Optimum WLAN Performance under Saturated Traffic Loading

Abstract

WLAN performance in Nigeria is adversely affected by incessant traffic overloads that constantly lead to congestion, since bandwidth is very limited. This work, therefore, addressed the issue of defining optimum performance parameters in WLAN under traffic saturation. A WLAN model was developed and simulated using MATLAB block oriented simulation package. The model was validated through extensive simulation results related to the simulation result of Nurul I. Sarkar. The relationships between the networks Quality of Service (QoS) parameters under excessive traffic loading were investigated. Results show that the IEEE 802.11b protocol does not perform well in terms of providing high throughput, low mean delay and low loss rate at saturated traffic load condition. Since the operation of WLAN is highly influenced by the number of workstations that it supports, the IEEE 802.11b optimum parameters under high traffic loadings, at 11Mbps data rate are 4.6 Mbps throughput, 300 ms delay and 0.00017 loss rate. Therefore, a useful control tool was derived for the exploitation of WLAN 802.11b under heavy traffic loadings.