Improving the Performance of Wireless Ad Hoc Networks Through MAC Layer Design

—In this paper, the performance of the ALOHA and CSMA MAC protocols are analyzed in spatially distributed wireless networks. The main system objective is correct reception of packets, and thus the analysis is performed in terms of outage probability. In our network model, packets belonging to specific transmitters arrive randomly in space and time according to a 3-D Poisson point process, and are then transmitted to their intended destinations using a fully-distributed MAC protocol. A packet transmission is considered successful if the received SINR is above a predefined threshold for the duration of the packet. Accurate bounds on the outage probabilities are derived as a function of the transmitter density, the number of backoffs and retransmissions, and in the case of CSMA, also the sensing threshold. The analytical expressions are validated with simulation results. For continuous-time transmissions, CSMA with receiver sensing (which involves adding a feedback channel to the conv...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: TWC
• Authors: Mariam Kaynia, Nihar Jindal, Geir E. Øien
• Keywords: MAC Protocol, Optimized Sensing Threshold, Sensing Threshold, TWC 2011