Wi-Fi Performance Metrics for Different Applications using OPNET

Wi-Fi provides its users with the liberty of connecting to the Internet from any place without the hassles of plugging in the wires. It is quicker than the conventional modem for accessing information over a large network. This paper presents various performance metrics of WLAN in a simulated office environment for different applications namely FTP, email and web browsing using a Network Simulator Tool, OPNET. Multiple scenarios with varying number of workstations have been created with either one or two access point deployed to cater to the needs of these user workstations. From the simulation model suggested, we concentrate on our efforts to find out metrics namely network delay and throughput by varying numbers of user and data traffic. The results have been simulated by setting different parameters to optimize the performance of this Wi-Fi network. The simulation results show that IEEE 802.11b WLAN is scalable within the reasonable limits of number of users i.e. its performance for different applications like file transfer, email and web browsing doesn’t deteriorate even for increased number of users.