A Markovian Analysis of an IEEE-802.11 Station with Buffering
G. Fayolle, Paul Muhlethaler
2023, v.29, Issue 5, 709-726
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the so-called backo tech-
nique of the IEEE 802.11 protocol with bu ers. This protocol rules the trans-
missions on a radio channel between nodes (or stations) of a network exchanging
packets of information. In contrast to existing models, packets arriving at a sta-
tion which in the backo state are not discarded, but are stored in a bu er of
in nite capacity. The backo state corresponds to the number of time-intervals
(mini-slot) that a node must wait before its packet is actually transmitted. As
in previous studies, the key point of our analysis hinges on the assumption
that the time on the radio channel is viewed as a random succession of trans-
mission slots (whose duration corresponds to a packet transmission time) and
mini-slots, which stand for the time intervals during which the backo of the
station is decremented. During these mini-slots the channel is idle, which im-
plies that there is no packet transmission. These events occur independently
with given probabilities, and the external arrivals of messages follow a Pois-
son process. The state of a node is represented by a three-dimensional Markov
chain in discrete-time, formed by the triple (backo counter, number of packets
at the station, number of transmission attempts). Stability (ergodicity) condi-
tions are obtained for an arbitrary station and interpreted in terms of maximum
throughput. Several approximations related to these models are also discussed.
doi:10.61102/1024-2953-mprf.2023.29.5.006
Keywords: Wireless LAN, IEEE 802.11 protocol, Analytical Model, Markov chain, Generating Function, Ergodicity
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