Stable operation of IEEE 802.11e EDCA: Interaction between offered load and MAC parameters

In this paper, we study impacts of TXOP allocation and AIFS parameter on one hop IEEE 802.11e EDCA network under varying offered load. Offered load is modified by changing the parameters of arrival process and node populations. Arrival process is varied by altering burst size distribution, mean burst size, frame size, and arrival rates. We investigate the effects of the offered load parameters on the network stability and non-saturation boundaries of IEEE 802.11e EDCA. Our results show interaction of offered load and MAC parameters. The results suggest the range of network parameters which preserve network stability and still achieve QoS differentiation.