On the Proper Interference Protection in Wireless Multi-Hop Networks

Due to the similar properties of wired and wireless communication systems, it is often possible to adopt established communication principles from one system to another. However, there is one unique property of the wireless channel which differs greatly from its wired counterpart - the transmission signal is gradually decaying beyond recognition. Considering this difference in view of wireless multi-hop networks requires a change of transmission protection. In this paper the authors propose a novel approach which protects the n-hop neighborhood around the receiver. Our study includes a formal analysis of this approach, provides further insights by simulations, and compares it to current protocols. The results demonstrate that our scheme produces higher throughput with significantly lower PER than RTS/CTS-based systems. Furthermore, the performance of our n-hop receiver protection is more stable when confronted with changes in packet size and density of nodes which is severely degraded when RTS/CTS is in use.