OPTIMIZING THE PERFORMANCE OF IEEE 802.11b WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK (WLAN) USING DISCRETE EVENT SIMULATION (DES) MODEL

Summary

Communication always attracts extensive research interest as it is a core part of modern communication
technology. IEEE 802.11b has become common in recent years largely due to the advantage of user mobility,
relatively low acquisition cost and ease of implementation making it common for both residential and business
Internet access. However, the end user experience has often been less satisfactory than what the technology can
offer. IEEE 802.11b wireless local area network (WLAN) is known to achieve relatively small throughput
compared to other WLAN standards. The focus of this work is on improving IEEE 802.11b network
performance. Quaternary key shifting modulation technique was used with discrete event simulation technique
in Riverbed Modeller software to analyse the IEEE 802.11b network model and parameters. Results showed
that when data rate was increased from 1Mbps to 11 Mbps which is the optimum value, throughput increased
and there was 80% reduction in delay, retransmission attempts also decreased to approximately zero. Results
also showed that when buffer size was increased from 1000bits to 12800bits which is also at optimum value,
throughput increased by approximately 90% with no data dropped since it will take longer time for the buffer to
be filled up and almost zero retransmission attempt was achieved. This work will go a long way in improving
the Quality of Service of the IEEE 802.11b network leading to reduced cost of procurement and overhauling of
devices in the network.

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