A wireless multimedia LAN testbed

In order to support research into wireless multimedia networking at DalTech, Dalhousie University, we have established a wireless local area network (LAN) of personal computers (PCs) with WaveLAN radio cards. This network serves as a platform to investigate real-time applications. Applications run over the modified TCP/UDP/IP protocol stacks to accommodate the dynamic multimedia traffic and unpredictable radio channel conditions. The research supported with this infrastructure concentrates on networking algorithms for rapidly deployable radio networks and performance evaluation techniques. In particular, we are involved in software development to allow experimental verification of the proposed protocols using subjective criteria, such as throughput as seen by the user and effective transmission range. In our network protocols, adaptive control algorithms are implemented to account for the varying network conditions. We present a set of measurements for a 2.4 GHz WaveLAN and analyze its behavior. We examine issues such as (i) packet loss; (ii) throughput; (iii) signal and noise levels; and (iv) jitter.