Wireless Networking Optimizations for Studying Algorithm Interactions ; CU-CS-1070-10

Wireless networking optimizations are typically designed and evaluated independently of one another under the assumption that they can later be applied jointly. These works, however, do not provide sufficient information for future researchers and network administrators to determine which algorithms to combine, what order to combine them in, and how these joint optimizations will perform with one another. In this paper we describe the optimization algorithms and testing system used to address these challenges. The algorithms fall into five categories: channel assignment, association control, beam form selection, transmit power control and rate adaptation. These algorithms have been specifically designed and chosen to make use of the observed inputs from the network. While none of these algorithms has been individually proven to be an optimal or efficient solution, they are representative of many categories of solutions. For example, some algorithms stress load balancing, while other algorithms stress increasing RSS values. Thus, these algorithms should be sufficient for revealing significant themes in the interactions among different channel assignment, association control, beam form selection, transmit power control and rate adaptation algorithms.