Performance analysis of 802.11n wireless LAN in different environments

RESEARCH QUESTIONS: How does 802.11n wireless network perform when applications are running individually and simultaneously? What is the performance of 802.11n wireless network, while using different IP versions? What is the performance of 802.11n wireless network, under different operating system environments? This study was aimed to analyse the network performance of IEEE 802.11n while running different applications on different operating systems using different IP versions. Applications included FTP downloading, streaming video, VoIP and VVoIP. The operating systems used were: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Ubuntu 11.10. For the experiment, a wireless LAN was built that included two PCs and one AP. Experiment included 6 tests: standard (running only testing tools), FTP downloading, streaming video, both FTP downloading and streaming video (running simultaneously), VoIP and VVoIP. Both FTP downloading and streaming video were the only tests running multiple applications. This study was aimed to analyse the network performance of IEEE 802.11n while running different applications on different operating systems using different IP versions. Applications included FTP downloading, streaming video, VoIP and VVoIP. The operating systems used were: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Ubuntu 11.10. For the experiment, a wireless LAN was built that included two PCs and one AP. Experiment included 6 tests: standard (running only testing tools), FTP downloading, streaming video, both FTP downloading and streaming video (running simultaneously), VoIP and VVoIP. Both FTP downloading and streaming video were the only tests running multiple applications. Test results indicated that when running multiple applications, network performance was worse than applications running separately. Application hat used a lot of network resources like FTP downloading significantly lowered the network performance on delay and jitter. The findings revealed that OS had great influence on network performance. Among the 3Oss used, Windows 7 performed best and Ubuntu 11.10 performed worst. IP versions did not show better or worse performance than each other. However, the performance was different between IPv4 and IPv6 depending upon the particular application and the OS used