Investigation of MAC for a Hierarchical and Heterogeneous Multichannel Ad Hoc Network

We propose a hierarchical and heterogeneous multichannel ad hoc network. The channels employed by this network are nonoverlapping, and each channel differs significantly in its characteristics, such as achievable data rate, communication range, and traffic load. Each terminal is equipped with a frequency-agile radio that has the ability to change its carrier frequency and transmission rate over a wide range of possibilities. These radios communicate using contention-based access and are permitted to utilize multiple channels. A subset of the terminals form a backbone network, and are equipped with a second radio tuned to a traffic channel employing schedule-based access. We consider various hierarchical and heterogeneous multichannel ad hoc network topologies and investigate the backbone networks that increase network-layer performance over scenarios in which too few or too many terminals are selected to form the backbone network.