Multi-channel medium access using a virtual network coded control channel

ABSTRACT

In this paper we propose a Multi-Channel Medium Access scheme with the aim to enable efficient Dynamic Spectrum Access. Two are the remarkable features of our solution: first, it is completely distributed, and second, it does not need dedicated spectrum resources for control purposes, but rather it leverages on a virtual control channel which is implemented by having users exchange control information whenever they meet in a particular channel, and by retrieving the control information using Network Coding techniques. We carry out an evaluation study of the proposed solution to assess its performance with respect to different system and scenario parameters; the obtained results show that the proposed solution is feasible and suitable for implementation in real Dynamic Spectrum Access systems.

REFERENCES

• 1: S. Sankaranarayanan et al., "A Bandwidth Sharing Approach to Improve Licensed Spectrum Utilization," in IEEE DySPAN, Nov. 2005.
• 2: Milind M. Buddhikot , Paul Kolodzy , Scott Miller , Kevin Ryan , Jason Evans, DIMSUMNet: New Directions in Wireless Networking Using Coordinated Dynamic Spectrum Access, Proceedings of the Sixth IEEE International Symposium on World of Wireless Mobile and Multimedia Networks, p.78-85, June 13-16, 2005 [doi>10.1109/WOWMOM.2005.36]
• 3: L. Cao and H. Zheng, "Distributed Spectrum Allocation via Local Bargaining," IEEE SECON, Sept 2005.
• 4: S. L. Wu et al., "A Multi-Channel MAC Protocol with Power Control for Multi-Hop Mobile Ad Hoc Networks," The Computer Journal, vol. 45(1), pp. 101--110, 2002.
• 5: W. C. Hung, K. L. Eddie Law, and A. Leon-Garcia, "A dynamic Multi-Channel MAC for Ad-Hoc LAN," in Biennial Symposium on Communications, Apr. 2002.
• 6: A. Motamedi and A. Bahai, "MAC Protocol Design for Spectrum-agile Wireless Networks: Stochastic Control Approach," in IEEE DySPAN, Apr. 2007.
• 7: C. Cordeiro and K. Challapali, "C-MAC: A Cognitive MAC Protocol for Multi-channel Wireless Networks," in IEEE DySPAN, Apr. 2007.
• 8: A. Tzamaloikas and J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves, "Channel Hopping Multiple Access," in IEEE ICC, Jun. 2000.
• 9: W. Hoi-Sheung So, J. Walrand, and J. Mo, "McMAC: A Parallel Rendezvous Multi-Channel MAC Protocol," in IEEE WCNC, Mar. 2007.
• 10: Paramvir Bahl , Ranveer Chandra , John Dunagan, SSCH: slotted seeded channel hopping for capacity improvement in IEEE 802.11 ad-hoc wireless networks, Proceedings of the 10th annual international conference on Mobile computing and networking, September 26-October 01, 2004, Philadelphia, PA, USA [doi>10.1145/1023720.1023742]
• 11: R. Ahlswede et al., "Network Information Flow," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 1204--1216, 2000.
• 12: P. A. Chou, Y. Wu, and K. Jain, "Practical Network Coding," in 41st Allerton Conference on Communication Control and Computing, Allerton, IL, US, Oct. 2003.
• 13: A. Asterjadhi, N. Baldo, and M. Zorzi, "A Distributed Network Coded Control Channel for Multi-Hop Cognitive Radio Networks," IEEE Network Special Issue on Networking over Multi-Hop Cognitive Networks, vol. 23, no. 4, 2009.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.2 Network Protocols

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.5 Local and Wide-Area Networks

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Performance

Keywords:
dynamic spectrum access, medium access control