Saturation throughput analysis of IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs for a lossy channel

We present a way to estimate the saturation throughput of IEEE 802.11 for a lossy channel. The analysis is based on a new concept of virtual slot, which is used to model the dependence of a station's MAC state on the channel. Simulation results show that the analysis accurately predicts the saturation throughput in DCF mode.

I. Introduction

The saturation throughput of the DCF mode of IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol [5] is estimated in [1]–[4], [6]–[9]. The analyses in [1], [4], [7], [8] use a two-dimensional Markov chain to model each station's MAC behavior. However, each station's state transition depends on the channel activity. For example, a station can not decrease the backoff counter while the channel is busy. Most papers don't explicitly explain how the two-dimensional Markov chain deals with the MAC state's dependence on the channel. This letter uses a similar model, and introduces a new notion of virtual slot that helps to better understand the two-dimensional Markov chain model.