Packet fragmentation in Wi-Fi ad hoc networks with correlated channel failures

Abstract

We present an analytical method for estimating the saturation throughput of an 802.11 ad hoc LAN called also the Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) LAN in the presence of noise distorting transmitted frames. This is the first method that allows analytical study of the Wi-Fi network performance with consideration of correlated channel failures usually inherent to wireless channels. Within the study, we consider the possible packet fragmentation that can be adopted to reduce the performance waste caused by noise-induced distortions. In addition to the throughput, our method allows estimation of the probability of a packet rejection occurring when the number of packet transmission retries attains its limit. The obtained numerical results of investigating Wi-Fi LANs by the developed method are validated by simulation and show high estimation accuracy as well as the method efficiency in determining the optimal fragmentation threshold.