A simple model of IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN

In IEEE project 802, the 802.11 medium access control (MAC) is used to support asynchronous and time bounded delivery of radio data packets. A distributed coordination function (DCF), which is a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) with exponential backoff, is the basis of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN MAC protocols. This paper proposes an analytical model to compute the saturated throughput of 802.11 DCF, that is, both the basic access mechanism and the optional RTS/CTS mechanism. Compared with other models, this model is shown to be able to follow the behavior of 802.11 more accurately, which is verified by elaborate simulations.