A Novel Multi-Channel MAC Protocol for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Medium access control (MAC) protocols coordinate channel access between wireless stations, and they significantly affect the network throughput of wireless ad-hoc networks. MAC protocols that are based on a multichannel model can increase the throughput by enabling more simultaneous transmission pairs in the network. In this paper, we comprehensively compare different design methods for mul-tichannel MAC protocols. We classify existing protocols into different categories according to the chan-nel negotiation strategies they employ. The common problems that may be encountered in multichannel design are discussed. We then propose a hybrid protocol that combines the advantages of the two meth-ods of a common control channel and a common control period. The simulation results show that our proposed protocol can significantly outperform two representative protocols