Quality of Service Policy for IEEE 802.11 Networks with Service Rate Selection based on Fairness Index

Problem statement: The IEEE802.11 standard states that all stations have the same probability of accessing the network, but does not consider important parameters such as transmission rates and signal-to-noise ratios. However, these networks present an anomaly that allows a station with a low transmission rate to use the communication channel for a long time. Approach: In this context, this study presents a Quality of Service (QoS) policy, based on the implementation of the IEEE802.11e standard, that aims to keep or find the most fair scenario for IEEE802.11 networks. Hence, an algorithm for determining a fairness index is proposed based on physical parameters such as connection rates, service types and necessary conditions for the communication service. Results: The results obtained using the NS2 simulation software show that the proposed QoS policy was able to improve the network throughput or, at least, to keep a condition similar to the original one, when the proposed policy was not applied. Conclusion: All simulated scenarios presented a network performance gain or, at least, a similar result when compared to the results obtained when the IEEE802.11 standard was applied.