Performance Analysis of WLANs with Heterogeneous and Bursty Multimedia Traffic

With high variability and correlation in arrival rates and packet sizes, multimedia traffic places a great strain on Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) towards provision of satisfactory Quality-of-Service (QoS). Most existing performance models for wireless networks are restricted to unrealistic assumptions where specific traffic characteristics of burstiness, correlation and self-similarity are ignored. This paper proposes an original analytical model as a cost-effective tool to evaluate the performance of WLANs in the presence of heterogeneous multimedia traffic, capturing the burstiness, correlation and self-similarity characteristics using Batch Markovian Arrival Process (BMAP). The model derives important QoS metrics in terms of throughput, end-to-end delay and frame loss probability. Analytical results validated through extensive simulations reveal the degrading effect of burstiness, correlation and heterogeneity of traffic sources on the QoS performance of WLANs.