Performance Analysis of Early Packet Loss Detection in WiFi Direct 802.11 Networks

Abstract

The traditional MAC protocol of 802.11 detects the loss of a packet and declares it a collision only after the transmission of the entire packet is completed. The early detection of a packet loss can reduce the time spent in collision and as a result improve the overall throughput. This paper presents an analytical performance analysis of the early collision detection for WiFi Direct networks. To this end, an analytical model known as Early Packet Loss Detection (EPLD) is proposed, which is formulated by careful consideration of the MAC layer in terms of backoff counter, successful transmission time, and time spent in collision. The analytical and simulation results of the EPLD protocol are compared with the standard protocol, which is based on the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF). The EPLD algorithm surpasses the standard algorithm by an average of almost 12-15% in terms of system throughput under different configurations.