Internet traffic shaping in WLANS by packet size control

This chapter introduces and compares control systems for Internet Protocol (IP) based traffic engineering. The control systems regulate tranceivers' packet sizes for prevailing network conditions to achieve maximum throughput and minimum delay for real-time traffic in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). Delay and throughput are very much dependent on the packet size and the connection density. Therefore, the selected input parameters for the controllers are one-way delay and change of delay. The models were validated by simulating User Datagram Protocol (UDP) traffic in OMNeT++ network simulator. The results demonstrate that the developed controllers are able to set packet sizes to the prevailing optimum level very fast, accurately and with minimal overshoot and increase overall throughput of the network. Even if this work is mainly motivated by the packet size control of WLAN systems and the simulations and results were performed for the IEEE 802.11b system, the approach and the techniques are not limited to these systems, but are easily applicable for other Packet Switched Systems (PSANs), too.