Evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of compression and decompression of IP packets in a wireless local area network (WLAN).
Date
2022
Authors
Sentala, Bernard
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
In general, the study focuses on Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Compression and Decompression of IP Packets in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). IP Packet Compression is the process of reducing the packet size before transmitting data in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). WLAN has problems that include network delays, buffer requirements, bandwidth, and network congestion. The goal of the study was to design and develop a model that would help test the effectiveness and efficiency of Compression of IP Packets in a WLAN during transmission. The key specific objectives were; i) to assess the Effectiveness and Efficiency of the Per-Interface Compression during IP Packet transmission in a WLAN, ii) to analyze the Effects of TCP/IP Header Compression during IP Packet transmission in a WLAN, and iii) to evaluate the Effects of Per-Virtual Circuit Compression during IP Packet transmission in a WLAN. The OPNET simulation software tool was used to simulate the four (4) IP Packet Compression schemes namely: None-no compression, Per-Interface compression, TCP/IP Header compression, and Per-Virtual Circuit compression. Following a series of OPNET simulation scenarios, the study revealed that among all the compression schemes, Per-Interface Compression had the lowest performance indicator for throughput (432,925 bits/sec), Data dropped (717,855,026.7 bits/sec) and Network Load (4,703,848.75 bits/sec). Whereas TCP/IP Header Compression had higher performance indicator for Traffic Sent (121,777,920 bytes/sec) and lowest performance indicator for Delay (0.622,575,955 seconds). This was determined using performance metrics for a particular situation, that include Throughput, Data Dropped, Delay, Network Load, Traffic Sent, and Media Access Delay. Per-Virtual Circuit Compression had performance indicators for throughput (1,873,536 bits/sec), Data dropped (534,815,948.2 bits/sec), Network Load (7102256 bits/sec), Traffic Sent (76,137,600 bytes/sec), Delay (4.171,825,058 seconds), and Media Access Delay (1.716,923,736 seconds). The scheme trailed behind Per-Interface and TCP/IP Header Compression schemes. The None-no compression scheme was merely utilized for comparison reasons. The Per-Interface Compression technique had the best performance and QoS in a WLAN. Finally, the study's recommendations include: Users that set-up Per-Interface Compression should simulate or test how their network could function under different scenarios using their preferred settings and conditions. When the header size is bigger than the payload, users should use the TCP/IP Header Compression, and when the header size is smaller than the payload, users should use the Per-Virtual Circuit Compression scheme. The researcher believes that the findings will help other researchers and ICT professionals improve network performance and quality of service by varying compression schemes dependent on the kind of network platform.
Keywords: Data Compression, OPNET, WLAN, Effectiveness, Efficiency, performance and Quality of Service (QoS).
Description
Master of Engineering in ICT in the School of Engineering.
Keywords
Data compression. , Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). , Performance and Quality of Service (QoS). , OPNET.