Methods for Calculating Bandwidth, Delay, and Packet Loss Metrics in Multi-Hop IEEE802.11 Ad Hoc Networks

Support of real-time applications in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) is very challenging due to the dynamic characteristics of such networks. This paper studies the problem of voice application support in multi-hop IEEE802.11 ad hoc networks. We propose reactive-based and non-intrusive methods for calculating the quality of service (QoS) metrics of bandwidth, delay and packet loss that are important for voice support. Results from OPNET based simulations show that voice application can be supported in IEEE802.11 MANETs only under light traffic. When the network traffic is heavy, the calculated delay and packet loss become significantly high due to the hidden node problem, thus making it difficult to satisfy the voice delay and packet loss objectives in multi- hop IEEE802.11 MANETs.