6533b7d8fe1ef96bd12698ca

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Understanding 802.11e contention-based prioritization mechanisms and their coexistence with legacy 802.11 stations

Ilenia TinnirelloGiuseppe BianchiLuca Scalia

subject

PrioritizationStandardsStandardizationComputer Networks and CommunicationsComputer sciencePerformanceThroughputCommunication channels (information theory)Quality of serviceLimit (music)Service differentiationNetwork protocolsSettore ING-INF/03 - Telecomunicazionibusiness.industryInter frameIEEE 802.11eTelecommunication trafficProbability distributionsNetwork protocols; Performance; Probability distributions; Quality of service; Standards; Telecommunication traffic; Enhanced distributed channel access; IEEE 802.11e; Service differentiation; Communication channels (information theory)Hardware and ArchitectureArbitrationEnhanced distributed channel accessIEEE 802.11e-2005businessSoftwareInformation SystemsCommunication channelComputer network

description

The IEEE 802.11e task group has reached a stable consensus on two basic contention-based priority mechanisms to promote for standardization: usage of different arbitration interframe spaces and usage of different minimum/maximum contention windows. The goal of this article is to provide a thorough understanding of the principles behind their operation. To this purpose, rather than limit our investigation to high-level (e.g. throughput and delay) performance figures, we take a closer look at their detailed operation, also in terms of low-level performance metrics (e.g., the probability of accessing specific channel slots). Our investigation on one hand confirms that AIFS differentiation provides superior and more robust operation than contention window differentiation. On the other hand, it highlights performance issues related to the coexistence between 802.11e contention-based stations with legacy 802.11 stations, and provides guidelines for the 802.11e parameter settings when such a coexistence is the goal.

10.1109/mnet.2005.1470680http://hdl.handle.net/10447/20782