Hybrid wireless network protocols

Basically, there are two types of wireless network systems - base-station (BS) oriented networks and ad hoc wireless networks. In the first type, the mobile hosts communicate with base stations, while, in ad hoc networks, the mobile hosts communicate with one another directly. The BS-oriented wireless network has better performance and is more reliable. However, the ad hoc network topology is desirable because of its low cost, plug-and-play convenience, and flexibility. Its usage of bandwidth and battery power is more efficient, but route and communication connectivity is fairly weak; any migration by a host participating in one or more routes could make the route invalid. Much cost is incurred in maintaining communication. Thus, the ad hoc wireless network is only suitable for applications in a small geographical area. We propose hybrid wireless network protocols to combine the advantages of BS-oriented and ad hoc wireless networks. We allow two mobile hosts to communicate directly (one-hop direct transmission) or through another mobile host (two-hop direct transmission) within a BS-oriented network. The hybrid protocols are more flexible, reliable, and have better performance than the traditional protocols. Simulation results show that two-hop direct-transmission has a lower non-completion probability. If the communicating parties are always within a two-hop direct-transmission area, the rate of complete communication improves by about 20%.