Overheard ACK with token passing: An optimization to 802.11 MAC protocol

Shegufta Bakht Ahsan, Nitin Vaidya

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) is defined in IEEE 802.11 standard, which is widely used in practice. Despite of its wide use, it has several limitations. Because of the idle and collision times, it suffers from poor channel utilization. Besides, the control packets, particularly, Acknowledgement (ACK), consume non-trivial amount of bandwidth. Though the number of control bits in an ACK frame is small, the added overheads like the preamble, packet header etc. make the situation worse. In this paper, we propose a scheme called Overheard ACK where the explicit ACK frame has been eliminated by using the leverage of packet overhearing. Also, by incorporating explicit and implicit token-passing, this protocol attempts to schedule transmissions without having to use random access, dramatically reducing the idle time and collision time. Simulation results using NS2 confirm that this protocol significantly outperforms the conventional 802.11 DCF.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationS3 2014 - Proceedings of the 6th ACM MobiCom Workshop on Wireless of the Students, by the Students, for the Students
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages9-11
Number of pages3
ISBN (Electronic)9781450330732
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes
Event6th ACM MobiCom Workshop on Wireless of the Students, by the Students, for the Students, S3 2014 - Maui, United States
Duration: Sep 7 2014Sep 7 2014

Publication series

NameS3 2014 - Proceedings of the 6th ACM MobiCom Workshop on Wireless of the Students, by the Students, for the Students

Other

Other6th ACM MobiCom Workshop on Wireless of the Students, by the Students, for the Students, S3 2014
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMaui
Period9/7/149/7/14

Keywords

  • Packet Overhearing
  • Token Passing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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