Accumulating error-free frame blocks to improve throughput for IEEE 802.11-based WLAN

Improving channel throughput is significant in wireless local networks (WLANs). There exists a drawback in the distributed coordination function (DCF) of medium access control (MAC) protocol in IEEE 802.11 standard. That is, it may lead the sending node of a frame to blindly enlarge its contention window when the receiving node discards the received frame due to bit error, which decreases channel throughput and increases frame latency. To overcome this drawback, a novel scheme called gathering error-free block (GEB) scheme is proposed, which divides the payload of a frame into blocks, with each having a checksum, and lets the receiving node collect error-free blocks to assemble the original frame. The metric of channel throughput under the GEB scheme is formulated, which is based to develop the optimization model that is able to find the optimal number of blocks maximizing the throughput. Simulation results show that the GEB scheme is able to improve channel throughput and reduce channel occupancy duration per frame transmission in the WLAN with links prone to bit error.