A Multi-channel MAC Protocol with Novel Channel Selection for Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

In wireless ad hoc networks, the medium access control (MAC) protocols that are based on a single-channel model will suffer from serious collisions when network traffic load is high. Moreover, the hidden/exposed terminal problems will become serious. In this paper, we present an efficient multi-channel MAC protocol to increase network performance. The proposed protocol has the following features: (1) A dedicated control channel is used to negotiate and collect channel usage information among nodes. (2) A counter-based channel selection strategy is used to balance channel load and reduce contentions and collisions among nodes. (3) A local negotiation strategy is used to reduce the channel re-negotiation overhead during data retransmissions.