A Performance Model for Wi-Fi Frame Aggregation Considering Throughput and Latency

Novel congestion control algorithms, like Google’s TCP BBR, have been designed using wired-bottleneck models. Therefore, they do not achieve efficient performance over Wi-Fi paths due to frame-aggregation mechanisms adopted by standard IEEE 802.11n/ac/ax technologies that break the standard model. In this work, we analyze the performance characteristics of a Wi-Fi bottleneck, investigating the throughput and the latency obtained with the frame aggregation logic. In particular, we formulate the expression for data throughput and RTT as a function of the aggregation size. Then, through experimental results, we validate the model on a real testbed with two different types of Wi-Fi bottlenecks.