An Adaptive Rate and Coding Scheme for MIMO-Enabled IEEE 802.

11-Based Soft-Real-
Time Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks
Mohsen Maadani
Department of Engineering
Islamic Azad University, Shahr-e-Qods Branch
Tehran, Iran
maadani@shahryariau.ac.ir



Seyed Ahmad Motamedi and Hadi Safdarkhani
Department of Electrical Engineering
Amirkabir University of Technology
Tehran, Iran
{motamedi, safdarkhani}@aut.ac.ir

Abstract Being reliable and real-time, are the two most
challenging requirements of wireless sensor and actuator
networks (WSAN) due to the shared, error-prone and non-
deterministic behaviour of wireless communication medium. In
this paper, an adaptive data-rate and space-time coding (STC)
scheme has been proposed for the IEEE 802.11-based Soft-Real-
Time WSANs utilizing Enhanced Distributed Channel Access
(EDCA) at Medium Access Control (MAC) and Multiple-Input
Multiple-Output (MIMO) transceivers at PHYsical (PHY) layer,
with the target of minimizing average and/or maximum packet
delay. Using this technique, delay and reliability have
considerably been improved compared with traditional IEEE
802.11 stations, especially in dense networks and/or environments
with vast range of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) variation.
Keywords- Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network (WSAN);
Spatial Multiplexing (SM); Spatial Diversity (SD); Multiple Input
Multiple Output (MIMO);
I. INTRODUCTION
Wireless Technology has recently become an attractive
choice for sensor networks, sensor and actuator networks and
factory automation systems due to its numerous advantages.
Being reliable and real-time are the two most challenging
requirements of these networks, which contradict with the
nature of wireless communication medium. Adopting current
wireless technologies and standards to industrial needs, and if
not possible, developing new protocols is an emerging
research field [3].
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) based on IEEE
802.11 standard is one the most common and popular
technologies which has been used as the dominant technology
in local wireless networks. One of the problems of using this
standard for industrial applications, is the non-deterministic
behavior of Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision
Avoidance (CSMA/CA) mechanism used in its Medium
Access Control (MAC) layer. The MAC amendment IEEE
802.11e was introduced to improve the packet delay for
certain applications through traffic prioritization. It defines 4
Access Categories (AC), which in the order of priority are:
Voice, Video, Best Effort and Background. Voice applications
can tolerate latency of about 150 ms and packet loss of up to
1%, whereas latency in some WSANs must be as low as 10
ms, and much higher reliability is required. Recently
IEEE802.11n [2] amendment has been released aiming to
increase the throughput by utilizing Multiple Input Multiple
Output (MIMO) technology and some other modification in
MAC and PHYsical (PHY) layers. In MIMO technology,
there are 2 or more transceivers in each node. By using a
suitable Space-Time Code (STC), the independent spatial
paths between different antenna pairs of transmitter node and
receiver node can be utilized in three ways [13]:
x Spatial Diversity (SD): each individual packet is sent
simultaneously through different spatial paths to
improve the error rate.
x Spatial Multiplexing (SM): different packets are sent
simultaneously through different spatial paths to
improve the total data rate.
x Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA): different
paths can be used by different users to access the
channel at the same time and frequency.
The adaptation of STC for a specific purpose has been
proposed in literature (e.g. [7]-[11]). In this paper, a delay-
oriented data-rate and STC adaptation scheme has been
proposed for MIMO-enabled IEEE 802.11 based wireless
sensor and actuator networks (WSAN), aiming to improve
packet delay and reliability. Due to random and independent
nature of packet transmissions in each node, which is highly
dependent on the network topology and application, carrying
out a traffic-oriented theoretical analysis without making
several simplifying assumptions is not an easy task [12]. As an
alternative, we have chosen simulation approach to assess the
proposed scheme which can provide better insights compared
with some oversimplified analytical approaches.
This paper is organized as follows: In section II, an
overview of the related work in IEEE 802.11 assessment and
enhancement, and MIMO adaptive space-time-coding (ASTC)
schemes has been provided. Section III presents the simulation
scenario, simulation results and the proposed scheme. The
paper is concluded in section IV.
II. RELATED WORK
Traditional IEEE 802.11 has been proved to have poor
functionality in wireless industrial applications due to random
medium access control, non-deterministic behavior and long
delays. EDCA has shown considerable improvement in IEEE
802.11 delay performance. Ref. [4] has studied EDCA
performance and results show that for low network load
(below 20% of channel capacity), response times are generally
bounded. For higher traffic load (up to 40%), quasi-
deterministic and bounded latencies are achieved for selected
high-priority messages using EDCA mechanism. Ref. [5] has
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978-1-61284-840-2/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

