A Simulation Study of CSMA/CA Performance in 60 GHz WPANs

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in developing 60 GHz wireless personal area networks (WPANs) for short-range high-speed wireless communications. Both industrial and standardization organizations such as IEEE 802.15.3c and IEEE 802.11ad are making considerable efforts to bring the very high data rate (up to several Gbps) WPANs into reality. In this work, we develop an NS-2 extension for simulating 60 GHz WPANs, based on which we conduct a comprehensive simulation study to investigate the impacts of antenna directivity and CSMA/CA operation modes on the throughput of 60 GHz WPANs. Observations from extensive simulation results provide valuable insights and guidelines in designing future MAC schemes for 60 GHz WPANs with directional antennas.