Investigate Performance of 802.11b and 802.11g Standards with DSR Protocol using OPNET

ABSTRACT: MANETs stands for mobile ad-hoc networks. They are a collection of mobile devices that do not require any infrastructure or centralized control. Additionally, they do not contain any central coordinator like a router or an access point. This network has a lot of features that are different from other networks such as ease of movement between networks and the ability of mobile devices to leave the network. Because, there is no router in this network, the routing process is done by the nodes themselves. There are more than one routing protocols proposed for this network, each working under different strategies. A routing protocol is used to discover routes between stations. It plays an important role for the overall performance of MANETs. MANET routing protocols include Optimized Link State Routing protocol (OLSR), Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV), Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), and Temporary Ordered Routing algorithm (TORA). A good understanding of the effect of each of these routing protocols on a typical IEEE 802.11 network will cater for an efficient design and deployment of an appropriate MANETs. In this thesis, we used an FTP application to investigate and analyze the performance of wireless standards 802.11b and 802.11g with the different data rates. The routing protocol that is used is a dynamic source routing protocol. The performance metrics used are number of hops per route, media access delay, retransmission attempts, download response time, upload response time and throughput. OPNET version 17.1 is used as a simulation tool to model and simulate ad-hoc network. The simulation results conclude that the average media access delay of 802.11g is decreased when the data rate is increasing. The throughput of 802.11g standard is increasing when the data rate is increased. Additionally, the throughput of 802.11g is greater compared with 802.11b when they are used with the same data rate. Data traffic ratio of 802.11g standard is increased with increasing data rate. Keywords: Mobile ad-hoc Network, Wireless Standards, DSR, FTP, OPNET Simulator. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………