Synchronisation-based, multi-channel multi-interface medium access scheme in ad hoc network

Multi-channel multi-interface (MCMI) medium access can provide high-throughput services for wireless ad hoc networks. However, the multi-channel hidden terminal problem and the rendezvous problem must be addressed. This study aims to design a low-cost integrated solution to address the two problems, so as to fully exploit the available wireless interfaces and channels to enhance the network performance, especially the network aggregated throughput. The authors propose a new MCMI synchronisation-based media access control (SMAC) protocol with the operation of two interfaces. Unlike other studies, the authors propose a novel interface classification using a synchronisation interface (SynIF) and a normal interface (NorIF). A synchronisation mechanism and a new channel coordination procedure are operated on SynIF, and data packets can be transmitted on SynIF and NorIF concurrently. All control messages occur only in a variable-length channel coordination window (CCW) on a common control channel. The maximum length of CCW and network throughput are analysed mathematically and the performance of the protocol is validated in ns-2 simulator through comparisons with few other MCMI-MAC protocols. In IEEE 802.11-based multi-interface ad hoc networks, when using MCMI-SMAC, the results show that the network aggregated throughput is enhanced significantly and the protocol overhead is very low.