MARCH: A MAC Protocol for High Performance Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

In wireless ad hoc networks, various medium access control (MAC) protocols have been developed to avoid data packet collision and improve channel utilization in the presence of hidden terminals. For distributed MAC protocols, exchange of messages (handshake), are usually required before data transmission. Based on the initiator of the handshake, MAC protocols can be categorized as sender-initiated or receiver-initiated protocols. Theoretically, the latter outperforms the former since less control overhead is required. However, fundamental assumptions made in the receiver-initiated protocols are very vulnerable. In this paper, we propose a new MAC protocol known as multiple access with reduced handshake (MARCH). MARCH utilizes the broadcast characteristics of an omni-directional antenna to reduce the number of handshakes required to initiate a data transmission. Simulation results demonstrate that this low-overhead MAC protocol results in a 65% increase in network throughput.