Spatial fairness in linear wireless multi-access networks

Abstract

Multi-access networks may exhibit severe unfairness in throughput. Recent studies show that this unfairness is due to local differences in the neighborhood structure: Nodes with less neighbors receive better access. We study the unfairness in saturated linear networks, and adapt the multi-access CSMA protocol to remove the unfairness completely, by choosing the activation rates of nodes appropriately as a function of the number of neighbors. We then investigate the consequences of this choice of activation rates on the network-average saturated throughput, and we show that these rates perform well in a non-saturated setting.