Buffer Sizing in Wireless Networks: Challenges, Solutions, and Opportunities

Buffer sizing is an important network configuration parameter that impacts the Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics of data traffic. With falling memory costs and the fallacy that 'more is better', network devices are being overprovisioned with large bu ers. This may increase queueing delays experienced by a packet and subsequently impact stability of core protocols such as TCP. The problem has been studied extensively for wired networks. However, there is little work addressing the unique challenges of wireless environment such as time-varying channel capacity, variable packet inter-service time, and packet aggregation, among others. In this paper we discuss these challenges, classify the current state-of-the-art solutions, discuss their limitations, and provide directions for future research in the area.