Energy Efficiency Opportunity at Same Data Rate and Different MCS in IEEE 802.11n

Currently, the number of Access Point (AP) and mobile station (STA), such as notebooks and smart phones, which supports standard WLAN IEEE 802.11n is increasing. Increasing the number of devices that supports 802.11n standard is implicated in the increased use of energy. Therefore, the necessary efforts so that energy use in WLAN devices in the future can be more efficient. The choice of data rate in 802.11n is ranging from 6.5 to 600 Mbps and indexed by MCS, from MCS-0 to MCS-31. However, there are 10 data rate which is produced by more than one MCS. In this paper, we conducted a simulation to calculate the energy consumption of each MCS that produces the same data rate to determine the MCS which is more energy efficient. Simulations were also conducted to measure the energy efficiency opportunities with the use of appropriate MCS on the use of certain data rate in IEEE 802.11n. This research was carried out by simulation using NS-3. To calculate the energy consumed by each MCS, the simulation performed through three different scenarios. The simulation results show the energy consumption of MCS- 1, MCS-2, MCS-3, MCS-4, MCS-5 and MCS-6 are lower than the MCS-8, MCS-16, MCS-9, MCS-10, MCS-17, MCS-11 and MCS-18.