A Cyclic Quorum based multi-channel MAC protocol with layered approach for mobile ad-hoc networks

The IEEE 802.11 MAC layer protocol is designed for single channel. The improvement of network throughput can be done through the enhancement of spatial reuse and the reduction of transmission collusions by the utilization of multiple channels is important. Channel allocation can exploit the multi-channel missing receiver problem besides there are other problems such as the primordial hidden terminal and exposed terminal problem. Existing multi-channel MAC protocols experience either higher hardware cost (because of applying multiple transceivers) or lower channel utilization (due to limited transmission opportunity). Previous approaches that use RTS/CTS or other modified ideas sometimes are not enough to meet the demands. In this paper, a fully distributed channel hopping solution has been discussed as, The Modified Cyclic-Quorum-based Multichannel (M-CQM) MAC protocol. Cyclic quorum is used here in an efficient way. The proposed protocol has several attractive features. Sender is guaranteed to meet its receiver in a short time. Each node´s channel hopping sequence is derived from its node ID and the layer it belongs. This proposed idea also tries to divide the physical location into three basic zones which removes the load of RTS/CTS or other similar approaches. We have evaluated our proposed approach (M-CQM) in network simulator (ns-2.34) and it outperforms existing proposals.