A TCP-driven resource allocation scheme at the MAC layer of a WiMAX network

The paradigm of a traditional wired network protocol stack is a hierarchy of services provided by each layer, but its ability to handle an error-prone physical medium is severely compromised in wireless networks. Several approaches, including cross-layer techniques have been developed to address this problem. While much cross-layer research endeavour focused on interactions of the lower layers, in this thesis, I present a TCP to MAC cross-layer technique in a simulated WiMAX network. Using this cross-layer method, the scarce radio resource is intelligently distributed among stations, based on the information of congestion window size passing down from TCP. Both analytical and simulation models were developed to understand the behavioural dynamics of the proposed scheme, and quantify the performance gains. My results show that the proposed algorithm delivers a better performance in average end-to-end delay, file download time, and throughput when the traffic intensity of the network is moderate to high.