Distributed splitting-tree-based medium access control protocol for multiaccess wireless networks with multipacket reception

The conventional medium access control (MAC) protocols assume that only one packet can be received at a given time. However, with the advent of spread spectrum, antenna arrays or sophisticated signal processing techniques, it is possible to achieve multipacket reception (MPR) in wireless communication networks. A distributed splitting-tree-based MAC protocol that can exploit the MPR capability in the networks is proposed. For the MPR MAC protocol, a closed-form expression of the system throughput is derived based on a Markov chain model. The experimental results show that the MPR protocol can considerably increase the spectrum efficiency compared with the splitting-tree algorithm with its conventional collision resolution method.