A Framework to Support QoS for Multimedia Applications in IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN

Wireless networks are becoming increasingly popular in professional environments as well as in the home. The success of IEEE 802.11 has cut down equipment costs and people are now building their own residential wireless networks, connecting PCs, MP3 players, broadband gateways and Hi-Fi systems. However, such dramatic growth is creating problems in crowded areas, as the Wi-Fi bandwidth is limited and interference effects start to limit the technology usability. This paper describes a framework for managing the quality of the overall home wireless network, so that interference or bulk noise effects can be alleviated allowing users to enjoy digital content with the reliability they expect. By means of Universal Plug "n Play, events that may deteriorate the quality of existing services can be propagated to all interested devices so that a smart allocation of network resources can be applied. A simple Admission Control scheme is also used to regulate the admission of real-time streams.