PERFORMANCE STUDY OF AD HOC WIRELESS LAN FOR MULTIMEDIA STREAMING APPLICATIONS

Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) provides high-speed and cable-free access for
computer-to-computer information transfer within the coverage range. The optional
feature of WLAN is ad hoc, which allows the network to be formed and deformed
without the need of system administration or access point. Multimedia streaming through
WLAN allows users to download and play a small chunk of the multimedia file
simultaneously. An ad hoc base wireless network is used in this project rather than
infrastructure base due to the simpler architecture, cheaper set up cost of ad hoc network
and no system administrator required. Unlike file sharing, streaming will not download
the whole file. Streaming can be used for multimedia distribution without users having
the illegal copies of the file. In this project, a multimedia file is to be streamed, but not
downloaded, through the WLAN without passing through any access point. The host
computer broadcast the multimedia file using "media server configurator" while the
client computer streamed from the host computer using "streaming media player". Multihop
streaming allows a node that is totally out of the coverage range to stream from the
host computer, using the bridge as a passage. The streaming of the multimedia file is
seamless and smooth within the ad hoc network. A node that is out of the coverage range
can stream from the host computer by using the multi-hop concept although the distance
between the host and the client does affect the performance. In multi-hop wireless
network, the streaming process is at its best when the bridge is about 3 meters away from
the receiving node.