  In this paper, we consider the problem of modelling the average delay
experienced by an application packets of variable length in a single cell IEEE
802.11 DCF wireless local area network. The packet arrival process at each node
i is assumed to be a stationary and independent increment random process with
mean ai and second moment a(2) i . The packet lengths at node i are assumed to
be i.i.d random variables Pi with finite mean and second moment. A closed form
expression has been derived for the same. We assume the input arrival process
across queues to be uncorrelated Poison processes. As the nodes share a single
channel, they have to contend with one another for a successful transmission.
The mean delay for a packet has been approximated by modelling the system as a
1-limited Random Polling system with zero switchover times. Extensive
simulations are conducted to verify the analytical results.
