A survey, classification and comparative analysis of medium access control protocols for ad hoc networks

Recent technological advances in wireless communications offer new opportunities and challenges for wireless ad hoc networking. In the absence of the fixed infrastructure that characterizes traditional wireless networks, control and management of wireless ad hoc networks must be distributed across the nodes, thus requiring carefully designed medium access control (MAC) layer protocols. In this article we survey, classify, and analyze 34 MAC layer protocols for wireless ad hoc networks, ranging from industry standards to research proposals. Through this analysis, six key features emerge: (1) channel separation and access; (2) topology; (3) power; (4) transmission initiation; (5) traffic load and scalability; and (6) range. These features allow us to characterize and classify the protocols, to analyze the tradeoffs produced by different design decisions, and to assess the suitability of various design combinations for ad hoc network applications. The classification and the tradeoff analysis yield design guidelines for future wireless ad hoc network MAC layer protocols.

[1]  Jun Zhuang,et al.  A multichannel CSMA MAC protocol for multihop wireless networks , 1999, WCNC. 1999 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (Cat. No.99TH8466).

[2]  Ajay Chandra V. Gummalla,et al.  Wireless medium access control protocols , 2000, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[3]  Yu-Chee Tseng,et al.  A Multi-channel MAC Protocol with Power Control for Multi-hop Mobile Ad Hoc Networks , 2002, Comput. J..

[4]  A. M. Abdullah,et al.  Wireless lan medium access control (mac) and physical layer (phy) specifications , 1997 .

[5]  S. Stroh,et al.  Wideband: multimedia unplugged , 2003 .

[6]  James H. Aylor,et al.  Computer for the 21st Century , 1999, Computer.

[7]  Vaduvur Bharghavan,et al.  MACAW: a media access protocol for wireless LAN's , 1994, SIGCOMM 1994.

[8]  L. Kleinrock,et al.  Packet Switching in Radio Channels: Part I - Carrier Sense Multiple-Access Modes and Their Throughput-Delay Characteristics , 1975, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[9]  Mahmoud Naghshineh,et al.  Conserving transmission power in wireless ad hoc networks , 2001, Proceedings Ninth International Conference on Network Protocols. ICNP 2001.

[10]  Pierre Baldi,et al.  Modeling and optimization of UWB communication networks through a flexible cost function , 2002, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun..

[11]  Dharma P. Agrawal,et al.  A novel MAC layer protocol for space division multiple access in wireless ad hoc networks , 2002, Proceedings. Eleventh International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks.

[12]  J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves,et al.  A channel-hopping protocol for ad-hoc networks , 2000, Proceedings Ninth International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (Cat.No.00EX440).

[13]  Jeff Foerster,et al.  Ultra-Wideband Technology for Short- or Medium-Range Wireless Communications , 2001 .

[14]  J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves,et al.  Floor acquisition multiple access (FAMA) for packet-radio networks , 1995, SIGCOMM '95.

[15]  Sajal K. Das,et al.  WCA: A Weighted Clustering Algorithm for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks , 2002, Cluster Computing.

[16]  Chenxi Zhu,et al.  A Five-Phase Reservation Protocol (FPRP) for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks , 2001, Wirel. Networks.

[17]  P. Karn,et al.  MACA - A new channel access protocol for packet radio , 1990 .

[18]  Nj Piscataway,et al.  Wireless LAN medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications , 1996 .

[19]  Nitin H. Vaidya,et al.  A Power Control MAC Protocol for Ad Hoc Networks , 2005, Wirel. Networks.

[20]  Moe Z. Win,et al.  Impulse radio: how it works , 1998, IEEE Communications Letters.

[21]  I. Chlamtac,et al.  ADAPT: a dynamically self-adjusting media access control protocol for ad hoc-networks , 1999, Seamless Interconnection for Universal Services. Global Telecommunications Conference. GLOBECOM'99. (Cat. No.99CH37042).

[22]  Malcolm J. Crocker,et al.  Handbook of Acoustics , 1998 .

[23]  L. Kleinrock,et al.  Packet Switching in Radio Channels : Part Il-The Hidden Terminal Problem in Carrier Sense Multiple-Access and the Busy-Tone Solution , 2022 .

[24]  J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves,et al.  A protocol for topology-dependent transmission scheduling in wireless networks , 1999, WCNC. 1999 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (Cat. No.99TH8466).

