A contribution to performance analysis approach of the IEEE 802.11 EDCA in wireless multi-hop networks

Abstract

The IEEE 802.11e standard has been introduced to support service differentiation for wireless local area networks. In wireless multi-hop networks, the performance of IEEE 802.11e EDCA had to face with some practical problems such as unsaturation traffic and hidden node problem. Hence, this problem had been attracted by numerous studies in recent years, in which several investigations use analytic model to evaluate the performance due to its accuracy aspect. However, the accuracy and complexity of analytical model depends on a range of assumed parameters. The introduction of realistic conditions in wireless multi-hop networks lead to the complexity is major challenge of current studies in this field. To overcome this challenge, the paper is proposed an analytical model which covers full specification of IEEE 802.11e EDCA. To reduce the complexity, the model is simplified by decomposing the problem in two models based on Markov chain that can be easily solved by numerical method. The proposed model is presented in the theoretical aspect as well as numerical results to clarify its accuracy.