ABSTRACT

The ultimate goal of future-generation wireless communications is to provide ubiquitous seamless connections between mobile terminals so that users can enjoy high-quality multimedia services anytime anywhere. Developed as a simple and cost-effective wireless technology for best-effort services, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11based wireless local area networks (LANs) have gained popularity at an unprecedented rate [1]. It is inevitable to support multimedia applications over 802.11 wireless LANs. However, 802.11 Media Access Control (MAC) protocol has been designed primarily for best-effort (BE) data services. Owing to the lack of built-in quality-of-service (QoS) support, IEEE 802.11 experiences serious challenges in meeting the demands of multimedia services and applications, which normally have strict QoS requirement.