Evaluating the impact of RTS-CTS in OLPC's XOs' Mesh Networks

Leonardo Hideki, Raphael Martins, Arthur Guerrante, Ricardo Carrano, Luiz Magalhaes

DOI: 10.14209/sbrt.2007.31349

Evento: XXV Simpósio Brasileiro de Telecomunicações (SBrT2007)

Keywords: Wireless mesh networks CSMA RTSCTS OLPC

Abstract

RTS-CTS is a mechanism used to solve the hidden node and exposed node problems in a wireless environment. However, it has been shown by analysis and simulations that in general in a multiple hop network RTS-CTS is not always beneficial, and can, in fact, hurt throughput. In this paper, we measure the performance of a layer-2 mesh network implementation with and without the RTS-CTS mechanism. The test results shown in this paper were obtained through experiments performed using OLPC's XOs laptops. The mesh network plays a vital part in OLPC’s project, both by allowing easy collaboration within a school with no further infra-structure and also by potentially being a tool for digital inclusion by extending Internet connectivity to students’ homes by multi-hop paths. The main contribution of this paper is the use of actual hardware for experiments, since the majority of the research done is based on simulations, which may not account for all effects seen on the experiments.

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