Packet aggregation

Abstract: A system and method for improving the efficiency of a packet-based network by using aggregate packets are described. One example method involves determining which network devices support aggregate packets. If a first packet is received on a route that supports aggregate packets, it is then held for a short period. During this short period, if an additional packet is received that shares at least one common route element that also supports aggregate packets with the first packet, the first packet and the additional packet are combined into a single larger aggregate packet. This can reduce the transmission time when there are multiple packets being sent to common destinations because the inter-packet time may be reduced. Additionally, in some networks, this technique allows the bandwidth of a common medium to be more fully used because more of the packets will be closer to the maximum size allowed.

Abstract: In the recent past, there has been a tremendous increase in the popularity of VoIP services as a result of huge growth in broadband access. The same voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) service poses new challenges when deployed over a wireless mesh network, while enabling users to make voice calls using WiFi phones. Packet losses and delay due to interference in a multiple-hop mesh network with limited capacity can significantly degrade the end-to-end VoIP call quality. In this work, we discuss the basic requirements for efficient deployment of VoIP services over a mesh network. We present and evaluate practical optimizing techniques that can enhance the network capacity, maintain the VoIP quality and handle user mobility efficiently. Extensive experiments conducted on a real testbed and ns-2 provide insights into the performance issues and demonstrate the level of improvement that can be obtained by the proposed techniques. Specifically, we find that packet aggregation along with header compression can increase the number of supported VoIP calls in a multihop network by 2-3 times. The proposed fast path switching is highly effective in maintaining the VoIP quality. Our fast handoff scheme achieves almost negligible disruption during calls to roaming clients

Abstract: A method and apparatus for aggregating packets in a wireless communication system (Fig. 8). The data to be transmitted is selected and packetized and formed into frames (820) for transmission. Rather than send each frame (821, 822, 823) individually, frames are grouped and transmitted with grouping indicia informing the recipients how to acknowledge successful receipt of the transmitted data. ACKs (830, 840, 850) are sent at a predetermined time, or all together, divided by subcarrier in the case of an OFDMA network.

Abstract: Multi-user spatial multiplexing combined with packet aggregation can significantly increase the performance of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). In this letter, we present and evaluate a simple technique to perform packet aggregation in IEEE 802.11ac MU-MIMO (Multi-user Multiple Input Multiple Output) WLANs. Results show that in non-saturation conditions both the number of active stations (STAs) and the queue size have a significant impact on the system performance. If the number of STAs is excessively high, the heterogeneity of destinations in the packets contained in the queue makes it difficult to take full advantage of packet aggregation. This effect can be alleviated by increasing the queue size, which increases the chances of scheduling a large number of packets at each transmission, hence improving the system throughput at the cost of a higher delay.