Delay analysis of the IEEE 802.11bd EDCA with repetitions

Abstract

We analyse the performance of the IEEE 802.11bd MAC protocol, with Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) and repeated transmissions, in terms of the MAC access delay of packets pertaining to safety-related events. We outline Markov chain models for the contention mechanism of priority-based access categories, and derive the associated steady-state probabilities. Using these probabilities, we characterise the delay experienced by the packet in the MAC layer. Further, we characterise the reliability of the protocol in terms of the likelihood that a packet is delivered within a critical time interval. Numerical computations are conducted to understand the impact of various system parameters on the MAC access delay. The analysis indicates that the MAC access delay depends on various system parameters, some of which are influenced by the traffic scenario and nature of safety-critical events. Motivated by this, we used our analysis to study the delay and reliability of the 802.11bd MAC protocol specific to the context of platooning of connected vehicles subject to interruptions by human-driven motorised two wheelers. We observe that while the delay performance of the protocol is as per the QoS requirements of the standard, the protocol may not be reliable for this specific application. Our study suggests that it is desirable to co-design vehicular communication protocols with prevalent safety-related traffic applications.