Linux Wireless Networking

By Sreekrishnan Venkateswaran
2005-05-04

Performance Issues

Network performance depends on the characteristics of the particular bearer network. GPRS bandwidth, for example, depends on the coding schema used, while Bluetooth performance is affected by segmentation at the L2CAP layer. For communication between a WLAN station and an access point, frame acknowledgments decrease the bandwidth, as do the number of other stations using the same access point.

Characteristics of wireless networks like low and fluctuating bandwidth and high latencies skew TCP's measurement and transmission strategies. Even though most losses in wireless networks stem from factors like signal fading, interference, and link blackouts, TCP assumes the losses to be related to congestion, so it kicks in algorithms that slow down network traffic. There are various projects that tune TCP and Web browser behavior to suit wireless networks.

Tutorial Pages:
» A Look at WLAN, Bluetooth, GPRS, GSM, and Infrared Data on Linux
» Linux 802.11 WLAN
» Linux Bluetooth
» Linux GPRS and Data over GSM
» Linux Infrared Data
» Performance Issues
» Conclusion
» Resources

First published by IBM DeveloperWorks

Related Tutorials:
» Secrets of the Wireless Elite: Alexei Polyakov
» A New Strategy of Language Pack Management for Wireless Apps
» Open Source Wireless Tools Emerge
» Getting Practical About Wireless Security, Part 1: Building a Wireless Sniffer with Perl
» Challenges and Opportunities in Mobile Games
» Running Linux on an iPAQ