Packet-Loss Distinguishing Based Link Adaptation Enhancement for Wireless LANs

Abstract

As we know, packet losses in wireless local area networks (WLANs) are due to collisions or link errors. In this paper, a new strategy that distinguishes the cause of packet losses in medium access control (MAC) layer is introduced. Based on the strategy, link adaptation algorithms, including the payload size adaptation algorithm and the data rate adaptation algorithm, are proposed and employed in WLANs. Simulation results show that both algorithms increase system throughput significantly.