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arxiv: 2605.23276 · v1 · pith:6KAT7DKPnew · submitted 2026-05-22 · 💻 cs.NI

On the Performance of DCF in Full Duplex WLANs with Hidden Terminals

Anastasios C. Politis , Constantinos S. Hilas , Hristos T. Anastassiu This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-05-25 03:05 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 💻 cs.NI
keywords full duplexWLANDCFhidden terminalsCSMA/CAsaturation throughputperformance modeling
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The pith

Full duplex WLANs achieve only small saturation throughput gains over half duplex under DCF even with hidden terminals.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper develops a performance model for the Distributed Coordination Function in full-duplex wireless local area networks that include hidden terminals. It compares the resulting saturation throughput to that of conventional half-duplex networks. The model accounts for the backoff mechanism, collision probabilities, and the feasibility of simultaneous transmissions. The results show only a minor improvement from full-duplex operation. Readers interested in next-generation wireless networks would care because full-duplex is expected to roughly double capacity, yet the existing medium access protocol appears to prevent most of that gain.

Core claim

The paper establishes that, under the DCF regime, FD technology exhibits an exiguous performance improvement, in terms of saturation throughput, when compared with its half duplex counterpart, in WLANs with hidden terminals. The analysis is based on performance modelling of the CSMA/CA protocol.

What carries the argument

A Markov-chain based analytical model of the CSMA/CA backoff process extended to full-duplex transmission with hidden terminals.

If this is right

  • The standard DCF must be altered to allow more simultaneous access if full-duplex benefits are to be realized.
  • Hidden terminals do not create opportunities for substantial concurrent transmissions under current DCF rules.
  • Saturation throughput in full-duplex setups remains close to half-duplex levels despite theoretical doubling potential.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • Future MAC protocols could incorporate explicit full-duplex signaling to increase simultaneous transmissions.
  • Network planners might prioritize other capacity-enhancing techniques over full-duplex hardware in environments using standard DCF.
  • Extending the model to non-saturation traffic could reveal different behaviors.

Load-bearing premise

The analytical performance model correctly captures the interaction of CSMA/CA back-off, collision avoidance, and simultaneous transmission feasibility when hidden terminals are present.

What would settle it

Empirical measurements or detailed simulations of a full-duplex WLAN using DCF with hidden terminals that demonstrate saturation throughput substantially higher than the equivalent half-duplex network would falsify the claim of only exiguous improvement.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2605.23276 by Anastasios C. Politis, Constantinos S. Hilas, Hristos T. Anastassiu.

Figure 1
Figure 1. Figure 1: FD communication modes. modes for a wireless BSS. Symmetric FD (SFD) mode requires the Access Point (AP) of the BSS to transmit a data frame towards a wireless station (STA) that is also transmitting back to the AP. Asymmetric FD (AFD) communication mode allows the simultaneous transmission of both an STA and the AP, but with different destinations. However, for FD communication to take place, a certain pr… view at source ↗
Figure 2
Figure 2. Figure 2: Illustration of the hidden region produced by the finite transmission [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p002_2.png] view at source ↗
Figure 3
Figure 3. Figure 3: Division of the transmission range of a node in multiple evenly spaced [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p003_3.png] view at source ↗
Figure 4
Figure 4. Figure 4: ph{max} as a function of M. From (15) and (16) we can obtain an expression for the conditional collision probability for the AP: pap = 1 − [α(ap) | {z } HD case + β(ap) | {z } FD case ] = 1 − "Y M i=1 (1 − τsta(i))ni + X M i=1 hi + 1 n τsta(i)π(i) # . (17) C. Remarks It is easy to prove that for n = 1, (14) and (17) provide us with psta(i) = 0 and pap = 0, respectively (π(i) = 1 and hi = 0, since ni = 1 an… view at source ↗
Figure 5
Figure 5. Figure 5: Numerical values of transmission probability, [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p006_5.png] view at source ↗
Figure 6
Figure 6. Figure 6: Numerical values of conditional collision probability, [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p006_6.png] view at source ↗
Figure 7
Figure 7. Figure 7: System saturation throughput, S, achieved by FD and HD cases, and throughput gain, for varying number of nodes (M = 5). To this direction, an analytical model was developed to com￾pare FD performance with its half duplex counterpart. Results indicate that integrating FD technology in todays WLANs will not lead to any noteworthy improvement in terms of system throughput. In fact, in crowded networks with hi… view at source ↗
read the original abstract

Full Duplex (FD) technology is considered as one of the next big leap in the evolution of modern WLANs. Allowing a node to simultaneously transmit a data frame while in receive mode, can theoretically double the system throughput. However, several requirements must be fulfilled in order for FD operation to manifest. One obvious prerequisite is that the Medium Access Control (MAC) mechanism must allow two nodes to access the shared medium simultaneously. In modern WLANs the standard MAC layer mechanism is the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF), which is specifically designed to avoid such situations. FD communications may also take place when the physical placement of the communicating parts involves the existence of hidden terminals which, in standard Half Duplex (HD) communications, imposes a significant problem. This paper investigates the performance of the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) protocol, which constitutes the basis of the DCF mechanism, in FD WLANs with hidden terminals, and compares it with the standard HD case. Our analysis is based on performance modelling. Results indicate that, under the DCF regime, FD technology exhibits an exiguous performance improvement, in terms of saturation throughput, when compared with its half duplex counterpart.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

0 major / 1 minor

Summary. The paper develops an analytical performance model for CSMA/CA (the basis of DCF) in full-duplex WLANs that include hidden terminals. It compares saturation throughput under FD operation to the standard half-duplex case and concludes that FD yields only an exiguous improvement.

Significance. If the model holds, the result would indicate that the theoretical doubling of throughput from FD is largely unrealized under DCF with hidden terminals, which is relevant for assessing FD's practical value in Wi-Fi evolution. The absence of free parameters in the derivation (per the axiom ledger) is a positive attribute that strengthens the analysis if the state transitions and collision modeling are correctly specified.

minor comments (1)
  1. The abstract states the modeling result but supplies no equations, assumptions, or validation steps, which limits immediate assessment of the central claim.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

0 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for reviewing our manuscript. The provided report contains no specific major comments, only a summary of our analytical finding that full-duplex DCF yields only marginal saturation throughput gains relative to half-duplex under hidden terminals. We have no points to rebut or revise on that basis.

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No significant circularity identified

full rationale

The available manuscript text consists of the abstract and high-level description of a performance modeling analysis for CSMA/CA under FD with hidden terminals. No equations, state-transition diagrams, throughput expressions, or self-citations are supplied that would allow any load-bearing prediction to be shown as reducing to a fitted parameter or prior result by construction. The central claim of exiguous FD improvement is presented as the output of an independent analytical model whose internal steps cannot be inspected for circularity from the given material; therefore the derivation is treated as self-contained.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 0 axioms · 0 invented entities

No details available from the abstract alone to identify free parameters, axioms or invented entities.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5752 in / 1091 out tokens · 23923 ms · 2026-05-25T03:05:31.098866+00:00 · methodology

discussion (0)

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Reference graph

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