MAC layer broadcast support in 802.11 wireless networks

Author

Tang, Ken ; Gerla, Mario

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., California Univ., Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

1

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

544

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a simple extension to IEEE 802.11 that supports broadcasting in ad hoc networks. Ad hoc random access MAC protocols often treat unicast and broadcast packets differently. Unicast packets are preceded with MAC layer control frames, such as RTS, CTS and ACK, to ensure that the destination receives the unicast packets. Broadcast packets, on the other hand, are sent blindly without any control frames to assure the availability of the destinations. Therefore, the performance of the network degrades as contention increases. Our proposed extension to the broadcast mechanism of 802.11 helps alleviate such degradation when contention exists

Keywords

IEEE standards; access protocols; broadcasting; packet radio networks; 802.11 wireless networks; IEEE 802.11; MAC layer broadcast support; MAC layer control frames; ad hoc networks; ad hoc random access MAC protocols; broadcast packets; contention; destination; performance; unicast packets; Access protocols; Ad hoc networks; Broadcasting; Collision avoidance; Degradation; Intelligent networks; Multiaccess communication; Multicast protocols; Unicast; Wireless networks;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

MILCOM 2000. 21st Century Military Communications Conference Proceedings

Conference_Location

Los Angeles, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6521-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MILCOM.2000.905017

Filename

905017