Abstract

Wireless networks have a variety of advantages making them very popular in various applications. As the use of wireless networks increases, so does the demand for better service in terms of less delay for voice and video traffic. In 1990 the IEEE 802.11 was defined as a wireless network standard, yet this standard lacks traffic differentiation techniques to provide time-efficient service. The Work Group "e" has been working on enhancing the service since end of 2002; currently it defined a draft that will be the future standard to enhance the service. This new standard will enhance the use of wireless networks in time sensitive applications such as videoconferencing and voice over the internet protocol (VoIP). This study evaluated and suggested enhancements for the service performance of the defined IEEE 802.11 e draft. It is essential to assess the performance of the draft, as it will be the baseline standard for all the IEEE 802.11 wireless network vendors. The results of this work show that legacy networks (networks without the IEEE 802.11e implementation) perform better than the IEEE 802.11e networks under single kind of traffic (either data, voice or video traffic). Considering such conclusions is critical for businesses-when making decisions to upgrade or forgo purchasing costly equipment. Improvement suggestions to the upcoming IEEE 802.11e were made based on simulation results to change the default value of some parameters to achieve better performance under mixed traffic. The simulation results also show that the IEEE 802.11e provides priority to voice and video over data traffic.