TDMA MAC Protocols for WiFi-based Long Distance Networks: A Survey

Abstract

WiFi is widely being researched to use it beyond its original pur-pose of short-range communication. These kinds of efforts are stim-ulated due to its mass production and cost-effectiveness. WiFi-based Long Distance (WiLD) networks envisage changing the ru-ral communication scenario particularly in the undeveloped na-tions. However, CSMA/CA, the de-facto MAC protocol of WiFi, is found to be ill-suited for WiLD networks. As a result, various TDMA-based MAC protocols are proposed in the literature as an alternative to CSMA/CA. The proposed protocols have shown sig-nificant performance improvement in such scenarios. In this pa-per, we propose a classification framework of WiLD MAC proto-cols based on their major characteristics. Using the classification framework, a survey on the MAC protocols proposed for WiLD networks is presented. The distinctive features of the TDMA MAC protocols are critically examined by pointing out their strengths and weaknesses in WiLD environment. In addition, this paper puts forward some state of art open research challenges in this area.