A MAC Protocol with Multi-Packet Reception for MIMO Ad Hoc Networks

Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems are capable of simultaneously capturing more than one packet. Such capability is known as Multi-Packet Reception (MPR), which is new way to improve performance of Ad Hoc Networks. In order to effectively enhance throughput of Ad Hoc Networks, a novel MAC protocol (MIMO-MAC) with MIMO links that takes into account MPR is proposed. It can receive more than one RTS before responding CTS, which maximizes transmission links simultaneously. Receiver determines links according to the number of its own antennas and RTS. Compare to the existing protocol, it allows many communications at the same time in one competitive area. Finally, simulations are implemented in terms of load and source nodes number in OPNET environment, results show that MIMO-MAC outperforms CSMA/CA and CSMA/CA (k).