MAC Layer Protocols For Wireless Networks

MAC Layer Protocols for
Wireless Networks
What is MAC?
 MAC stands for Media Access Control. A MAC
layer protocol is the protocol that controls
access to the physical transmission medium on
a LAN.
 It tries to ensure that no two nodes are
interfering with each other’s transmissions,
and deals with the situation when they do.
CSMA/CD MAC
 CSMA/CD architecture used in Ethernet is a
common MAC layer standard.
 It acts as an interface between the Logical

Link Control sublayer and the network's
Physical layer.
Normal Ethernet Operation
B C
Address mismatch Address mismatch

packet discarded packet discarded
Send data Address match

to node D packet processed
Transmitted packet seen
by all stations on the LAN
A (broadcast medium) D
Data
Ethernet Collisions
B C
Data transmission for A Collision
Data transmission for C

A
D
Ethernet Transmission Flowchart
transmit packet
assemble packet
deferring
yes on?
no
start
transmission
send jam signal
transmission no collision yes

increment attempts
done detect?
?
yes too many

yes attempts
?
no
done done excessive compute and wait

transmit ok collision errors backoff time
Interference / Collisions
Packets which suffered
collisions should be re-sent.
a b Ideally, we would want all
packets to be sent collision-
free, only once…
a and b interfere and hear noise only
b b
a c a c d
Interference on node b Interference on node b

(“Hidden terminal problem”)
MACA Protocol
 Contention-based protocols
 CSMA — Carrier Sense Multiple Access
 Ethernet (CSMA/CD) is not enough for wireless
(collision at receiver cannot detect at sender)
A B C
Hidden terminal: A is hidden from C’s CS
Hidden Terminal Problem
Data Data
A B C
A and C want to send data to B

1. A senses medium idle and sends data
2. C senses medium idle and sends data
3. Collision occurs at B
Collision Avoidance w/ RTS/CTS
1.RTS
2.CTS 2.CTS
A 3.Data B
C
A and C want to send to B

1. A sends RTS (Request To Send) to B
2. B sends CTS (Clear To Send) to A
C “overhears” CTS from B
3. C waits for duration of A’s transmission
Overview of MAC Protocols
 Contention-based protocols (contd.)
 MACAW — improved over MACA
 RTS/CTS/DATA/ACK
 Fast error recovery at link layer
 IEEE 802.11 Distributed Coordination

Function (DCF)
 Largely based on MACAW
 Called CSMA/CA
802.11 DCF (Distributed
Coordinate Function)
 Station listens before transmission
 If medium is free for more than DIFS: transmits
 Otherwise, uses exponential backoff mechanism
Interframe space (IFS)
 SIFS : used by ACK, CTS, poll response

(short)
 PIFS : used by PC (point coordinator) when issuing
polls
(point)
 DIFS : used by ordinary asynchronous traffic
(distributed)
IEEE 802.11 DCF
 Distributed coordinate function: ad hoc mode
 Virtual and physical carrier sense (CS)
 Network allocation vector (NAV), duration field
 Binary exponential backoff
 RTS/CTS/DATA/ACK for unicast packets
 Broadcast packets are directly sent after CS
Virtual Carrier Sense
 Timing relationship
Random Backoff
Time
 Pick a timeslot chosen uniformly in [0, CW]

 Listen up to chosen slot
 Transmit if nobody else started transmitting
 Wait if somebody else started transmitting
Example: A Successful
Transmission
 A and B happened to choose different slots
 Node A chooses slot 4, hears nothing,
transmits
 Node B chooses slot 8, hears Node A, waits
Slot choice (slot #4)
Node A:
Node B:
Time
Success: exactly one node in first non-vacant slot

Example: A Collision
 A and B happened to choose slot 4
 Both listen and hear nothing
 Both transmit simultaneously

Node A:
Time
Node B: Slot choice (slot #4)
Collision: ≥ 2 nodes in first non-vacant slot

High Contention Causes Collisions in CSMA
Unacceptable collision rate above

~15 transmitting sensors
Uniform distribution “fills up,” quickly

Binary Exponential Backoff
(BEB)
• Creating more slots for solving the collision

problem
Problems with BEB
 Takes time for every node to increase CW
 Especially if traffic is spatially-correlated and
bursty
 Waste backoff slots if collisions cause CW to
increase
BEB causes performance to suffer

Q&A

MAC Layer Protocols For Wireless Networks

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

MAC Layer Protocols For Wireless Networks

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

MAC Layer Protocols For Wireless Networks

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

MAC Layer Protocols for

 It acts as an interface between the Logical

Address mismatch Address mismatch

Send data Address match

Data transmission for A Collision

Data transmission for C

transmission no collision yes

yes too many

done done excessive compute and wait

Interference on node b Interference on node b

A and C want to send data to B

2. C senses medium idle and sends data

A and C want to send to B

 IEEE 802.11 Distributed Coordination

 SIFS : used by ACK, CTS, poll response

 Pick a timeslot chosen uniformly in [0, CW]

Slot choice (slot #8)

Success: exactly one node in first non-vacant slot

Slot choice (slot #4)

Node B: Slot choice (slot #4)

Collision: ≥ 2 nodes in first non-vacant slot

Unacceptable collision rate above

Uniform distribution “fills up,” quickly

• Creating more slots for solving the collision

BEB causes performance to suffer

You might also like