| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 資訊工程學系 === 94 === Abstract
In ad hoc wireless networks, if a single channel is used in the medium access control protocol (MAC), the maximal throughput is bounded as the network load becomes saturated. Nowadays it is possible to use multiple channels in the network due to the progress of hardware technology. In the multi-channel environment, the number of simultaneous transmission pairs can be increased so as to improve the throughput. Therefore using multiple channels in the MAC layer can get more benefit than using a single channel. At present, IEEE 802.11b provides 3 available channels, and IEEE 802.11a provides 12 available channels.
Though using multiple channels has the benefit, we still need a MAC protocol with a good design to achieve the maximum throughput Also, some new problems we have never met before are encountered while designing a multi-channel MAC protocol. These problems include the multi-channel hidden terminal problem which is caused by incomplete information collection, the hardware cost problem, and the channel selection problem. These problems make it much more complicated to design a multi-channel MAC protocol.
So far, there are many papers addressing the issue about the multi-channel MAC protocol. In this thesis, we make a survey by classifying the currently proposed approaches, draw an outline of the design of a multi-channel MAC protocol, and make discussion about each part of the design. Also, we probe into all possible problems raised in the design. These investigated results can help persons who are interested in this research area to understand the design philosophy efficiently.
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