An Empirical Throughput Analysis of Multimedia Applications with OpenFlow-based Dynamic Load Balancing Approach in WLAN

Abstract

Load balancing among nearby access points (APs) is an inexorable issue in IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. It can cause the throughput degradation, transmission delay, and packet loss that might reduce the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE). The present work presents a SDN-based IEEE 802.11 WLAN architecture to take advantage of OpenFlow protocol for dynamic load balancing (OFDLB) among adjacent APs to enhance quality of multimedia applications. The empirical evaluation of the proposed architecture was carried out by throughput analysis of different real application scenarios under multiple test cases. The results reports several benefits achieved by the proposed approach such as good throughput of multimedia applications, 30% reduction in datagram loss and jitter minimization in the OFDLB-WLAN environment. An apparent improvement in network performance by the proposed solution as compared to traditional methods is deemed to be a contribution of the present work.