VoIP Call Capacity over Wireless Mesh Networks

In recent years, research on VoIP over wireless mesh network (WMN) has gained particular attention because of its commercial prospect. This paper presents an analytical method to estimate VoIP call capacity in an WMN employing IEEE 802.11 devices. We used Markov chain analysis of IEEE 802.11 for network delay and loss to estimate the capacity while using rating factor, R score, defined by ITU-T, to ensure call quality. A detailed analysis of queueing delay and loss in terms of network parameters is also carried out along with their impacts on voice quality. The capacity model estimates call capacity in a single hop WLAN and is extendable to multi hop scenario and for video communications. The theoretical results are verified by simulation and compared to related previous works.