Coordinating the Interplay Between Physical Carrier Sense and Power Control in CSMA/CA Wireless Networks

The transmit power and the carrier sense threshold are two major MAC/PHY parameters in CSMA/CA wireless networks. The problem of transmit power control has been extensively studied in the context of graph-theoretic topology control and maintenance. What has not been studied in depth is the effect of Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) on the topology and the network capacity sustained under the physical model. In order to remedy the deficiency of conventional topology control (as a result of neglecting the physical SINR effect) and to further improve network performance, the authors present a joint control framework for determining the transmit power control and the carrier sense threshold.