Medium Access Control Mechanisms in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Medium access control protocol plays an important role in providing fair and efficient allocation of limited bandwidth in wireless LANs. The basic medium access model in the IEEE 802.11 standard, known as DCF (Distributed Coordination Function), is widely used in wireless LANs. Research efforts in wireless multihop networks, where wireless nodes need to forward packets on other’s behalf, try to measure up to or improve upon this standard. This chapter presents an in-depth discussion on the problems with IEEE 802.11, especially those relevant in a multihop network, and discusses various techniques that have been proposed to enhance the channel utilization of multihop wireless networks.