Performance analysis of IEEE 802.11 multirate networks with rate adaptation

Abstract

The discrete-time Markov chain model for the Automatic Rate Fallback(ARF) rate adaptation algorithm was proposed to analyze the performance of IEEE 802.11 ARF-based multirate networks.In the analytical model,the ability to differentiate the frame losses caused by link errors from those caused by collisions according to the choice of transmission modes between Basic and RTS/CTS was taken into consideration.By exploiting the model,the probability of transmitting with a specific data rate in stationary state was obtained for the case where a node chose the transmission mode with a random probability.Furthermore,the system throughput analysis was made with reference to the backoff mechanism.Simulation results show that the proposed model analysis could well predict the performance of multirate networks.In addition,the influence of the parameter settings of both ARF and MAC protocol on the network performance was investigated.