrid uplink access mechanism including scheduled access and random access modes. Because of the essential difference between the two access modes, the traditional utility based resource optimization algorithms for scheduled access are no longer suitable for the next generation WLANs with two access modes. In this paper, due to the coexistence of two access modes in 802.11ax, a utility function for resource optimization is defined firstly. The function depends on the network services and the capacity entropy multi-user access (CEM). CEM is used to measure the carrying capacity of the networks with both scheduled and random access modes. Secondly, a utility maximization based on resource transfer (UMRT) algorithm is proposed for two modes to maximize the overall satisfaction of all users in the networks. Thirdly, through mathematical analysis, the resource allocation ratio between the scheduled access and random access part is obtained. Then, in order to reduce the computational complexity of our UMRT algorithm, a fast utility maximization based on resource transfer (F-UMRT) algorithm is proposed for industrial applications. Finally, the effectiveness of proposed algorithms in this paper are verified by simulation. With proposed algorithms in this paper, the quality of service (QoS) can be improved for the next generation WLANs.