Measuring Wireless Links Capacity

Abstract Capacity of a link is a key metric for network d esig n and manag ement. S ev eral tools for capacity measu rement are present in th e literatu re and th ey prov id e satisfying resu lts wh en u sed ov er wired networks. T h eir performance ov er wireless links, h owev er, is not as g ood, alth ou g h th e tech niq u es th ey are b ased on sh ou ld not su ffer from ch ang es at ph ysical layer. T h is paper accou nts for a performance assessment of fou r tools for capacity measu rement, carried ou t ov er a wireless link located in a semi-anech oic ch amb er. T h e measu rement station is d esig ned to g u arantee ch annel stationarity and interference-free measu rement cond itions, and th e performance assessment takes ad v antag e of a proper reference v alu e for th e measu rand, wh ich is ob tained from ph ysical layer measu rements. T h e ex perimental analysis h ig h lig h ts th at th e performance of th e tools is strong ly d epend ent on th e ch aracteristics of th e network interface card s th at are u sed, wh ereas th e reference v alu e of capacity, measu red at ph ysical layer, d oes not actu ally ch ang e