B. Throughput Analysis for Multi-Hop Network without RTS/CTS
In wireless multi-hop networks, it is important to obtain analytical expressions of the maximum throughput as a function
of the network topology and traffic flows in a quantitative manner.
Recently, quantitative throughput analyses have been conducted for wireless multi-hop networks[4]-[8]. In [4]-[6], quantitative throughput analyses in string multi-hop networks with a one-way flow were carried out. In addition, quantitative analyses with a two-way flow were carried out in [6] and [8].
In order to obtain the maximum throughput, [4]-[6] had to consider only the maximum throughput of certain nodes.
These nodes are defined as bottleneck nodes. It was assumed in [4]-[6] that the maximum throughput of the network is obtained when bottleneck nodes achieve the highest throughput.
This is because if the offered load is lower than the maximum throughput of the bottleneck nodes, then the other nodes can
transmit all of the frames.
These studies revealed that analysis of the maximum throughput can yield important and fundamental information regarding improvements in throughput.
These analyses were conducted for wireless multi-hop networks without RTS/CTS.
However, the conventional approach cannot be applied directly to the analysis of a wireless multihop network with RTS/CTS. This is because the process of the collision-avoidance mechanism with RTS/CTS is different from that without RTS/CTS.