Performance Evaluation in All-Wireless Wi-Fi Networks

This study establishes a set of basic requirements for the network architecture of an all-wireless Internet, implemented using mesh network concepts. An implementation model to evaluate network performance at single hop level is defined, and a detailed analysis of the results obtained from several simulation runs with OPNET modeler reveals that: the standard for backbone network with better performance is 802.11a; the number of clients associated to each mesh access point must be lower than 30; the distance between mesh access points must be lower than 140 m; and that the minimum nominal data rate at the backbone is 5.5 Mbps. Using these requirements, the maximum throughput obtained at the backbone network is 5.35 Mbps. This value can be used as a figure of merit of the network in order to measure the relative gain of future network architectures and protocol enhancements.