A paradigm shift from collision avoidance to collision detection in wireless transmissions
Summary
Wireless collision is a major problem that adversely affects the performance of wireless networks, e.g. severe hidden terminal issues observed in wireless sensor network reprogramming [1]. We have focused on designing new MAC (Medium Access Control) schemes that shift the paradigm from collision avoidance to collision detection in wireless communications: (i) In a paper published in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing [2], a new wireless MAC protocol with collision detection is proposed and studied that detects wireless transmission collisions with hidden terminals and improves node throughput since it is much more capable than the combination of carrier sensing and collision avoidance used by the popular wireless MAC protocols; and (ii) In a paper published in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology [3], the new wireless MAC protocol with collision detection has been extended to realize strict packet-level priority scheduling for emergency packets, which is much more capable than the statistical priority provided by the existing MAC protocols that support priority medium access.
A chronological list of related work
Wireless collision at will:
ALOHA, 1971
Wireless collision avoidance:
Tobagi-Kleinrock busy-tone solution, 1975
Wireless collision avoidance:
IEEE 802.11 RTS/CTS, 1997
Wireless collision detection:
our MAC work [2][3], 2007
Reference
[1] Qiang Wang, Yaoyao Zhu, and Liang Cheng, Reprogramming wireless sensor networks: challenges and approaches, IEEE Network, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 48-55, May/June 2006.
[2] Jun Peng, Liang Cheng, and Biplab Sikdar, A Wireless MAC Protocol with Collision Detection, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, Vol. 6, No. 12, pp. 1357-1369, 2007.
[3] Jun Peng and Liang Cheng, A Distributed MAC Scheme for Emergency Message Dissemination in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Special Issue on Vehicular Communications Networks, Vol. 56, Issue 6, pp. 3300-3308, 2007.