A rapid cooperation-differentiated medium access control protocol with packet piggyback for multihop wireless networks

作者：Li Yayan; Liu Kai^*; Liu Feng; Xu Zhen

来源：EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2013, 264.

DOI：10.1186/1687-1499-2013-264

• Multihop wireless networks
• Medium access control
• Cooperative communication
• Helper selection
• Priority differentiation
• Contention resolution
• Packet piggyback

To improve the efficiency of node cooperation and multiple access performance in multihop wireless networks, a rapid cooperation-differentiated medium access control (MAC) protocol is proposed. In the protocol, the helper selection process is divided into a priority differentiation phase and contention resolution phase for helpers with the same priority. A higher priority helper can choose an earlier minislot in the priority differentiation phase to send a busy tone. As a result, the protocol promptly selects all the highest priority helpers. The contention resolution phase for the same priority helpers can use any existing collision resolution scheme, such as the k-round elimination contention scheme. Helpers sending a busy tone first can proceed to the next round, while others, sensing the busy tone, subsequently withdraw from contention. Therefore, a unique optimal helper is selected from the highest priority helpers with high probability. A packet piggyback mechanism is also adopted, which allows a high data rate helper with its own data packets, to transmit these to their recipient without reservation. This significantly decreases the reservation overhead and effectively improves cooperation efficiency and channel utilization. Simulation results show that the maximum throughput of the proposed protocol is 39.6% and 9.6% higher than those of the cooperative MAC-aggregation (CoopMACA) and instantaneous relay-based cooperative MAC protocols, respectively, in a wireless local area network environment, and 40.8% and 31.9% higher, respectively, in an ad hoc network environment.

• 出版日期2013-11-13
• 单位北京航空航天大学