Fast and Slow Hopping MAC Protocol for Single-Hop Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

This paper proposes a novel multi-channel medium access control (MAC) protocol using fast and slow hopping sequences with dual radio interfaces. Specifically, one interface follows fast hopping and is primary for transmission, and the second interface follows slow hopping and is mainly responsible for reception. In addition, the new protocol follows the IEEE 802.11 MAC strategy. Moreover, the new protocol is based on the multiple rendezvous approach that has been proven to enhance the network performance and resolve the congestion of the single rendezvous approach. Also, an analytical model is developed to evaluate the network performance in terms of the aggregate throughput. Computer simulations using network simulator-2 (ns-2) are conducted to validate the analytical model and demonstrate the enhancement of the proposed protocol.