Dynamic access point approach (DAPA) for IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs

Abstract

The IEEE 802.11 standard provides several channels within a wireless local area network (WLAN). In the infrastructure scenario, the access point (AP) is the particular device for connecting mobile stations (STA) and wired stations. Each access point occupies one channel in WLAN. Traditionally, a STA may not play the same role as an AP does. However, it is possible for STA to equip both the wireless interface and wired interface at the same time. By software support, the AP in WLAN can be elected dynamically to obtain the best transmission status for all STA. Based on this concept, we propose a dynamic access point approach (DAPA) to enhance the network throughput. The efficiency of the proposed DAPA is evaluated by simulations. Simulation results showed that the performance of a WLAN with DAPA is better than the traditional approach