In this paper, we provide a throughput analysis of the IEEE 802.11 protocol
at the data link layer in non-saturated traffic conditions taking into account
the impact of both transmission channel and capture effects in Rayleigh fading
environment. The impact of both non-ideal channel and capture become important
in terms of the actual observed throughput in typical network conditions
whereby traffic is mainly unsaturated, especially in an environment of high
interference.
We extend the multi-dimensional Markovian state transition model
characterizing the behavior at the MAC layer by including transmission states
that account for packet transmission failures due to errors caused by
propagation through the channel, along with a state characterizing the system
when there are no packets to be transmitted in the buffer of a station.
Finally, we derive a linear model of the throughput along with its interval of
validity.
Simulation results closely match the theoretical derivations confirming the
effectiveness of the proposed model.Comment: To appear on IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 200