Towards analytic modelling for CSMA/CA based MAC protocol in wireless multi-hop networks

Wireless multi-hop networks are expected to become important building blocks of future communication networks. With increasing deployment and utilization of such networks, analytic performance models for the analysis of important metrics, in particular throughput, will become necessary. The deployed medium access control (MAC) mechanism has a significant impact on this metric, and Carrier Sense Multiple Access Schemes based on Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) is the underlying approach for an important class of MAC protocols, in particular including IEEE 802.11 type of networks. This paper analyzes performance relevant events in a carefully selected set of multi-hop scenarios for CSMA-CA based wireless networks. The observations from the simulation experiments are used to formulate directions for future analytic modelling approaches for these type of multi-hop networks.