A New Class Partitioned Discrete Model for the Characterization of RTP Multicast Transmission through IEEE 802.11 Channels

Multicast of real time protocol (RTP) flows (i.e. multicast video streaming) within 802.11 wireless local area networks (WLANs) has to deal with the inherent unreliability of wireless channels and the lack of link-level error protection of multicast transmissions. This problem can be solved in part by means of sophisticated rate control strategies, but no efficient discrete channel models for this scenario have been developed yet. In this paper a novel packet error rate class partitioned (PERCP) model for the characterization of wireless channels is proposed. Its characteristics make it suitable for its integration in rate-control schemes, and it is proved to perform better than simplified Gilbert models in all considered scenarios.