On physical carrier sensing in wireless ad hoc networks

The aggregate throughput of a wireless ad hoc network depends on the channel capacity, channel utilization (i.e., the fraction of channel capacity used for generating goodput), and the concurrent transmissions allowed in the network. While channel utilization is determined by MAC overhead, physical carrier sense has been used as an effective way to avoid interference and exploit spatial reuse. Prior research has attempted to identify the optimal carrier sense range that can maximize the aggregate throughput. However, the impact of MAC overhead has been ignored. In this paper, we use both an analytical model and simulation results to show that MAC overhead has significant impact on the choice of optimal carrier sense range. If MAC overhead is not taken into account properly in determining the optimal carrier sense range, the aggregate throughput can suffer a significant loss.