Improving WLAN performance by modifying an IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol

One of the limitations of the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) protocol is its low bandwidth utilization under medium-to-high traffic loads resulting in low throughput and high packet delay. To overcome performance problems, traditional IEEE 802.11 DCF (“DCF”) protocol is modified to the buffer unit multiple access (BUMA) protocol. The BUMA protocol achieves a better system performance by introducing a temporary buffer unit at the medium access control (MAC) layer to accumulate multiple packets and combine them into a single packet (with a header and a trailer) before transmission. This paper provides an in-depth performance evaluation (by simulation) of BUMA for multiuser ad hoc and infrastructure networks. Results obtained show that the BUMA is more efficient than that of DCF. The BUMA protocol is simple and its algorithm (software) can be upgraded to 802.11 networks requiring no hardware changes. The BUMA protocol is described and simulation results are presented to verify the performance