Performance Evaluation of a Self-Similar Model for Traffic on IEEE 802.11 Networks

Abstract

Since the discovery of the traffic fractal properties ("scaling") in packet switched networks, there have been numerous studies and has been found this property in various data networks. This research evaluates experimentally a model based on self-similar processes in 802.11 networks, to characterize the Layer 2 traffic. Model validation is performed in two stages. In the first stage, we obtain the statistical characteristics of the actual traffic coursing on the network. In the second stage, we define a performance measure which applies to the actual data and the model tested to verify the performance of the model fit to the actual network performance through simulation and calculation of the correlation between actual performance and performance estimated by the model; generating a significant contribution to the design, planning and dimensioning of the capacity of this kind of networks, for which usually the design, planning and dimensioning takes place based only in coverage and not necessarily in the required capacity given the operation constraints.