Performance evaluation of NDIS-based four-layer architecture with virtual scheduling algorithm for IEEE 802.11b

This paper presents the feasibility of IEEE 802.11b protocol for real-time wireless industrial network. Generally, because the medium access control method of IEEE 802.11b is the contention-based CSMA/CA that exhibits unstable performance with an unbounded delay distribution under heavy traffic, it has been known that it is not suitable for industrial networking. As an effort for avoiding the uncertainty of IEEE 802.11b, this paper presents a NDIS-based four-layer architecture of IEEE 802.11b with a virtual scheduling method using the network driver interface specification (NDIS). Also, the performance of NDIS-based four-layer architecture is compared with that of conventional architecture of IEEE 802.11b. Based on the experimental results, it is found that the NDIS-based four-layer architecture of IEEE 802.11b is a very promising alternative for wireless industrial networking.