ChannelMAC Protocol for Opportunistic Communication in Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

Despite significant research effort, the performance of distributed medium access control methods has failed to meet theoretical expectations. This paper proposes a protocol named "Channel MAC" performing a fully distributed medium access control based on opportunistic communication principles. In this protocol, nodes access the channel when the channel quality increases beyond a threshold, while neighbouring nodes are deemed to be silent. Once a node starts transmitting, it will keep transmitting until the channel becomes "Bad." The authors derive an analytical throughput limit for Channel MAC in a shared multiple access environment. Furthermore, three performance metrics of Channel MAC - throughput, fairness, and delay - are analyzed in single hop and multi-hop scenarios using NS2 simulations.