Performance analysis of contention access period of IEEE 802.15.3 MAC protocol

IEEE 802.15.3 is expected to play a significant role in the Internet of Things (IoT). It is developed for high-rate communication between low-power devices in a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). The standard defines Medium Access Control (MAC) and physical layer protocols that support real-time communication over an area of ten square metres. IEEE 802.15.3 MAC consists of a combination of Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocols. The channel is divided into superframe structures where each superframe consists of a beacon, a Contention Access Period (CAP) and a Channel Time Allocation Period (CTAP). In this paper we analyse the performance of the CAP period using both analytical and simulation-based methods. We simulate CSMA/CA protocol in the CAP period using NS-2. The simulation results are compared with those obtained from analytical approximations in terms of different parameters including throughput and optimal CAP periods.