3rd International ICST Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks

Research Article

Performance measurements of the saturation throughput in IEEE 802.11 access points

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1109/WIOPT.2005.39,
        author={E.  Pelletta and  H.  Velayos},
        title={Performance measurements of the saturation throughput in IEEE 802.11 access points},
        proceedings={3rd International ICST Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc, and Wireless Networks},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={WIOPT},
        year={2005},
        month={4},
        keywords={},
        doi={10.1109/WIOPT.2005.39}
    }
    
  • E. Pelletta
    H. Velayos
    Year: 2005
    Performance measurements of the saturation throughput in IEEE 802.11 access points
    WIOPT
    IEEE
    DOI: 10.1109/WIOPT.2005.39
E. Pelletta1, H. Velayos1
  • 1: R. Inst. of Technol., Kista, Sweden

Abstract

Performance measurements of IEEE 802.11 access points provide important information for networking research and network management. In this paper, we present an active measurement method to determine the maximum saturation throughput of wireless LAN access points. The saturation throughput is achieved when there always is a frame ready to transmit, and it reaches the maximum for optimal transmission conditions. We use the proposed method to measure and analyze the performance of five IEEE 802.11b access points. The results show the strength of our method and identify performance characteristics of commercial access points. The analysis produces the following results. The maximum saturation throughput shows significant differences between models. Increasing the offered load to the access point's Ethernet interface does not always increase the throughput; a few access points present a downlink throughput reduction when the offered load exceeds their bridging capabilities. Some access points exhibit better performance in certain orientations.