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Performance Comparison of IEEE 802.11ax, 802.11ac and 802.11n Using Network Simulator NS3

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Computing Science, Communication and Security (COMS2 2023)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1861))

Abstract

Wireless protocols are upgrading very rapidly. The current market scenario usually uses three wireless protocols namely 802.11ax, 802.11ac, and 802.11n. IEEE 802.11ax, a sixth-generation protocol popularly known as HE (High Efficiency) is said to have achieved 30% higher performance in terms of throughput than older protocol 802.11ac known as VHT (very high throughput). In this paper, performance evaluation of different wireless protocols namely 802.11ax, 802.11ac, and 802.11n operating on frequency bands of 2.4 and 5 GHz. The throughput of all three protocols is calculated on MCS-0 to 11 (Modulation and Coding Scheme) with a common channel width of 20, 40, and 80 MHz. Bandwidth of 160 MHz is not considered in the evaluation. Though it can achieve more throughput because, in practical urban scenarios, it is rarely used. Bandwidth sharing for all three protocols is also simulated and analyzed. For simulation, open-source Network Simulator NS3 is used which takes lesser time to set up the network, provides a precise level of simulation for wireless networks, and minutely mimics real-world wireless networks scenarios. Simulations show that for a single antenna of 5 GHz band at 80 MHz bandwidth 802.11ax achieved 18% higher throughput, whereas at 20 MHz bandwidth, it shows 50% improvement compared to 802.11ac. Further, it is seen that 802.11ax can achieve two times faster throughput than 802.11n at 20MHz bandwidth in the 5 GHz band with a single Antenna.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 382470, India

    Manav Chotalia & Sachin Gajjar

Authors
  1. Manav Chotalia
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  2. Sachin Gajjar
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Correspondence to Manav Chotalia or Sachin Gajjar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ganpat University, Mehsana, India

    Nirbhay Chaubey

  2. Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology, Trivandrum, India

    Sabu M. Thampi

  3. Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia

    Noor Zaman Jhanjhi

  4. Ganpat University, Mehsana, India

    Satyen Parikh

  5. Ganpat University, Mehsana, India

    Kiran Amin

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Chotalia, M., Gajjar, S. (2023). Performance Comparison of IEEE 802.11ax, 802.11ac and 802.11n Using Network Simulator NS3. In: Chaubey, N., Thampi, S.M., Jhanjhi, N.Z., Parikh, S., Amin, K. (eds) Computing Science, Communication and Security. COMS2 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1861. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40564-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40564-8_14

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-40563-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-40564-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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