Wireless medium access control protocols

TLDR

Wireless systems, driven by technological advances and the convergence of telephone, cable, and data networks, require efficient medium access control protocols to manage shared bandwidth amid challenges such as location‑dependent carrier sensing, time‑varying channels, burst errors, low power, and half‑duplex operation. The survey aims to discuss the challenges in designing wireless MAC protocols. It classifies protocols by architecture and mode of operation. It describes their relative performance and identifies application domains where each is best deployed.

Abstract

Technological advances, coupled with the flexibility and mobility of wireless systems, are the driving force behind the Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime paradigm of networking. At the same time, we see a convergence of the telephone, cable and data networks into a unified network that supports multimedia and real-time applications like voice and video in addition to data. Medium access control protocols define rules for orderly access to the shared medium and play a crucial role in the efficient and fair sharing of scarce wireless bandwidth. The nature of the wireless channel brings new issues like location-dependent carrier sensing, time varying channel and burst errors. Low power requirements and half duplex operation of the wireless systems add to the challenge. Wireless MAC protocols have been heavily researched and a plethora of protocols have been proposed. Protocols have been devised for different types of architectures, different applications and different media. This survey discusses the challenges in the design of wireless MAC protocols, classifies them based on architecture and mode of operation, and describes their relative performance and application domains in which they are best deployed.