Goodput optimization in CSMA/CA wireless networks

Packet based wireless networks have provided high data rates, and the desire for ubiquitous wireless computing is growing rapidly. To accommodate these demands, wireless systems should work well in typical wireless environments. The most widely deployed WLAN technology, IEEE 802.11, uses the unlicensed ISM band, which is vulnerable to noise generated by electronic devices. This paper proposes a way to enhance system goodput in CSMA/CA MAC protocols using fragmentation. Our analytical model considers the number of contending stations, packet collisions, packet error probabilities, and fragmentation overheads. With extensive experiments in WLAN and ad hoc networks, we show the optimization improves the goodput approximately 18% in a typical WLAN and 48% in ad hoc networks. The proposed approach can be implemented to any CSMA/CA MAC protocol without modifying the standard.