[25]  Jing Deng,et al.  Dual busy tone multiple access (DBTMA)-a multiple access control scheme for ad hoc networks , 2002, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[26]  Cristina V. Lopes,et al.  Acoustic Modems for Ubiquitous Computing , 2003, IEEE Pervasive Comput..

[27]  J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves,et al.  Reversing the collision-avoidance handshake in wireless networks , 1999, MobiCom.

[28]  J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves,et al.  Hop reservation multiple access (HRMA) for multichannel packet radio networks , 1998, Proceedings 7th International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (Cat. No.98EX226).

[29]  Jung-Won Kim,et al.  Power-efficient MAC scheme using channel probing in multirate wireless ad hoc networks , 2002, Proceedings IEEE 56th Vehicular Technology Conference.

[30]  Bhaskar Ramamurthi,et al.  Packet reservation multiple access for local wireless communications , 1989, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[31]  Luigi Fratta,et al.  MACA-BI (MACA By Invitation)-a receiver oriented access protocol for wireless multihop networks , 1997, Proceedings of 8th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications - PIMRC '97.

[32]  Chung Gu Kang,et al.  Soft reservation multiple access with priority assignment (SRMA/PA): a novel MAC protocol for QoS-guaranteed integrated services in mobile ad-hoc networks , 2000, Vehicular Technology Conference Fall 2000. IEEE VTS Fall VTC2000. 52nd Vehicular Technology Conference (Cat. No.00CH37152).

[33]  Suresh Singh,et al.  Power efficient MAC protocol for multihop radio networks , 1998, Ninth IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (Cat. No.98TH8361).

[34]  Yu-Chee Tseng,et al.  Dynamic channel allocation with location awareness for multi-hop mobile ad hoc networks , 2002, Comput. Commun..

[35]  Hossam S. Hassanein,et al.  Virtual base stations for wireless mobile ad hoc communications: an infrastructure for the infrastructure‐less , 2001, Int. J. Commun. Syst..

[36]  Walter Hirt,et al.  Composite Reconfigurable Wireless Networks: the Eu R&d Path towards 4g , 2022 .

[37]  Dong-Ho Cho,et al.  A MAC algorithm for energy-limited ad-hoc networks , 2000, Vehicular Technology Conference Fall 2000. IEEE VTS Fall VTC2000. 52nd Vehicular Technology Conference (Cat. No.00CH37152).

[38]  Adarshpal S. Sethi,et al.  Fully distributed wireless MAC transmission of real-time data , 1998, Proceedings. Fourth IEEE Real-Time Technology and Applications Symposium (Cat. No.98TB100245).

[39]  Srikanth V. Krishnamurthy,et al.  Distributed power control in ad-hoc wireless networks , 2001, 12th IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications. PIMRC 2001. Proceedings (Cat. No.01TH8598).

[40]  V. Bharghavan.  MACAW : A Media Protocol for Wireless LAN's , 1994, SIGCOMM 1994.

[41]  Vasos Vassiliou,et al.  MARCH: a medium access control protocol for multihop wireless ad hoc networks , 2000, MILCOM 2000 Proceedings. 21st Century Military Communications. Architectures and Technologies for Information Superiority (Cat. No.00CH37155).

[42]  Nitin H. Vaidya,et al.  Using directional antennas for medium access control in ad hoc networks , 2002, MobiCom '02.

[43]  Adam Wolisz,et al.  A study of the energy saving and capacity improvement potential of power control in multi-hop wireless networks , 2001, Proceedings LCN 2001. 26th Annual IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks.

[44]  Marco Conti,et al.  A distributed contention control mechanism for power saving in random-access ad-hoc wireless local area networks , 1999, 1999 IEEE International Workshop on Mobile Multimedia Communications (MoMuC'99) (Cat. No.99EX384).

[45]  Nonmembers,et al.  PAPER Special Issue on Multiple Access and Signal Transmission Techniques for Future Mobile Communications Soft Reservation Multiple Access with Priority Assignment (SRMA/PA): A Distributed MAC Protocol for QoS-Guaranteed Integrated Services in Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks , 2003 .

[46]  Shengming Jiang,et al.  A simple distributed PRMA for MANETs , 2002, IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol..

[47]  Dong-Ho Cho,et al.  Multi-code MAC for multi-hop wireless ad hoc networks , 2002, Proceedings IEEE 56th Vehicular Technology Conference.