Revisiting the Hidden Terminal Problem in a CSMA/CA Wireless Network

Recently research interest in the performance analysis of wireless networks was revived. An issue of an utmost importance in this class of networks, classified as one of the severest reasons for the degradation of their performance, is the hidden terminal problem. In this paper we argue that an accurate analysis of the effect of hidden nodes in the performance of a random access protocol is still an open issue. Firstly, we thoroughly explain the reasons behind the limitations of previous modelling methods, and show that their performance is reliable only for certain configurations. Secondly, and most importantly, we propose a novel method of modelling time that uses a fixed-length channel slot as the unit of time and does not rely on renewal theory. With these features the model is able to successfully take into account the desynchronisation of nodes in a hidden terminal environment. Our analytical model is shown to have a very close match to simulation results for an IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol and for all the system parameters considered, unlike conventional methods.