Modelling and Analysis of the Distributed Coordination Function of IEEE 802.11 with Multirate Capability

The aim of this paper is twofold. On one hand, it presents a multi-dimensional Markovian state transition model characterizing the behavior at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer by including transmission states that account for packet transmission failures due to errors caused by propagation through the channel, along with a state characterizing the system when there are no packets to be transmitted in the queue of a station (to model non-saturated traffic conditions). On the other hand, it provides a throughput analysis of the IEEE 802.11 protocol at the data link layer in both saturated and non-saturated traffic conditions taking into account the impact of both transmission channel and multirate transmission in Rayleigh fading environment. Simulation results closely match the theoretical derivations confirming the effectiveness of the proposed model.