A dynamic channel allocation scheme using spectrum sensing for mobile ad hoc networks

An important aspect of the MAC layer design for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is the ability to adapt to spatially non-uniform traffic load distributions. While coordinated channel access protocols have been shown to be well suited for highly loaded MANETs, these protocols are in general not as well suited for non-uniform load distributions as uncoordinated channel access protocols. In order to improve the performance of coordinated MAC protocols for MANETs under non-uniform load distribution, in this paper we apply to MANETs the dynamic channel allocation concept used in cellular networks. We present a new coordinated MAC protocol called DCA-TRACE (Dynamic Channel Allocation for TRACE), which is a sequel of our earlier MH-TRACE protocol. In addition to the mechanisms that exist in MH-TRACE for throughput and energy efficiency maximization, DCA-TRACE implements a distributed dynamic channel allocation strategy based on spectrum sensing. We compare DCA-TRACE with the MH-TRACE and 802.11 protocols in terms of throughput, energy consumption and interpacket delay variation (IPDV). Simulation results show that DCA-TRACE provides significant improvement for both uniform and non-uniform traffic loads.