Packet delay analysis in wireless multi-channel networks: A network calculus perspective

In this work, we propose a stochastic network calculus based approach to study the packet delay in a multichannel network comprising one control channel and multiple parallel data channels. A node should compete with other nodes on the control channel before it is allowed to transmit packets on the data channels. The packet delay is the sum of packet (or node) competition delay, queueing delay and transmission delay. We derive an upper bound of the CCDF (complementary cumulative distribution function) of the packet delay, which is also called the probabilistic delay bound, in a general multi-channel network where not only the stochastic traffic can be any type, but also the above three types of delay can either be independent or correlated. Moreover, for further understanding and applying the proposed approach, we also employed Poisson traffic as a specific case to investigate the impact factors on the packet delay through traffic characteristics and network configurations.