A novel media access control algorithm within single cluster in hierarchical ad hoc networks

Media Access Control (MAC) is one the most critical issues for wireless ad hoc networks. In a hierarchical ad hoc network, all the nodes in the same cluster share the wireless channel. The current MAC algorithms can hardly adapt to both light and heavy traffic loads, thus cannot perform well with remarkably and frequently changing traffic load in ad hoc networks in which nodes keep moving in and out of clusters. A multi-token MAC (MTM) algorithm is proposed in this paper. It is used within single cluster in hierarchical ad hoc networks. It can automatically compromise between CSMA/CA in IEEE 802.11 and the token scheduling in cluster-head-gateway switching routing (CGSR) algorithm. Simulation results show that in the ad hoc network with active nodes moving in and out of clusters, MTM gives better throughput ratio and average packet delay. ? Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.EI