This paper introduces a protocol that distributively constructs a collision-free schedule for multi-hop packet radio networks in the presence of hidden terminals. As a preliminary step, each wireless station computes the schedule length after gathering information about the number of flows in its neighbourhood. Then, a combination of deterministic and random backoffs are used to reach a collision-free schedule. A deterministic backoff is used after successful transmissions and a random backoff is used otherwise. It is explained that the short acknowledgement control packets can easily result in channel time fragmentation and, to avoid this, the use of link layer delayed acknowledgements is advocated and implemented. The performance results show that a collision-free protocol easily outperforms a collision-prone protocol such as Aloha. The time that is required for the network to converge to a collision-free schedule is assessed by means of simulation.
Our goal is that the different stations of the network settle down in a satisfactory transmission schedule that efficiently uses the radio resources. In @cite_0 the problem is treated from a theoretical perspective in which the network topology is known and the schedule can be constructed in a centralized way. An interesting alternative is considered in @cite_6 were contention MAC protocols are proposed in which the stations learn from their neighbourhood. These two works rely on a slotted channel access, which means that neighbouring stations need to have closely synchronized clocks. The problem of gradient clock synchronization is treated in @cite_20 .
@cite_0 @cite_20 @cite_6
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Aggregate traffic loads and topology in multihop wireless networks may vary slowly, permitting MAC protocols to "learn" how to spatially coordinate and adapt contention patterns. Such an approach could reduce contention, leading to better throughput. To that end, we propose a family of MAC scheduling algorithms and demonstrate general conditions, which, if satisfied, ensure lattice rate optimality (i.e., achieving any rate-point on a uniform discrete lattice within the throughput region). This general framework enables the design of MAC protocols that meet various objectives and conditions. In this paper, as instances of such a lattice-rate-optimal family, we propose distributed, synchronous contention-based scheduling algorithms that: 1) are lattice-rate-optimal under both the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR)-based and graph-based interference models; 2) do not require node location information; and 3) only require three-stage RTS CTS message exchanges for contention signaling. Thus, the protocols are amenable to simple implementation and may be robust to network dynamics such as topology and load changes. Finally, we propose a heuristic, which also belongs to the proposed lattice-rate-optimal family of protocols and achieves faster convergence, leading to a better transient throughput. We consider synchronization techniques required to enhance the cellular network capacity using base station cooperation. In the physical layer, local oscillators are disciplined by the global positioning system (GPS) and over the backbone network for outdoor and indoor base stations, respectively. In the medium access control (MAC) layer, the data flow can be synchronized by two approaches. The first approach uses so-called time stamps. The data flow through the user plane and through copies of it in each cooperative base station is synchronized using a timing protocol on the interconnects between the base stations. The second approach adds mapping information to the data after the user plane processing is almost finalized. Each forward-error encoded transport block, its modulation and coding scheme and the resources where it will be transmitted are multicast over the interconnect network. Interconnect latency is reduced below 1 ms to enable coherent interference reduction for mobile radio channels. A comprehensive study of the problem of scheduling broadcast transmissions in a multihop, mobile packet radio network is provided that is based on throughput optimization subject to freedom from interference. It is shown that the problem is NP complete. A centralized algorithm that runs in polynomial time and results in efficient (maximal) schedules is proposed. A distributed algorithm that achieves the same schedules is then proposed. The algorithm results in a maximal broadcasting zone in every slot. > Summary One critical issue in multihop ad-hoc networks is the medium access control (MAC). The IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol is originally designed for fully connected, one-hop ad-hoc networks but not for multihop ad-hoc networks. In addition to the well known hidden-terminal problem, we found that IEEE 802.11 also suffers from an erroneous reservation problem which occurs when RTS-CTS exchange fails but the channel is incorrectly reserved. In this paper, we propose a jamming-based MAC (JMAC) protocol that is not only free from both the hiddenterminal and the erroneous reservation problems but also allows more concurrent transmission receipt activities for stations within each other’s transmission range. The idea behind the JMAC is to separate source stations’ traffic from destination stations’ traffic into different channels (i.e. dividing the shared medium into two channels), and explicitly signal the channel status by jamming the channels. Simulation results show that although the channel division incurs some cost, the advantages of being free from the erroneous reservation and the hidden-terminal problems, and the benefits of more concurrent transmissions will compensate the cost and provide higher channel utilization when data frame size is median or large. Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.