A New Scheduling Wireless Communication Mechanism in Cellular Systems Based on Genetic Approach

Nowadays, the use of wireless technologies in industrial environments gains importance because of the many advantages (cost, mobility, etc) it can bring. Flexibility related with the nodes’ mobility, which are no longer “fixed by a cable”, is one of the greatest benefits provided by wireless technologies. Unfortunately, the state-of-the-art IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology, which provides such flexibility in office/home environments, is not able to cope with highly demanding industrial application requirements (i.e. deterministic real-time data exchange with short and strict deadlines). The biggest challenge is to use the dynamic, shared wireless medium efficiently while providing deterministic communication. The issue becomes particularly challenging in the cellular network structure, where nodes might roam between cells frequently and might be required to negotiate Quality of Service guarantees every time they roam. Therefore a mechanism, which allows efficient message scheduling and a deterministic medium access, in WLAN cellular networks, is needed. In this paper, issues related with the shared medium access of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN technology, in cellular network structures, are identified. As this is a complex scheduling problem, which includes difficulties like: large search domain, dynamical changes and a variety of problemdependent constraints, a scheduling scheme supported by genetic algorithms is proposed.