An accurate power analysis model based on MAC layer for the DCF of 802.11n

The 802.11 wireless local area network technology is popular in power-sensitive devices such as smart phones and personal digital assistants. In this article, we present an accurate power consumption model based on the Bianchi model and power measurement in the physical layer to predict the power consumption of 802.11n and multipleinput- multiple-output mode of 802.11n. In this model, we calculate the total energy consumption by summing up several components: the idle listening energy consumed in the distributed inter-frame space period and backoff stages, the energy consumed in transmitting a frame, the idle listening energy consumed in the short inter-frame space turnaround time, the energy consumed in receiving an acknowledgment frame from the access point, and the energy consumed in collisions for one frame transmission. The probability of successful frame transmission and medium access control (MAC) efficiency of 802.11n are also analyzed as a function of the number of active stations and different choices of frame transmission probability by each active station. Finally, the impact of imperfect channels on energy consumption and MAC efficiency is explored. © 2013 The Chinese Institute of Engineers.