Performance analysis of WLAN 802.11g/n standards using OPNET (Riverbed) application

This paper is focused on the Quality of Service (QoS) for the newest standards of WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network); 802.11g and 802.11n. QoS refers to the possibility of networks to offer different services. The QoS is needed in WLANs, because there is an evolution of the customer´s needs for different applications. Oldest WLAN standards were used only for transmission of low bandwidth traffic. Now, with introduction of newest standards, such as 802.11g/n, there is possibility to transmit also the high bandwidth traffic, such as video traffic. This paper analyzes the performance of these standards setting up 4 different scenarios under the same OPNET (Riverbed) project. In these scenarios, are analyzed the differences between 802.11g and n standards, as well as the impact of RTS/CTS (Request To Send/Clear To Send) for improving performance. Network performance for each scenario has been evaluated in terms of data dropped due to buffer overflow (in bps) and media access delay (s).