Congestion-aware MAC Layer Adaptation to Improve Video Teleconferencing over Wi-Fi

In wireless networks such as those based on IEEE 802.11, packet losses due to fading and interference are often misinterpreted as indications of congestion, causing unnecessary decrease in the data sending rate due to congestion control at higher layer protocols. For delay-constrained applications such as video teleconferencing, packet losses may result in excessive artifacts or freeze in the decoded video. This research paper proposes a simple and yet effective mechanism to detect and reduce channel-caused packet losses by adjusting the retry limit parameter of the IEEE 802.11 protocol.