Multi-Packet Communication in 802.11 Networks: A MAC/PHY Backward Compatible Solution

Author

Babich, F. ; Comisso, M. ; Dorni, A.

Author_Institution

Dipt. di Ing. Ind. e dell´´Inf., Univ. of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

fYear

2011

fDate

5-9 Dec. 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

This paper presents a novel Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for 802.11 networks in which the nodes can adopt smart antenna systems. The presented protocol is designed to satisfy two fundamental requirements: the exploitation of adaptive arrays to increase the network throughput and the backward compatibility of the novel scheme with the 802.11 MAC layer. The developed solution allows the simultaneous coexistence of multiple communications, while maintaining, for the legacy nodes, the same throughput levels achievable in the 802.11 standard. The performance and the backward compatibility of the proposed MAC protocol are tested in multipath-fading environment and considering heterogeneous scenarios, including 802.11 legacy stations together with nodes implementing the novel scheme and equipped with different antenna systems.

Keywords

access protocols; adaptive antenna arrays; wireless LAN; 802.11 legacy station; 802.11 network; MAC backward compatible solution; PHY backward compatible solution; adaptive arrays; backward compatibility; heterogeneous scenario; legacy nodes; medium access control protocol; multipacket communication; multipath-fading environment; network throughput; smart antenna system; Antennas; IEEE 802.11 Standards; Media Access Protocol; Nickel; Peer to peer computing; Throughput; Topology;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM 2011), 2011 IEEE

Conference_Location

Houston, TX, USA

ISSN

1930-529X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-9266-4

Electronic_ISBN

1930-529X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/GLOCOM.2011.6133805

Filename

6133805