Analysis of User Behavior and Traffic Pattern in a Large-Scale 802.11a/b Network

Today, IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN)-based networks are typically used at large-scale conferences or meetings. The 59 IETF standard meeting was held in Seoul, February/March 2004. During the meeting, an 802.11a/b dual-mode WLAN network was provided for participants, and we measured users’ usage logs via Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and System Logs (SYSLOGs). This measurement covers 1293 users and 32 APs for 5 days. In this paper, we analyze the network statistics and user behaviors from the measurement results. One major distinction of this work from other existing literature is that we consider colocated 802.11a and 11b networks, and evaluate their network characteristics in a comparative manner. We find that (a) user arrival and traffic patterns highly depend on the meeting schedule, specially in case of APs located in meeting rooms, (b) 11a traffic per user is more intensive than 11b traffic, (c) sojourn time spending with a single AP is similar between 11a and 11b, but 11b client hands off more frequently, and (d) the 11a hand-offs occur only between relatively closer APs compared to the 11b’s case. The measurement analysis in this paper should be useful for designing and deploying large-scale conference-style WLAN networks, especially, using 802.11a/b dual-mode APs.