Optimal contention window size for IEEE 802.15.3c mmWave WPANs

The millimeter-wave (mmWave) band offers the potential for multi-gigabit indoor Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). However, it has problems such as short communication coverage due to high propagation losses. In order to compensate for this drawback, utilization of directional antennas at the physical layer is highly recommended. In this paper, we consider the adequate contention window (CW) size for directional carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA). To find the optimal CW size that enhances the performance of conventional directional CSMA/CA, we propose an enhanced directional CSMA/CA algorithm. The algorithm is considered in IEEE 802.15.3c, a standard for mmWave WPANs, under saturation environments. For the algorithm, we present a Markov chain model and analyze it for the no-ACK mode. The effects of directional antennas and the features of IEEE 802.15.3c Medium Access Control (MAC) such as backoff counter freezing are considered in the model. The optimal CW sizes for the two different objective functions are derived from the numerical results. The numerical results also show that the system throughput and average transmission delay of the proposed algorithm outperform those of conventional one and the overall analysis is verified by simulation. The obtained results provide the criterion for selecting the optimal parameters and developing a MAC protocol that enhances the performance of mmWave WPANs.