Game theoretic approach to medium access control in wireless networks

Wireless networking is fast becoming the primary method for people to connect to the Internet and with each other. The available wireless spectrum is increasingly congested, with users demanding higher performance and reliability from their wireless connections. This thesis proposes a game-theoretic random access model, compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, which can be integrated into the distributed coordination function (DCF). The objective is to design a game theoretic model that potentially optimizes throughput and fairness in each node independently and, therefore, minimise channel access delay. This dissertation presents a game-theoretic MAC layer implementation for single-cell networks and centralised DCF in the presence of hidden terminals to show how game theory can be applied to improve wireless performance. A utility function is proposed, such that it can decouple the protocol's dynamic adaptation to channel load from collision detection. It is demonstrated that the proposed model can reach a Nash equilibrium that results in a relatively stable contention window, provided that a node adapts its behaviour to the idle rate of the broadcast channel, coupled with observation of its own transmission activity. This dissertation shows that the proposed game-theoretic model is capable of achieving much higher throughput than the standard IEEE 802.11 DCF with better short-time fairness and significant improvements in the channel access delay