Packet delay analysis on IEEE 802.11 DCF under finite load traffic in multi-hop ad hoc networks

In this paper, the average packet delay on IEEE 802.11 DCF under finite load traffic in multi-hop ad hoc networks is analyzed. We employ a Markov chain model to analyze the probability of transmission at each node in an arbitrary slot and derive the channel access delay. We model each node using an M/G/1 queue and derive the queueing delay. The model is extended from analyzing the single-hop average packet delay to evaluating the end-to-end packet delay in multi-hop ad hoc networks without assuming the traffic to be in a saturation state. To validate our analytic results, we have done extensive simulation. The analytic and the simulation results match very well.