Scalability and performance analysis of IEEE 802.11a

Wireless LAN (WLAN) has become the most talked about technology in last decade. Using radio frequency (RF) technology, WLANs transmit and receive data over the air, through walls, ceilings and even cement structures, without wired cabling. The IEEE 802.11 specification is a wireless LAN standard developed by the IEEE in order to specify an "over the air" interface between a wireless client and a base station or access point, as well as among wireless clients. The legacy standard specifies a 2.4 GHz operating frequency using frequency hopping or direct sequence spread spectrum modulation with initial data rates of 1 or 2 Mbps. But, later revisions have used modulation techniques like orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and complementary code keying (CCK) and increased the data rate tremendously. Recently, IEEE 802.11g is providing data rates up to 54 Mbps. This paper presents the performance and scalability analysis of IEEE 802.11a standard in terms of several chosen parameters