A TDMA-based MAC Protocol for Wireless Mesh Networks using Directional Antennas

Ali El Masri (1) , Lyes Khoukhi (1) , Dominique Gaïti (1)

1 ERA - Environnement de Réseaux Autonomes

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have emerged as a key technology for next generation wireless networks. It is expected that WMNs will support diverse kind of multimedia services. Hence, there is a vital need to conceive efficient and reliable MAC protocols that allows alleviating wireless MAC problems. In this paper, we develop a novel MAC scheme for Wireless Mesh Networks based on a TDMA approach and using directional antennas. Our main objective behind this proposal is to respond to the main directional MAC problems such as deafness and hidden terminal problems caused by the lack in knowledge at each wireless node about its neighboring transmissions. The contribution of our MAC scheme is twofold. First, in enabling parallel transmissions and second in maintaining a full knowledge at each wireless node about neighboring transmissions. Using parallel transmissions, a busy node will not miss the start of a neighboring transmission. A robust algorithm of mini-slot assignment is proposed to provide full-knowledge, collision-free, and a fair channel access between all the nodes in the network.

Domains: Networking and Internet Architecture [cs.NI]

Ali El Masri, Lyes Khoukhi, Dominique Gaïti. A TDMA-based MAC Protocol for Wireless Mesh Networks using Directional Antennas. CTRQ 2011, The Fourth International Conference on Communication Theory, Reliability, and Quality of Service, Apr 2011, Budapest, Hungary. pp.95-98. ⟨hal-02272026⟩