analyzed the average, maximum and probability distribution

function of packet-delay in saturated condition for classic
IEEE 802.11ebased industrial applications and compared it
with a proposed open-loop spatial multiplexing scheme. It is
shown that utilizing SM with 2 spatial paths in 22 MIMO-
enable WLANs reduces the packet delay significantly while
improving error rate, even in dense networks. Ref. [6] has
studied performance of SM-enabled WLANs in different data
payload and rate conditions. It is noticed that at low Signal to
Noise Ratios (SNR), number of packet retransmissions goes
far beyond the default value of retransmission-limit defined in
standard (7), which increases the packet delivery time. Also
lower data rates seem more suitable than high ones due to
better error performance in noisy industrial environment.
Spatial Diversity (SD) in MIMO technology has shown to be
effective in dealing with bad channel conditions. Adaptation
between SD and SM has been used for different purposes. For
example, [7] has proposed a diversity-multiplexing switching
method in IEEE 802.11n systems to maximize throughput.
Ref. [8] minimizes cumulative distortion in wireless video
transmission using joint adaptation of SD/SM gain and video
encoder. Ref. [9] maximizes throughput using joint adaptation
of STC and modulation. Ref [10] has proposed a rather
complex cross-layer adaptive tuning scheme for Access Point
(AP) of MIMO-Enabled IEEE 802.11e WLANs with star
topology for throughput maximization. Ref. [11] has proposed
a single-data-rate, adaptive STC scheme between SM and SD,
to minimize the packet delay in wireless industrial networks.
Simultaneous adaptation of both STC and data-rate with the
target of minimizing the packet delay is the main idea of this
paper which will be studied in next section.
III. PROPOSED ADAPTIVE SCHEME
In this paper, a limited-feedback-based adaptive rate and
space-time coding (STC) scheme for wireless sensor and
actuator networks has been proposed, aiming to reduce the
packet-delay.
A. Simulation Senario
x IEEE 802.11b with default EDCA parameters listed in
Table I [1] has been chosen as PHY and MAC layers,
except for AIFSN (Arbitration Interframe Space for
access category N) which is considered the same for all
ACs; i.e. its differentiation effect is not in the scope of
this paper. SIFS stands for Short Interframe Space,
CWmin and CWmax are minimum Contention Window
and maximum Contention Window respectively. TXop
is the Transmission Opportunity [1].
x PHY layer preamble and header and packet
acknowledgement (ACK) are sent with control rate
(1Mbps). MAC layer header and data payload are sent
with data rate.
x Retransmission limit is assumed infinity; each packet is
sent as much as needed to get to the destination.
x Packet data payload for monitoring and control
applications is typically short. It is assumed to be 32
bytes.
x Quasi-static flat fading Rayleigh multipath channel
model is used; channel condition doesnt change during
each packet transmission time, and changes for the next.
x Saturated traffic mode is considered: all 4 access
categories in all nodes always have a packet waiting to
be sent. It is a good indicator of network performance
under heavy traffic load and shows the upper bound to
delay, Packet Error Rate (PER) and Bit Error Rate
(BER) [4], [8].
x Both causes of packet loss are considered: collision and
channel error. Each of them initiates the backoff process
in IEEE 802.11e CSMA/CA [1].
x Transceivers have 2 Receive (Rx) and Transmit (Tx)
antennas (22 MIMO) which can switch between SM
mode (2 spatial paths (SM order of 2)) and SD mode
(Alamuti code). Both of them are without Channel State
Information (CSI) at transmitter [13].
x Real-Time traffic is mapped to highest priority (AC0)
and its characteristics have been analyzed.
x Mesh topology with single-hop transmissions has been
chosen; each node can send packet to all other nodes.
Such configuration is typical in sensors and actuators
connected to the same instrument in a factory.
x Simulation has been done using MATLAB M-file
written by the authors and the communications toolbox.
B. Effect of node numbers (n)
Fig. 1 shows the average packet delay for 32-byte packet
data payload and different node densities (n). When the
number of competing nodes for channel access is 5 (Fig. 1a),
1Mbps SD (SD1) scheme has the lowest average delay at
SNRs below 6 dB. For SNRs between 6 and 10 dB, 1Mbps
SM (SM1), and for SNRs above 10 dB, 2Mbps SM (SM2)
scheme outperforms the others. In other words, the lowest
average delay scheme-order is SD1-SM1-SM2 with SNR-
limits 6 and 10 dB. A similar behavior ca be seen for 15 nodes
(Fig. 1b): the order is SD1-SM1-SM2, but the SNR-limits are
different: 7.5 and 12 dB. Fig. 1c compares the average delay

TABLE I. IEEE802.11E SIMULATION SENARIO

Data Rate
1 & 2 Mbps (DBPSK and
DQPSK Modulations)
Control Rate 1 Mbps (DBPSK Modulation)
PHY Header 24 Bytes
MAC Header 28 Bytes
ACK packet size 14 Bytes
Payload 32 Bytes
Slot Time 20 s
SIFS 10 s
AIFSN 2
CWmin [0 1 2 3] 7 15 31 31
CWmax [0 1 2 3] 15 31 1023 1023
TXop Disabled
Retransmission Limit Disabled (Unlimited)

