Impact of self-similarity on wireless data network performance

In this paper we investigate the impact of traffic patterns on wireless data networks. Modeling and simulation of the cellular digital packet data (CDPD) network of Telus Mobility (a commercial service provider) were performed using the OPNET tool. We use trace-driven simulations with genuine traffic trace collected from the CDPD network to evaluate the performance of the CDPD protocol. This trace tends to exhibit long-range dependent behavior. Our simulation results indicate that genuine traffic traces, compared to traditional traffic models such as the Poisson model, produce longer queues and, thus, require larger buffers in the deployed network's elements.