Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Power-Domain Interference Graph Estimation for Multi-hop BLE Networks

Haifeng Jia, Yichen Wei, Yibo Pi, Cailian Chen

TL;DR

This work tackles the high measurement overhead of interference graph estimation by fusing it with data transmission through power-domain IGE, enabled by concurrent flooding in BLE networks. It develops a framework that validates power linearity on COTS BLE devices, analyzes nonlinearity sources, and establishes conditions for a full-rank transmit-power matrix to recover channel gains. The authors design protocols and a power-control algorithm to integrate IGE with flooding, achieving mutual benefits: improved flooding performance, faster channel-map convergence, and efficient convergecast support. Real-world BLE experiments on an nRF52-based testbed demonstrate significant gains with manageable overhead, highlighting the practical potential of using interference graphs to optimize BLE network operations. The approach promises broader applicability to BLE network management and scheduling tasks beyond flooding.

Abstract

Traditional wisdom for network management allocates network resources separately for the measurement and communication tasks. Heavy measurement tasks may compete limited resources with communication tasks and significantly degrade overall network performance. It is therefore challenging for the interference graph, deemed as incurring heavy measurement overhead, to be used in practice in wireless networks. To address this challenge in wireless sensor networks, our core insight is to use power as a new dimension for interference graph estimation (IGE) such that IGE can be done simultaneously with the communication tasks using the same frequency-time resources. We propose to marry power-domain IGE with concurrent flooding to achieve simultaneous measurement and communication in BLE networks, where the power linearity prerequisite for power-domain IGE holds naturally true in concurrent flooding. With extensive experiments, we conclude the necessary conditions for the power linearity to hold and analyze several nonlinearity issues of power related to hardware imperfections. We design and implement network protocols and power control algorithms for IGE in multi-hop BLE networks and conduct experiments to show that the marriage is mutually beneficial for both IGE and concurrent flooding. Furthermore, we demonstrate the potential of IGE in improving channel map convergence and convergecast in BLE networks.

Power-Domain Interference Graph Estimation for Multi-hop BLE Networks

TL;DR

This work tackles the high measurement overhead of interference graph estimation by fusing it with data transmission through power-domain IGE, enabled by concurrent flooding in BLE networks. It develops a framework that validates power linearity on COTS BLE devices, analyzes nonlinearity sources, and establishes conditions for a full-rank transmit-power matrix to recover channel gains. The authors design protocols and a power-control algorithm to integrate IGE with flooding, achieving mutual benefits: improved flooding performance, faster channel-map convergence, and efficient convergecast support. Real-world BLE experiments on an nRF52-based testbed demonstrate significant gains with manageable overhead, highlighting the practical potential of using interference graphs to optimize BLE network operations. The approach promises broader applicability to BLE network management and scheduling tasks beyond flooding.

Abstract

Traditional wisdom for network management allocates network resources separately for the measurement and communication tasks. Heavy measurement tasks may compete limited resources with communication tasks and significantly degrade overall network performance. It is therefore challenging for the interference graph, deemed as incurring heavy measurement overhead, to be used in practice in wireless networks. To address this challenge in wireless sensor networks, our core insight is to use power as a new dimension for interference graph estimation (IGE) such that IGE can be done simultaneously with the communication tasks using the same frequency-time resources. We propose to marry power-domain IGE with concurrent flooding to achieve simultaneous measurement and communication in BLE networks, where the power linearity prerequisite for power-domain IGE holds naturally true in concurrent flooding. With extensive experiments, we conclude the necessary conditions for the power linearity to hold and analyze several nonlinearity issues of power related to hardware imperfections. We design and implement network protocols and power control algorithms for IGE in multi-hop BLE networks and conduct experiments to show that the marriage is mutually beneficial for both IGE and concurrent flooding. Furthermore, we demonstrate the potential of IGE in improving channel map convergence and convergecast in BLE networks.
Paper Structure (29 sections, 1 theorem, 13 equations, 20 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 29 sections, 1 theorem, 13 equations, 20 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background & Related Work
  3. Power-Domain Interference Graph Estimation
  4. Overview
  5. Core Insight
  6. Power Linearity on the COTS Devices
  7. Theoretical Explanations for Power Linearity
  8. Nonlinearity Issues Breakdown
  9. Achieving Power Linearity
  10. Full-Rank Constraint
  11. IGE: Controlled Experimental Study
  12. Integration of IGE and Concurrent Flooding
  13. Integrating IGE with Flooding: Overview
  14. Performance Optimization for Flooding: Power Control Algorithm
  15. Measurement Process: Power-Domain IGE
  16. ...and 14 more sections

Key Result

Theorem 4.1

To ensure that $\boldsymbol{P}$ is full rank, we need to choose $\Delta p_i[i]$'s such that $\sum\limits_{i=1}^n \frac{p^b_i[1]}{\Delta p_i[i]} \not= 0$.

Figures (20)

  • Figure 1: Overview of our experimental study of power-domain IGE
  • Figure 2: An example of IGE with power control
  • Figure 3: Experimental setup
  • Figure 4: Proportionality between Tx and Rx powers
  • Figure 5: Power ratios under impacting factors
  • ...and 15 more figures

Theorems & Definitions (1)

  • Theorem 4.1