for 25 nodes, which results in SD1-SM1-SM2 with SNR-

limits 7 and 11 dB.
Fig. 2 compares maximum packet delay for 5, 15 and 25
competing nodes. The scheme order of lowest maximum delay
is the same as average delay: SD1-SM1-SM2, but SNR limits
are different; 5 nodes (Fig. 2a): 6 and 16 dB, 15 nodes (Fig.
2b): 6 and 12 dB, 25 nodes (Fig. 2c): 5 and 14 dB.
C. Effect of packet data payload (PL)
Fig. 3 compares the effect of packet length (packet data
payload (PL)) on average delay for 15 competing nodes. It is
noticed that at low, medium and high SNRs, SD1, SM1 and
SM2 have lowest average delay respectively; i.e. the observed
behavior in Figures 1 and 2 is also valid for a vast range of
packet payload. The payload has a similar effect on maximum
delay. The figure has been omitted due to lack of space.
D. Proposed scheme and its performance
Reviewing Figures 1-3 shows that at low SNRs, which
packet delay is mostly due to channel error and
retransmissions, 1Mbps SD (SD1) shows much better
performance and lower delays than the others. But in medium
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1Mbps SD
1Mbps SM
2Mbps SD
2Mbps SM
(c)
Figure 1. Effect of node density (n) on average packet delay for
32-byte packet data payload (PL). (a) 5 competting nodes, (b) 15
competting nodes, and (c) 25 competting nodes.
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1Mbps SD
1Mbps SM
2Mbps SD
2Mbps SM
(c)
Figure 2. Effect of node density (n) on maximum packet delay
for 32-byte packet data payload (PL). (a) 5 competting nodes,
(b) 15 competting nodes, and (c) 25 competting nodes.

SNRs 1Mbps SM (SM1) outperforms. 2Mbps SM (SM2) has

the best performance at high SNRs, which the main cause of
packet delay is packet congestion and collision. Thats due to
the higher spectral efficiency of SM2. By switching between
SD1, SM1 and SM2 schemes at SNR-limits, which depend on
the number of competing nodes (n), the lowest delay can be
achieved. For 32-byte packet payload, the SD1-SM1 and
SM1-SM2 switching SNR regions for average delay reduction
are 6-7.5 dB and 10-12 dB respectively. Considering
maximum packet delay reduction as the target results in 5-6
dB region for SD1-SM1 and 12-14 dB for SM1-SM2. A
simple look-up table can be used in this regard. The proposed
scheme is as follows:
x The channel SNR is periodically fed back to the
transmitter, with a period depending on channel
dynamic behavior.
x Nodes monitor the number of competing neighbors
(nc). This is usually a static or quasi-static parameter
of each node because of the static nature of WSANs
topology; most of the nodes (sensors/actuators) are not
mobile, and are usually placed, in a cluster-way,
around the instrument they monitor/control. By
considering the condition that all nodes hear each
other, this parameter will be a constant parameter for
the network.
x Each transmitter, depending on the receiver SNR and
number of competing nodes, using the look-up table,
chooses one of SD1/SM1/SM2 schemes. For SNR's
below 5 dB, SD1, 7.5-10 dB SM1, and for above 14
dB SM2 is always chosen.
x Receiver node is aware of its own SNR and nc, and
using the look-up table switches to the proper receiver
mode.
The proposed scheme average and maximum packet-delay
for 32-byte payload are shown in Fig. 4a and b respectively.

Reliability is defined as the percentage of packets reaching
to the destination. It can be controlled by the retransmission-
limit parameter defined in IEEE 802.11 standard [1]. Fig. 5
shows the retransmission number density of the proposed
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(b)

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1Mbps SD
1Mbps SM
2Mbps SD
2Mbps SM
(c)
Figure 3. Effect of packet data payload on average delay for
15 competting nodes at (a) SNR=4 dB, (b) SNR= 8 dB, and (c)
SNR=12 dB.
0
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Number of Nodes
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Figure 4. Delay performance of the proposed adaptive rate and
STC scheme for 32-byte packet data payload: (a) average
packet delay, (b) maximum packet delay.

scheme. Compared with simple SM scheme in [5] and [6], the

retransmission count is significantly reduced, which causes a
reliability of near 100% with standard default value of
retransmission-limit (7).
IV. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Wireless Technology has recently become an attractive
choice for sensor networks, sensor and actuator networks and
factory automation systems due to its numerous advantages.
Being reliable and real-time are the two most challenging
requirements of these networks, which contradict with the
nature of wireless communication medium. Adopting current
wireless technologies and standards to industrial needs, and if
not possible, developing new protocols is an emerging
research field. In this paper, an adaptive data-rate and STC has
been proposed for the IEEE 802.11-based Soft-Real-Time
WSANs utilizing EDCA at MAC and MIMO transceivers at
PHY layer, with the target of minimizing average and/or
maximum packet delay. Using this technique, delay and
reliability have considerably been improved compared with
traditional IEEE 802.11 stations, especially in dense networks
and/or environments with vast range of SNR variation. Our
future works include studying the effect of CSI at transmitter
and also utilizing other STCs.

REFERENCES
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[2] IEEE P802.11n, IEEE Standard for Information Technology-
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Systems, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2007.
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Figure 5. Number of retransmisions probability density of the
proposed scheme for 15 competting nodes and 32-byte packet
data payload at (a) SNR=4 dB, (b) SNR=8 dB, (c) SNR=12 dB.