The Evaluation of IEEE 802.11ah Performance Based on the Effect of Mobility, Node's Number, and Traffic Using the Markov Chain Model

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is currently growing rapidly and one of the technologies supporting it is wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard IEEE 802.11ah. This technology supports mobility and has a large number of nodes or devices with small energy consumption; hence it is capable of functioning for a long time. In this study, three work scenarios were proposed, namely 1) the mobility, which involves changing the distance between the access point (AP) and the nodes, 2) changing the node’s number, and 3) testing the variations in traffic by changing the collision possibilities and the RAW (Restricted Access Window) (the full title). slot duration in order to analyze the IEEE 802.11ah network performance parameters. The results showed that there was a decrease in throughput, an increase in energy consumption, and a delay due to changes in the nodes’ number and movement/mobility. Also, the variation in traffic by changing the collision probability causes a change in throughput, hence when the collision probability is large, the throughput decreases, while the delay value increases, and vice versa. In conclusion, this study proved that changes in the nodes’ number, movement/mobility, and traffic collision probability affected the IEEE 802.11ah network's performance in throughput, delay, and energy consumption parameters.