On the Processor Sharing of File Transfers in Wireless LANs

The authors study the performance of FTP file transfers over a WLAN and propose a new analytic model that translates the highly complex dynamics of the FTP/TCP/IP/MAC-stack, and their interactions, into a single parameter, called the effective load, and use this to describe the flow-level behavior of FTP-based file transfers over WLANs without admission control as an M/G/1 Processor-Sharing (PS)-model. This model is validated by comparing the model-based response times against simulations. Wireless LANs (WLANs) are widely deployed to provide users with wireless access to private or public data networks.