Packet delay analysis of IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol

A new packet delay analysis for the IEEE 802.11b protocol is developed by extending throughput analysis introduced by Bianchi. This analysis is validated by comparison with simulation results using the OPNET^TM simulation package. Packet delay results are presented as a function of a number of stations and packet size for basic access and RTS/CTS medium access mechanisms. The proposed analysis identifies when the RTS/CTS mechanism achieves lower packet delay with respect to the basic access mechanism and becomes highly beneficial for the performance of IEEE 802.11 WLANs.