Methodology to characterize the performance of IEEE 802.11 nodes to be deployed in multi-hop environments

This paper proposes an experimental methodology to characterize the performance of an IEEE 802.11 WLAN node that is going to be used in a wireless multi-hop network. The methodology parameterizes the (in)accuracy of the node to conduct carrier sensing measurements and its capacity to handle incoming and outgoing traffic concurrently. These two parameters characterize sources of unexpected information losses, instability, and unfairness. In this way, they help to design and analyze multi-hop deployments. Finally, the methodology is used in an experimental setup to characterize an actual wireless node.