Doubling Capacities by a Link-directionality-based Dual Channel MAC Protocol for IEEE 802.11 Ad-hoc Networks

In this paper, we propose a link-directionality-based dual channel MAC protocol in an attempt to double the capacities of networks using the single-channel IEEE 802.11 protocol. When an IEEE 802.11 ad-hoc network achieves capacity C by using a single channel, the targeted capacity by using two chann...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ng, P, Edwards, D, Liew, S, IEEE
Format: Conference item
Published: 2006
Description
Summary:In this paper, we propose a link-directionality-based dual channel MAC protocol in an attempt to double the capacities of networks using the single-channel IEEE 802.11 protocol. When an IEEE 802.11 ad-hoc network achieves capacity C by using a single channel, the targeted capacity by using two channels should be 2 · C. However, most of the multichannel 802.11 protocols proposed in the literature only appear to be able to achieve less than 60% of the 2 · C targeted capacity. Simulations show that our proposed scheme can achieve more than 106% of our targeted capacities, 1.06* 2 · C = 2.12 · C. We believe this is a first paper in the literature to propose a MAC protocol to transmit RTS/DATA and CTS/ACK of a link on different channels, a key step that yields significant potential for multiplying the network capacities of ad-hoc networks. © 2006 IEEE.