Performance of Fixed-point Analyis for IEEE 802.11 compliant WLAN

Fixed-point analysis is a convenient and powerful method for investigating the performance of WLANs. In this paper we present a detailed fixed-point analysis of wireless networks and compare the results with ns-2.28 simulation. We develop a theoretical model for the attempt rate by a node and validate it through ns. We also study in detail the effect of the back-off multiplier, the maximum allowable re-transmission attempts and the initial mean back-off on the rate of attempt and the probability of collision of data packets. The variation of the aggregate saturation throughput with packet length and data transmission rates for RTS-CTS and Basic Access mechanisms is illustrated through theory and simulation. It is seen that the fixed-point analysis gives extremely accurate results (practically exact) and hence is a reliable design approach for optimizing performance.