Payload Length and Rate Adaptation for Throughput Optimization in Wireless LANs

Wireless local area networks offer a range of transmitted data rates that are to be selected according to estimated channel conditions. However, due to packet overheads and contention times introduced by the CSMA/CA multiple access protocol, effective throughput is much less than the transmitted bit rates. Furthermore, if there is even a single bit error in the packet, the entire packet is discarded and the packet is retransmitted. This causes the effective throughput to be a function of the packet payload length. We provide a theoretical framework to optimize single-user throughput by selecting the transmitted bit rate and payload size as a function of channel conditions for both additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and Nakagami-m fading channels. Numerical results reveal that careful payload adaptation significantly improves the throughput performance at low signal to noise ratios (SNRs) while at higher SNRs, rate adaptation with higher payload lengths provides better performance. We compare the range of SNRs over which payload length adaptation is crucial for AWGN and different fading channels based on the m-parameter of Nakagami fading realization. We then specify SNR values for switching between transmitted bit rates and payload lengths such that the effective throughput is maximized