• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.5223-5242
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• 2017

In the last decade, the 2.4 GHz band of IEEE 802.11 WLANs has become heavily congested due to the explosive increase in demand of Wi-Fi connectivity. With the current deployment of enterprise WLANs, channel switching mechanism continues to exhibit inefficiencies because it cannot adapt to real-time channel condition and the inability to support seamless channel switching. Software Defined Networking (SDN) as an emerging architecture is promising to introduce flexibility and programmability for wireless network management. Leveraging SDN to existing enterprise WLANs, channel switching method can be improved significantly. This paper presents a software-defined enterprise WLAN framework with a load aware automatic channel switching solution, which utilizes AP load and channel interference factor (CIF) to provide seamless channel switching. Two automatic channel switching algorithms named Single Switch (SS) and Double Switch (DS) are proposed to improve the overall user experience and the experience of users with highest traffic load respectively. Experiment results demonstrate that our solution can efficiently improve user experience in terms of jitter, transmission delay and network throughout when compared to the conventional channel switching mechanism.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.326-354
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• 2014

In this paper, a new green clustering algorithm is proposed to be as a first approach in the framework of an energy efficient strategy for centralized enterprise high-density WLANs. Traditionally, in order to maintain the network coverage, all the APs within the WLAN have to be powered-on. Nevertheless, the new algorithm can power-off a large proportion of APs while the coverage is maintained as its always-on counterpart. The two main components of the new approach are the faster procedure based on K-means and the more accurate procedure based on Evolutionary Algorithm (EA), respectively. The two procedures are processes in parallel for different designed requirements and there is information interaction in between. In order to implement the new algorithm, EA is applied to handle the optimization of multiple objectives. Moreover, we adapt the method for selection and recombination, and then introduce a new operator for mutation. This paper also presents simulations in scenarios modeled with ray-tracing method and FDTD technique, and the results show that about 67% to 90% of energy consumption can be saved while it is able to maintain the original network coverage during periods when few users are online or the traffic load is low.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.4269-4292
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• 2014

Currently, increasing numbers of access points (AP) are being deployed in enterprise offices, campuses and municipal downtowns for flexible Internet connectivity, but most of these access points are idle or redundant most of the time, which causes significant energy waste. Therefore, with respect to power conservation, applying energy efficient strategies in WIFI networks is strongly advocated. One feasible method is dynamically managing network resources, particularly APs, by powering devices on or off. However, when an AP is powered on, the device is initialized through a long boot time, during which period clients cannot be associated with it; therefore, the network performance would be greatly impacted. In this paper, based on a global view of an entire WLAN, we propose an AP selection technology, known as Temporary Access Selection (TAS). The criterion of TAS is a fusion metric consisting of two evaluation indexes which are based on throughput and battery life, respectively. TAS is both service and clients' preference specific through balancing the data rate, battery life and packet size. TAS also works well independently in traditional WLANs in which no energy efficient strategy is deployed. Moreover, this paper demonstrates the feasibility and performance of TAS through experiments and simulations with Network Simulator version 3 (NS3).