Performance Modeling and Analysis of IEEE 802.11 Based Multi-channel Switching MAC

IEEE 802.11 MAC standard and model are well researched. Although it supports multiple channels in physical layer, how to provide multi-channel support in MAC layer is still challenging. Most of current work on multi-channel MAC only evaluate by simulations. In this paper, we propose a simple but general scheme to describe channel switching process. With its help, we extend the IEEE 802.11 MAC into a multi-channel MAC, and present a three-dimensional Markov chain to model it. This analytical model supports both access methods: basic and RTS/CTS. Simulation results show that our model can predict saturation throughput well. We also investigate the effect of two major parameters, namely the number of retransmission and the number of switching channel, on the performance of multichannel MAC.