Simulation analysis of advanced infrared (Alr) MAC wireless communications protocol

The paper presents results from a simulation model of the IrDA advanced infrared (AIr) MAC protocol for nondirected multiple access infrared wireless communication. The MAC protocol is CSMA/CA based with robust RTS/CTS medium reservation which deals with ‘hidden nodes’. Throughput performance is analysed in relation to protocol parameter settings. In particular, the effect of the CAS (collision avoidance slot) window size parameter is examined in relation to the data burst size and network size. The effect of a proposed CAS window size dynamic adjustment algorithm is also examined. The results are validated by comparison with those from an analytical model.