Performance Modeling of a Two-Tier Primary-Secondary Network Operated with IEEE 802.11 DCF Mechanism

In this paper, we present an analytical study for the performance of a two-tier primary-secondary network based on IEEE 802.11 DCF mechanism. It is assumed that multiple primary users (PUs) and secondary users (SUs) coexist in the radio environment and share a single band such that the SUs are allowed to contend only if they sense the channel idle for a certain period of time. First, we derive the PUs' medium access delay in the presence of SUs. Then, assuming an exponential packet inter-arrival time for the primary network, and using M/G/1 queue modeling, we determine the collision probability and throughput for the primary and secondary networks, as well as the PUs' average total delay including the queuing delay. Numerical along with simulation results show how the performance in the primary network, with given packet arrival rate, can be affected as functions of the sensing time, packet payload size and population size of the SUs. The findings of this work can be used effectively to study the performance of any IEEE 802.11 based primary-secondary network, such as cognitive radio networks where SUs may exploit a primary channel opportunistically based on a predefined policy, as well as to optimize the performance of distributed cognitive radio MAC protocols.