MAC protocol for ad hoc network using smart antenna with Pulse/Tone exchange <Abstract> This paper proposes a MAC protocol for smart antenna used networks. The basic idea is that the Pulse/Tone exchange, instead of the RTS/CTS handshake, is applied prior to the data transmission. By only changing the transmission initiation method, we can obtain four advantages. First, collisions due to general hidden-node problem can be reduced. Second, the collision between the control frame and the DATA frame due to the directional hidden-node problem can be mitigated. Third, the transmission delay can be reduced by using the fixed contention window value. Finally, the overhead can be reduced because the duration of the Pulse/Tone exchange is much shorter than that of the RTS/CTS handshake. As a result, the higher network throughput can be achieved compared with previous protocols. Simulation results demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed protocol. |