The effect of finite population on IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs throughput/delay performance

The theoretical performance of CSMA/CA, as it is used in IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs, is investigated in this paper. We adopt and modify a previously presented analytical approach for CSMA/CA protocols in wireless LANs with a finite number of stations and find closed-form equations for throughput and delay. The presented numerical results highlight the characteristics of both CSMA/CA methods and define how their performance depends on the number of stations and on traffic conditions.