Analytical Modeling of Wireless Communication Systems

Introduction

Wireless networks represent an inexpensive and convenient way to connect to the Internet. In recent years, they have experienced an exponential growth and several technologies have been developed to meet different application requirements, in terms of data rate, spatial coverage, energy consumption, latency and mobility support. Examples abound for bluetooth and the standard technology for sensors offer low bit rate and short-range communication for mostly stationary nodes, while WiFi and cellular networks such as long-term evolution (LTE) provide wider coverage, much higher throughput and a certain level of support to user mobility.

One of the most challenging issues in wireless networks, however, is the ability to understand their behavior and assess their performance in large-scale scenarios, i.e. when a large number of network nodes need to interact. In these cases, the deployment of real systems for testing purposes is not an option, and even emulations or simulations may be impractical due to the high system complexity. Analytical models therefore represent the only way out. Developing suitable theoretical models is however a hard task, as the size of the scenario and the number of nodes and users often deny to provide an accurate representation. The examples in this book highlight the use of different techniques able to overcome such a problem. Furthermore, an intensive parameter analysis shows how to the exploit analytical models for the effective development ...