Enhanced multimedia and real-time stream throughput in wireless ad-hoc LAN using distributed virtual channel based MAC

Abstract

Recent and upcoming CSMA/CA based MAC protocols for wireless LANs offer block-acknowledgement or aggregated frame exchange in order to provide high data rate for multimedia and real-time data, while all of them avoid collisions by exclusive use of wireless medium that block neighboring nodes of both sender and receiver from participating in concurrent transmission; and thus downgrade medium utilization and overall throughput. In this work, we offer to create concurrent virtual channels over same physical channel by synchronizing the transmit/receive switching of senders and receivers and allow parallel data transfer. Each virtual channel is used by a transmitter/receiver pair and all virtual channels within 2-hop network utilize the medium by distributed coordination and avoid inter virtual channel interference. Simulation result shows that proposed scheme removes the obstruction to participate in parallel transmission for some neighboring nodes of sender and receiver and improves the network performance. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2006.