Adaptive multimedia packet transmission for broadband IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs

The IEEE 802.11 suite of WLAN standards are evolving to support an increase in emerging broadband multimedia applications, with their popularity attributed to simple, scalable and cost effective wireless broadband communication infrastructure. However, the most widely deployed generation of 802.11x based MAC protocols provide limited support for multimedia traffic, as no guarantee is provided on the quality of service (QoS) that a particular type of traffic will receive. Furthermore, the legacy 802.11 MAC exhibits high protocol overhead due to control frames, channel access, and the probability of contention. This article presents an overview of MAC layer enhancements designed to provide QoS support and higher throughputs in next generation WLANs, including IEEE 802.11e and 802.11n standards. Comprehensive simulation results are provided using an OPNET simulation model.