Estimating Link Packet Rates From Partial CSMA/CA Network Observations

We consider the problem of estimating link packet rates in CSMA/CA networks using only eavesdropped observations from a single observer. We assume that the observer does not know the network topology and hence the contention graph indicating the interference structure. Additionally, if the eavesdropped network permits spatial reuse, then there will be collisions at the eavesdropper, leading to partial measurements. We propose a link packet rate estimation algorithm that works under the challenges mentioned above, by leveraging time reversibility of the traffic on networks with single-hop flows. We demonstrate that the estimated values converge to the true values asymptotically in the duration of the observation window.