Solutions to hidden terminal problems in wireless networks

ABSTRACT

The floor acquisition multiple access (FAMA) discipline is analyzed in networks with hidden terminals. According to FAMA, control of the channel (the floor) is assigned to at most one station in the network at any given time, and this station is guaranteed to be able to transmit one or more data packets to different destinations with no collisions. The FAMA protocols described consist of non-persistent carrier or packet sensing, plus a collision-avoidance dialogue between a source and the intended receiver of a packet. Sufficient conditions under which these protocols provide correct floor acquisition are presented and verified for networks with hidden terminals; it is shown that FAMA protocols must use carrier sensing to support correct floor acquisition. The throughput of FAMA protocols is analyzed for single-channel networks with hidden terminals; it is shown that carrier-sensing FAMA protocols perform better than ALOHA and CSMA protocols in the presence of hidden terminals.

REFERENCES

• 1: Vaduvur Bharghavan , Alan Demers , Scott Shenker , Lixia Zhang, MACAW: a media access protocol for wireless LAN's, Proceedings of the conference on Communications architectures, protocols and applications, p.212-225, August 31-September 02, 1994, London, United Kingdom
• 2: K. Biba, "A Hybrid ~,W~xeless MAC Protocol Supporting Asynchronous and Syncwnous MSDU Delivery Services;' Tech. Rep. Paper 802.1 I/91-92, ~ 802.11 Working Gwup, 1992.
• 3: K.-C. Chen, "Medium access control of wireless Inns for mobile computing;' IEEE Network, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 50-63,1994.
• 4: A. Colvin, "CSMA with collision avoidance;' Computer Commun., vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 227-35,1983.
• 5: Chane L. Fullmer , J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves, Floor acquisition multiple access (FAMA) for packet-radio networks, Proceedings of the conference on Applications, technologies, architectures, and protocols for computer communication, p.262-273, August 28-September 01, 1995, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
• 6: 1)802.11-Unapproved Draft: Wireless tAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Specifications, iEEE, January 1996.
• 7: P. Kam, "MACA - a new channel access method for packet radio:' in ARRUCRRL Amateur Radio 9th Computer Nem'ortahg Cony~rence, pp. 134--40, ARRL, 1990.
• 8: L. Kleinrock and E A. Tobagi, "Packet switching in radio channels: Part I - carrier sense multiple-access modes and their throughputdelay characteristics" IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. COM-23, no, 12, pp. 1400-1416,1975.
• 9: B. M. Leiner, D. L. Nielsen, and E A. Tobagi, eds., Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 75, IEEE, January 1987.
• 10: W. E Lo and H. T. Mouftah, "Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection for Radio Channels" in IEEE 13th Int'l Commun. andEnergy Conf., pp. 244-47, IEEE, 1984.
• 11: Raphael Rom, Collision detection in radio channels, Local area and multiple access networks, Computer Science Press, Inc., New York, NY, 1986
• 12: G.$. Sidhu, R.E Andrews, andA. B. Oppenheimer, lnsideAppleTaUc, Second Edition. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1990.
• 13: H. Takagi and L. K/einrock, "Output processes in contention packet broadcasting systems:' IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. COM-33, no. 11, pp. 1191-9,1985.
• 14: E A. Tobagi and L. Kleinrock, "Packet switching in radio channels: Part II - the hidden terminal problem in carrier sense multiple.access modes and the busy-tone solution:' IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. COM- 23, no. 12, pp. 1417-1433,1975.
• 15: E A. Tobagi and L. Kleinrock,"The Effect of AcknowledgmentTraffie on the Capacity of Packet-Switched Radio Channels;'lEEE Trans. Commun., vol. COM-26, no. 6, pp. 815---826,1978.
• 16: Bharghavan Vaduvur, Access, addressing and security in wireless packet networks, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 1996
• 17: C. Wu , V. Li, Receiver-initiated busy-tone multiple access in packet radio networks, Proceedings of the ACM workshop on Frontiers in computer communications technology, p.336-342, August 11-13, 1987, Stowe, Vermont, United States
• 18: '~VINGS for intemets;' www. cse.ucse.edu/research/ccrg/projects/wings.html

INDEX TERMS

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

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS

General Terms:
Design, Documentation