OFDM Reference Design v14 - CSMA Benchmarks

Performance Tests

The tests below use the same payload, MAC and PHY parameters described in the Timing section of the CSMA application documentation.

Methodology: the tests below are conducted using two WARP Kits (SISO Kit v1), with radios connected via coax cables with 60dB series attenuation. The FPGA boards are each connected via Ethernet to a MacBook laptop. The setup is illustrated below.

Peak Throughput

This test measures the peak throughput between two PCs connected via the OFDM Reference Design's CSMA application. The PCs use the OFDM/CSMA link as a wired-wireless bridge, emulating a point-to-point Ethernet link.

We use ​iperf for throughput testing. One MacBook runs an iperf server, the other runs the iperf client, using one of the following calls:

#For UDP tests (transmit 20 Mbps traffic with full-length packets for 30 seconds):
iperf -u -c 10.0.0.1 -b 20M -l 1470 -t 30

#For TCP tests (transmit full-length packets for 30 seconds; TCP settles to its achievable throughput):
iperf -c 10.0.0.1 -l 1448 -t 30

Results:

Full Rate	TCP	UDP
QPSK	6.6 Mbps	8.4 Mbps
16-QAM	9.7 Mbps	13.1 Mbps