Cheating on the CW and RTS/CTS mechanisms in single-hop IEEE 802.11e networks

Abstract

This paper presents a work in progress which deals with the problem of node misbehaviour in ad-hoc networks. A realistic approach is used to determine the impact of contention window manipulation and RTS/CTS cheating. It is explained why IEEE 802.11e ad-hoc networks are more prone to misbehaviour. The paper presents simulation results related to the mentioned types of misbehaviour. The analysis is performed for several distinct scenarios, which yields novel results. It is shown under which conditions a misbehaving node can gain a significant advantage over well-behaving nodes. The limitations of the IEEE 802.11e standard in providing QoS in the presence of misbehaving nodes is also presented. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.