Distributed Admission Control Algorithm for Random Access Wireless Networks in the Presence of Hidden Terminals

We address the problem of admission control for wireless clients in WLANs taking into account collisions between competing access points and considering explicitly the effect of hidden terminals, which play a prominent role in optimized client association. We propose an efficient, distributed admission control algorithm, where the wireless client node decides locally on which access point it will associate with in order to maximize its link throughput. The client can choose to optimize either its uplink or downlink throughput, depending on the type of traffic it predominantly intends to exchange with the network. The proposed approach takes into account the full contention resolution of the RTS/CTS IEEE802.11 medium access control protocol and leads towards an increase of the total throughput for the whole network. Finally, an algorithm is proposed, which can serve also as the basis for the development of efficient traffic offloading protocols in heterogeneous 5G networks.