A simple distributed PRMA for MANETs

Abstract

With the rapid development of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and its applications, synchronization between terminals in mobile ad hoc environments becomes feasible at a low cost. Thus, slotted-channel-based medium access control (MAC) schemes like time division multiple access (TDMA) also become interesting for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). In this paper, we extend the classical centralized and slotted packet reservation multiple access (PRMA) scheme to a simple distributed PRMA (D-PRMA) as an MAC scheme for MANETs, with emphasis on voice application support. The major efforts of D-PRMA include 1) a simple slot reservation mechanism for voice traffic at the level of "talkspurt" without relying on any central entity and 2) a simple solution for the hidden and exposed terminal problems uniquely present in wireless ad hoc environments. The performance of D-PRMA has been investigated by analysis and computer simulations in comparison with IEEE 802.11. The results show that D-PRMA is much more suitable than IEEE 802.11 for voice application.