A Performance Analysis of E-Learning over WiFi-based Long Distance Networks

摘要

With the recent advancements of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), e-learning is revolutionizing the education sector. Unfortunately, due to low Internet penetration, rural regions are not benefited from this development as expected. WiFi-based Long Distance (WiLD) network is emerging as a suitable low-cost solution for covering eural areas over other alternatives such as WiMAX, VSAT, GPRS, and WLL. However, supporting audio and video based e-learning applications over resource-constrained WiLD networks still remains a challenging issue. In this paper, we have reviewed the various QoS requirements of e-learning applications such as video on demand, video conferencing, virtual laboratory, and WWW. Throughput, delay, jitter and packet loss performances of various e-learning applications have been analyzed over WiLD networks. The simulation results suggest that the e-learning based real-time applications show good performance with reasonable load but perform abysmally in relatively high load. Various research challenges in supporting e-learning applications over WiLD networks have also been put forward.