Wireless local area networks: simulation and analysis

• Main Author: Kyriakidis, Efstathios D.
• Other Authors: Lundy, Bert
• Language: en_US
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/9170

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited === Wireless communication iscurrently in a state of rapid evolution. This evolution is driven by the numerous advantages of the wireless networks. One major constraint to this evolution is the lack of standardization. Also a major concern are the interference problems of the signal at thereception point caused by themultiple paths that the electromagnetic waves travel (multi-path interference). This thesispresents two separate simulations. In the first, a realistic physical model of a wireless local area network is developed. In this simulation, the multi-path interference at the reception point is investigated. The results of this physics- based simulation are used to assess an important assumption in the second simulation. In the second simulation, we examine the reliability of the wireless standard for the medium access control (MAC) layer, using CACI COMNET ffi network simulation software. This standard was published in 1997, by the IEEE's working group 802.11 and in this thesis is tested and analyzed under different network loads. One major result is that the optimum load for a five working stations wireless LAN, is from 80 to 200 packets per second. Below that load range the channel utilization is small and above that the network is overloaded.