Does the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol work well in multihop wireless ad hoc networks?

Author

Xu, Shugong ; Saadawi, Tarek

Author_Institution

City Univ. of New York, NY, USA

Volume

39

Issue

6

fYear

2001

fDate

6/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

130

Lastpage

137

Abstract

The IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol is the standard for wireless LANs; it is widely used in testbeds and simulations for wireless multihop ad hoc networks. However, this protocol was not designed for multihop networks. Although it can support some ad hoc network architecture, it is not intended to support the wireless mobile ad hoc network, in which multihop connectivity is one of the most prominent features. In this article we focus on the following question: can the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol function well in multihop networks? By presenting several serious problems encountered in an IEEE 802.11-based multihop network and revealing the in-depth cause of these problems, we conclude that the current version of this wireless LAN protocol does not function well in multihop ad hoc networks. We thus doubt whether the WaveLAN-based system is workable as a mobile ad hoc testbed

Keywords

IEEE standards; access protocols; digital simulation; land mobile radio; telecommunication standards; wireless LAN; IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol; WaveLAN-based system; mobile ad hoc testbed; multihop connectivity; multihop wireless ad hoc networks; simulations; wireless LAN protocol; wireless LAN standard; wireless mobile ad hoc network; Access protocols; Ad hoc networks; Cascading style sheets; Cyclic redundancy check; Intelligent networks; Media Access Protocol; Multiaccess communication; Spread spectrum communication; Wireless LAN; Wireless application protocol;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0163-6804

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/35.925681

Filename

925681