On the decrease in frame reception probability under heavy transmission loads in IEEE 802.11 networks

摘要

It is widely accepted that the reception probability of a wireless link tends to decrease with the increase of network load. This is commonly attributed to factors such as the increase in frame collision probability under heavier medium usage. We present experimental results regarding this probability decrease in IEEE 802.11 networks in order to investigate the causes of this phenomenon. Surprisingly, our experiments indicate that when a wireless interface is under heavy transmission load, its capacity of receiving frames from other stations diminishes, leading to a noticeable drop in its frame reception probability, even when collisions are not an issue.