A Measurement-Based Traffic-Aware Extension of the ns-3 Wi-Fi Energy Model for Modern IEEE 802.11 Devices

Abstract

Energy efficiency has become a key challenge in modern IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi systems, making accurate energy modeling is essential for realistic network simulation and evaluation. This paper revisits the ns-3 Wi-Fi energy model using high-resolution current measurements collected from IEEE 802.11ac/ax devices. Experimental analysis under different traffic conditions shows that the classical constant per-state abstraction used in ns-3, originally derived from legacy hardware, does not fully capture the behavior of recent Wi-Fi devices. Based on these observations, we introduce updated measurement-based current mappings and propose a traffic-aware refinement that distinguishes between data and control/management activities. The proposed enhancement preserves the original ns-3 PHY state abstraction while better reflecting experimentally observed current variations in modern Wi-Fi operation. Validation results show close match between simulations and measurements, demonstrating improved fidelity compared to the default ns-3 energy model.