A Load-balanced MAC Protocol for Multi-channel Ad-hoc Networks

A novel load-balanced based medium access control scheme for ad hoc networks with multiple channels available is presented in this paper, which dynamically assign channels to mobile hosts based on an on-demand method, and exploits the status information of neighbor nodes piggyback on channel-reservation messages to update the channel status recorded in nodes. The protocol aims at efficient data transmission on multiple channels with only one half-duplex transceiver at each node with few control messages exchange and little overhead increment. At the same time, it does not require the clock synchronization between nodes, which greatly simplifies the hardware equipment of nodes and enlarges its application areas. Simulation results show that the protocol results in good performance in the aspects of network throughput and load balance among channels, which makes it well adaptive to the dynamic ad hoc network environment