Performance analysis of IEEE 802.11 for multi-hop infrastructure networks

Recent interest in multi-hop infrastructure networks (MINs) has resulted in a need for an accurate model to predict the behavior of such systems. We consider a traffic-based network model to characterize these networks. We first analyze the link delay characteristics of MINs. This is followed by a method to obtain the cdf of multi-hop traffic inter-arrival time. Finally, the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) is modeled for MINs and expressions for the throughput and delay are obtained. The proposed model is generic and can be used to characterize any MIN for known topology and traffic patterns. We confirm our results through simulations carried out using ns-2