802.11 ad hoc LANs with realistic channels: Study of packet fragmentation

In this paper, we present an analytical method for estimating the saturation throughput of an 802.11 ad hoc LAN in the presence of noise distorting transmitted frames. This is the first method that allows studying analytically the 802.11 network performance with consideration of correlated channel failures usually inherent to realistic wireless channels. With the study, we consider the possible packet fragmentation that can be adopted to reduce the performance degradation caused by noise-induced distortions. In addition to the throughput, our method allows estimating the probability of a packet rejection occurring when the number of packet transmission retries attains its limit. The obtained numerical results of investigating 802.11 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.