Access to Hidden Terminal Problem Using Channel Tone Multiple Access

Wireless Networking is one of the fastest growing areas in the network industry today. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are gaining special interest as they provide flexibility of location along with low infrastructural and maintenance costs. The hidden terminal problem is unique to wireless networks that decrease the performance of the network. In this paper we propose a new MAC protocol to resolve the "hidden terminal problem" wireless local area networks. This protocol, called Channel Tone Multiple Access has been compared with CSMA through computer simulations in terms of throughput characteristics. With the Channel Tone Multiple Access protocol, the maximum throughput is sensitive to normalized propagation delay. For small propagation delays, performance with hidden terminals is better than that of CSMA without hidden terminals, making Channel Tone Multiple Access protocol attractive WLAN environment. Making the request packet length sufficiently short compared with the data packet length can significantly reduce wasted transmissions caused by hidden terminals. Keywords— Hidden terminal, Channel Tone Multiple Access, CSMA