Optimal Wireless LAN Channel Selection Without Communication

We consider how a group of wireless access-points can self-configure their channel choice so as to avoid interference between one another. We make the observation that message passing or other communication between access points is not necessary, although it is a feature of almost all published channel allocation algorithms. We argue that this observation is of key practical importance as, except in special circumstances, interfering WLANs need not all lie in the same administrative domain and/or may be beyond wireless communication distance (although within interference distance). The feasibility of the communication-free paradigm is demonstrated via a new class of decentralized algorithms that are simple, robust and provably correct for arbitrary interference graphs (including with channel dependent interference). The algorithm requires only standard hardware and we demonstrate its effectiveness via experimental measurements.