Wireless controller placement problem

Software Defined Networking decouples the control and data planes. The response time and quality of service of the controllers is a key aspect in implementing the Software Defined Networking paradigm. A wireless Software Defined Networking control plane is even more challenging. Many radio communication problems arise in modeling the wireless east west bound and southbound interfaces. Wireless networks feature many unique components and metrics that often do not exist in wired networks: separate control transport may intensify on the latency within the wireless data plain with additional interference. Obviously, Wi-Fi based control plane has its implications, e.g., higher packet loss and hidden or exposed terminals. Moreover, wireless links can be operated in a number of different wireless characteristics, e.g., transmission rates and power settings. In this paper we define and solve the known Controllers Placement Problem, but for a Wi-Fi based control plane: the Wireless Control Placement Problem. We define the metrics for an effective wireless controllers placement and propose a multi-objective optimization for the Wireless Controller Placement Problem. Then we evaluate the influence of the variant metrics on the number of controllers and their locations.