Saturation Throughput Analysis of IEEE 802.11e EDCA Through Analytical Model

The IEEE 802.11e EDCA is designed to provide quality of support for real time applications with stringent latency and throughput requirements. Theoretical frameworks for analysis of throughput performance of wireless LAN employing exponential back-off exist extensively. Several models rely on simplification assumptions that preclude their direct applicability to the enhanced distributed coordination access (EDCA) which uses heterogeneous protocol parameters, while other models are exceedingly complex to analyze. In this paper, a tractable analytical model is proposed for saturation throughput of the IEEE 802.11e EDCA. The prioritization through channel access parameters including the AIFS and contention window is catered for within a three dimensional Markov chain. The integration of back-off counter freezing and retry limit enhance the models precision. Its validation is done by simulation on NS-2. Practical applicability of the model is established based on accuracy and computational efficiency. The model is utilized for throughput analysis of the EDCA under saturated traffic loads.