Performance Measurements of IEEE 802.11a Wireless LANs in presence of Ultra Wideband Interference

This paper presents experimental results to quantify the impact of UWB on the performance of IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN operated in line-of-sight environment. Interferer and receiver antennas were located in close proximity. Multipath interference was minimized by operating the system outdoors, forcing wave propagation parallel to the ground plane. Results indicate a significant impact on the S/N ratio, frame and data errors and packet lengths. A severe drop in data rates and throughput was also observed. A new parameter to better quantify WLAN performance is proposed.